South Africa’s (SA) President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the African Union (AU) to work with determination to address the conflicts in Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the political crisis in South Sudan.
Ramaphosa is the chair of the AU Committee that is helping South Sudan to resolve the current political challenges and to hold democratic elections later this year.
Ramaphosa is attending the AU annual summit in Ethiopia.
“Countries such as South Sudan, Sudan and the DRC are facing enormous challenges. The C5 committee of the AU supported by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has just met and taken decisions we do believe will take the country forward. It has been said by C5 and IGAD that the elections in South Sudan should proceed.”
Ramaphosa says AU reforms must be implemented to make the continental body more effective. He has called for practical measures to build a better Africa.
“Institutional reforms are not an event; they are a process. Every reform process does take its time. Sometimes there are detours. Sometimes there are stops and starts but the important thing is that the reform process in the AU is going ahead. Various heads of state are quite committed to ensuring that the reforms do proceed so as to make the AU much more effective.”
—SABC—
