{"id":40920,"date":"2026-07-28T17:41:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T15:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=40920"},"modified":"2026-07-28T17:41:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T15:41:48","slug":"au-executive-council-opens-49th-session-to-tackle-water-security-global-shocks","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/au-executive-council-opens-49th-session-to-tackle-water-security-global-shocks\/","title":{"rendered":"AU Executive Council opens 49th session to tackle water security, global shocks \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The African Union (AU) Executive Council opened its 49th Ordinary Session in Ethiopia, bringing together African Foreign Ministers to address the continent&#8217;s severe water and sanitation crisis alongside mounting global economic uncertainties.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Running under the theme &#8220;Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063,&#8221; the summit highlights urgent development deficits. Across Africa, more than 400 million people lack access to basic drinking water, while over 700 million remain without safely managed sanitation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the opening ceremony, AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf warned that the council convenes at a time of heightened geopolitical instability, citing conflicts in the Middle East and tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, which threaten to disrupt African trade and economic stability.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Claver Gatete urged African leaders to accelerate domestic resource mobilisation, noting that Africa loses nearly $90 billion annually to illicit financial flows and collects only 16% of gross domestic product in tax revenue, compared to the 34% average in developed economies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Chaired by Burundi\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs \u00c9douard Bizimana, the Executive Council will review reports from the Permanent Representatives&#8217; Committee and prepare policy recommendations for consideration ahead of upcoming AU decision-making summits.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica\/AU&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40921,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-40920","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"African Foreign Ministers gather in Addis Ababa","published_date":"2026-07-28 17:41:07","news_description":"African Foreign Ministers gather in Addis Ababa","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40922,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40920\/revisions\/40922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=40920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}