AU in America

Ukraine looms over US-African Union summit

By Julian Pecquet

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Posted on March 11, 2022 23:02

Moussa Faki Mahamat (Chad), former Prime Minister from 2003 to 2005, has been Chairperson of the African Union Commission since 2017. © Vincent Fournier/JA
Moussa Faki Mahamat (Chad), former Prime Minister from 2003 to 2005, has been Chairperson of the African Union Commission since 2017. © Vincent Fournier/JA

The United States and the African Union (AU) held their first high-level summit since the Covid-19 pandemic this week with the conflicts in Ukraine and Ethiopia looming over the gathering.

With Washington consumed with international diplomacy to halt Russia’s assault on its neighbour, the Joe Biden administration repeatedly pressed AU Chairman Moussa Faki on the issue during his meetings with US officials including US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power. Faki is in town for the 8th high-level dialogue between the African Union Commission and the United States, an annual affair launched in 2013 that last convened in November 2019.

“I was pleased to open the 8th AUC-US #HighLevelDialogue in Washington DC with @SecBlinken today to discuss our strategic partnership in Peace&Sec,Climate Change & Trade,” Faki tweeted Friday 11 March. “We also signed an MoU on @AfricaCDC to advance our already strong collaboration in global health security.”

Sullivan notably

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