Sudan’s al-Bashir to skip AU summit in Addis Ababa

July 1, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Vice-President Hassabo Mohamed Abdel-Rahman on Sunday would lead his country’s delegation to the African summit in Addis Ababa, said the official news agency SUNA.

Last week, SUNA quoted Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Gharib Allah Khidir as saying President Omer al-Bashir will participate in the African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

However, the agency on Sunday said Abdel-Rahman will lead Sudan’s delegation to the summit without giving further details on why al-Bashir wouldn’t attend the meeting.

The 29th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union has kicked off last Tuesday and will continue until July 4th, 2017 under the theme “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth”.

The Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union will take place from the 3rd to 4th July 2017.

Member states will mainly deliberate on the continent’s peace and security, with the renewed fighting in South Sudan, situation in Somalia and crises in Libya among the issues top on agenda for African leaders to be deliberated upon during the summit.

Also top of the agenda for discussions at the summit are situations in Central African Republic, Mali, Democratic Republic Congo (DRC), Burundi and the Darfur region.

The previous summit held in Addis Ababa last January witnessed the return of Morocco to AU after over three decades of absence from the pan-African body.

(ST)