The 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union will take place in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 18-19 February 2023. EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP
The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council will meet to decide on whether to lift the suspension of Mali, Burkina and Guinea, where soldiers have taken power after coups, said the chairman of the AU Commission told AFP on Friday.
No date for this meeting has been given at this stage by the AU, which is holding its 36th summit this weekend in Addis Ababa.
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Accelerate the free trade area
Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, three West African countries ruled by soldiers who came to power through coups since 2020, have been suspended from AU decision-making bodies as well as from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The three countries requested on February 10 the lifting of their suspension from the AU, deploring the “penalties imposed“.
“This question has not yet been discussed, there will be a meeting of the Peace and Security Council which will examine these requests, so there is no decision in this regard yet.“, told AFP in Addis Ababa Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the AU Commission, without further details.
The three countries cannot a priori participate in the meetings of the African Union this weekend. This summit of the organization, which brings together 55 countries, aims to accelerate the establishment of the free trade area.
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However, the heads of diplomacy of the three countries, Abdoulaye Diop (Mali), Olivia Rouamba (Burkina Faso) and Morissanda Kouyaté (Guinea) went to Addis Ababa where they met their Comorian counterpart Dhoihir Dhoulkamal, whose country must take the rotating presidency of the AU.
The joint delegation of the three countrieswill continue to consultwith Comorian President Azali Assoumani, AU Commission President Moussa Faki Mahamat, ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray and a number of foreign ministers, Malian Foreign Affairs said.
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