Bitania Tadesse

Here is the @MAEBurundi letter nominating Macky Sall as a candidate for the next UN SG (along with his vision statement). While it's notable that Burundi (current AU Chair) submitted Sall's candidacy, this does not appear to be an AU-endorsed nomination. un.org/pga/80/2026/03…

The SG's caution about the public/visible dimensions of his role of 'chief diplomat' is something that raises ire among many diplomats across the UN. @thantmyintu points to a specific example where the UN's good offices could make an impact.

NOW: African Chiefs of Defence and Heads of Safety and Security Services are meeting at AU HQ for the 20th #ACDSS, following the 8–9 Dec Experts Meeting reviewing progress on decisions from the 16th STCDSS and 19th #ACDSS (June 2024).

Communiqué of the 1308th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union(#AUPSC) held on 28 October 2025, on Update on the Situation in #Sudan 🇸🇩 🔗 papsrepository.africanunion.org/entities/publi…

South Africa #G20 Presidency has established an Africa Expert Panel to bring the development challenges of the continent to the fore. I am happy to join eminent colleagues in this endeavour under the leadership of Trevor Manuel. More:google.com/url?sa=t&sourc…

The new AU Commission leadership's first statement, attributed to @ymahmoudali, has the difficult task of framing a Doha-based meeting as aligned with the paradigm of African-led solutions to African problems. #Rwanda #DRC

🎙️ New episode of The Afropolitan Podcast @BeverlyOchieng, Senior Analyst @Control_Risks & Senior Associate of @CSIS Africa, joins host @CatherineNzuki_ to discuss the new Alliance of Sahel States and what it means for Africa’s legacy institutions. 🔗 bit.ly/3XviRGU

I was pleased to welcome the A3 Plus Group of the UN Security Council at our Georgetown headquarters 🇬🇾. Our discussions included initiatives to strengthen ties, including the CARICOM-AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia scheduled for 7 Sept 2025.

Press Statement of the ECOWAS-UNOWAS high-Level Political Mission to Guinea-Bissau

Excellent piece making sense of the resolution texts and amendments on Ukraine in the UNGA and UNSC yesterday. dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-0…

BREAKING: Burundian troops will leave Somalia after the federal government of Somalia and Burundi failed to agree the number of soldiers who will be serving under AUSSOM. Egyptian troops will be deployed in Somalia as part of the AUSSOM mission. Here are the AU troop contributing countries: Uganda: 4500 Kenya: 1410 Ethiopia: 2500 Djibouti: 1520 Egypt: 1091

Thank you, Richard Randriamandrato and @RailaOdinga, for offering your visions to Africa. Leadership is not only about holding office but about standing up when the stakes are high. Congratulations to Mahamoud Ali Youssouf (@ymahmoudali) for taking on one of the hardest jobs in the world. You have the right experience and knowledge. Even though your role as Commission Chair is circumscribed by the Constitutive Act, within these formal constraints lies space for transformative leadership. You know better than most that you are stepping into an institution where member states guard their sovereignty but leave commitments unmet, where regional blocs weaken under strain, and where external actors shape African affairs not just through diplomacy but through the financial dependencies that bind the Commission itself. I urge you to focus on where authority is real. Driving the Commission’s work program, enforcing the implementation of Assembly decisions, and ensuring the Secretariat functions with purpose are not just bureaucratic tasks but levers of influence. The challenge is not simply institutional inertia but the reality of fragmented power. The AU cannot impose compliance, but it can build coalitions that raise the cost of non-performance. It cannot stop external influence, but it can shift Africa’s negotiating posture from supplication to strategy. Your new job is inherently lonely, filled with weighty expectations and constrained by the limits of its tools. The hardest decisions will be made in moments when clarity is absent and hesitation could mean failure. You will not have the luxury of consensus before action. The institutional mandate is limited but leadership is not. The real test will be in asserting the Commission’s relevance when many would prefer it remain weak. You will need to act in ways that compel movement, recognize the value of surprise and invention, and create conditions where the AU becomes impossible to ignore, even for those accustomed to dismissing it. You also know that a leader with too much of an eye on reelection is slow to act, too diffident, and too easily intimidated into paralysis. But the moment is too urgent, the lives at risk too many, and African freedom and independence too threatened to let calculation overtake conviction. A leader trapped by caution is already losing. Real leadership in times of peril guarantees respect. Those of us who understand the gravity of this moment will honor you for the courage to do what is necessary. Trust your instincts. They have been honed over a lifetime of service. Never forget that those who stand still will be forgotten, but those who act with a love for Africa will shape its future and unleash the immense forces it contains to make the world a better place. @_AfricanUnion

NOW: The #AU Peace and Security Council, at the level of Heads of State and Govt, meets to discuss the situations in #Sudan & Eastern #DRC. Chaired by H.E. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea and Chairperson of the PSC for the month of February,..1/2

We asked the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva to give us their reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's Executive Order targeting South Africa. This was their response: "Redressing South Africa’s racially imbalanced land ownership is vital to addressing the historical injustices of the Apartheid era and fostering a more equitable future. The recently adopted law marks a critical step on this journey. We call on the authorities to ensure its implementation aligns with the protections enshrined in South Africa’s Constitution and complies with international human rights standards." #sabcnews

As neighbours and compatriots, South Africa is united in grief with Namibians who have lost the leader of the Namibian revolution, who is inseparable from our own history of struggle and liberation. Dr Sam Nujoma was an extraordinary freedom fighter who divided his revolutionary programme between Namibia’s own struggle against South African colonialism and the liberation of South Africa from apartheid. In exile and on home soil, he led the Ovambo People’s Organisation, the South West Africa People’s Organisation and the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia against the seemingly unshakeable might of colonial and apartheid authorities and forces. Sam Nujoma inspired the Namibian people to pride and resistance that belied the size of the population. Namibia’s attainment of independence from South Africa in 1990 ignited in us the inevitability of our own liberation. President Nujoma’s leadership of a free Namibia laid the foundation for the solidarity and partnership our two countries share today – a partnership we will continue to deepen as neighbours and friends. We are grateful for the extended lifetime with which Dr Sam Nujoma was blessed and we are grateful for the manner in which he dedicated the many decades of his life to serving his nation. May his soul rest in peace and may our neighbours find healing in his legacy.

A few things I hope will be considered in this debate: 1) Given SAMIDRC’s offensive mandate, why do we keep referring to this as a peacekeeping mission? This isn’t just semantics. It has massive bearing on defence & international relations policy coherence (cont.)

We are not deer caught in the headlights. 1998-2004 was the peak African diplomatic innovation: AU deploying to Burundi without waiting for UN approval, IGAD getting Sudan-SPLM to table, ECOWAS showing teeth in Liberia/Sierra Leone. We need to reclaim that bold spirit

PRESS STATEMENT The withdrawal of Burkina Faso, the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Niger from ECOWAS has become effective today, 29th January 2025.

📢Breaking News: The @_AfricanUnion Peace and Security Council to hold an emergency session at the ministerial level tomorrow, 28 January, on the escalating situation in Eastern #DRC. During January Cote d’Ivoire is the Chairperson of the PSC and tomorrow's meeting is expected to be chaired by the Foreign Minister of Cote d’Ivoire.