Long live Egypt and Africa ... A year of honest work
Translated by: Jenin Mahmoud
Reviewed by: Nouran Salah
Egypt’s affiliation with its African surroundings and its belief that the stability of the African continent comes in the priorities of Egyptian foreign policy. Based on that, the Egyptian presidency of the African Union (AU) comes to reflect these constants which have formed the Egyptian foreign policy towards the continent. This reinforces Cairo’s place among the African brothers which notably increased during the leadership of the president, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, as it has been a year since El-Sisi assumed the presidency of the AU in the African Summit in Addis Ababa 2019.
Through its presidency of the AU, Egypt deals with this mission with appreciation as it is trusted by the African leaders in Egypt and its leaders. Simultaneously, it is a responsibility that should be fulfilled towards the continent and its people. In addition, this is the fourth time for Egypt to assume this position, and the first one after the new name of the biggest organization in Africa “African Union,” Since it has been named “African Unity.”
In this context and throughout this year, the Egyptian leadership has been taking action in various ways for the benefit of the African people and to strengthen the cooperation between Egypt and African countries and also among African people.
Egypt assumed the presidency of the AU on February 10, 2019, for the fourth time in its history and the first with the new name “African Union,” as Egypt is from the countries that established the African Unity Organization. At the African Summit that was held in Addis Ababa, President Abdelfatah El-Sisi emphasized in his speech that Egypt would work very hard to reform the structure and finances of the Union and to continue Consolidating the ownership of the member states of their continental organization. Moreover, Egypt will work on developing the tools and abilities of the Union and its commissions to meet the needs of the African people.
President Abdelfatah El-Sisi has participated in multiple conferences and international summits since assuming the presidency of the AU. He also took the chairmanship of some of them with other world leaders in four continents, Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. He has been a strong and direct defender of the rights of African people in peace, stability, development, and prosperity. He indicated that during 2019 they will work on reinforcing sustainable development frameworks to provide more job opportunities for African Youth, referring that the African continent is promising with many opportunities and that development returns must reach all parts of the continent fairly.
After the African Summit, President Abdelfatah El-Sisi was firstly at the Munich Security Conference’s platform in Germany for peace in Africa, then at the European Union–African Union Summit in Austria, then at the China-Africa Forum in Beijing, then at The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Tokyo. Moreover, he participated in The G7 summit in Paris, The G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, the United Nations General Assembly session, the G20-Africa Partnership Summit in Germany, the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, and the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London (January 2020). Thus, in all of these international events, President El-Sisi was the best voice expressing African issues and the best defender of its rights and interests.
The Egyptian role in the presidency of the AU can be highlighted through three criteria:
- The first criterion: Reinforces peace and security in Africa.
- The second criterion: is on the African level.
- The third criterion is the relationships between Egypt and African people.
First Criteria: Reinforces peace and security in Africa.
The president made efforts through the bilateral and collective African meetings. One of the efforts was the Egyptian role in bringing Kenya and Somalia closer. In addition, President El-Sisi supported the Silencing of the Guns in Africa by 2020 initiative, moreover, the Egyptian role towards the developments in Sudan and in the political settlement of the current crisis in Libya. The Egyptian role in enforcing peace and security can be highlighted through:
Munich Security Conference on 15th February 2019:
President El-Sisi delivered a speech through the main session of the conference with the Chancellor of Germany. He was the first president of a non-European country to participate in a speech in the session since the foundation of the conference in 1963.In the context of Egyptian Presidency of the AU, El-Sisi also presented the Egyptian vision to reinforce the African work in the coming phase. This will be achieved through promoting regional economic integration on the continental level and facilitating intra- African trade in line with the African Agenda 2063 of comprehensive and Sustainable development frameworks, furthermore, reinforcing the post-conflict’s efforts of reconstruction and development.
Conference of General Prosecutors of the Middle East and North Africa
Egypt hosted the Conference of Prosecutors General of the Middle East and North Africa on 20 to 23 of February. President Abdelfatah El-Sisi emphasized the importance of the role of Association of African Parliamentarians in increasing the efficiency of prosecution agencies in the continent and building its members’ skills. He also highlighted Egypt’s role in supporting the association under Egyptian presidency of the AU, considering that strengthening common African action is a priority of the Egyptian presidency of the union. In this context, the president outlined the Egyptian vision to combat terrorism, which depends on dealing with this phenomenon in all aspects, security, political, economic, social, intellectual, and religious. Moreover, this vision encompasses countering the mechanisms of financing, political support, and media backing for terrorist groups. The President reinforces the importance of intensifying international community efforts to prevent terrorists from exploiting information and technological advancements.
Troika Summit and "Libya Committee"
The summit discussed the latest developments on the Libyan scene, ways to handle the crisis, revive the political process in Libya, and defeat terrorism. The summit was attended by the presidents of Rwanda and South Africa, members of the Troika of the Management of the Union, and the President of Congo as Chairman of the Union Committee on Libya, as well as the Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
Consultative Summit of Regional Partners of Sudan
The participating countries reaffirmed the principles and objectives of the African Union towards strengthening peace, security, and stability in the continent.
They also emphasized the commitment to Sudan’s unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and cohesion, and expressed their support for the role of the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and neighboring countries in supporting Sudan’s efforts to overcome the political, security, and economic challenges it faces.
The participating countries also encouraged the Chairperson of the African Union Commission to continue dialogue with the Sudanese authorities and Sudanese parties and they urged Sudan to keep pace with its constructive engagement with the African Union and its Commission. The participating countries also encouraged the international community to continue its support and provide urgent economic assistance to Sudan in light of the deteriorating economic conditions and stressed the importance of urgent debt relief for Sudan.
The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, April 24, 2019
The president spoke on behalf of Africa, calling for more collaboration in Infrastructure and economic developments.
Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD):
Japan organized a high-level summit to support Africa and its developments’ aspirations. The seventh session of Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) was held in Yokohama city in Japan from 27-30 August 2019 under the common presidency between Japan and Egypt, the current President of the AU, and with the participation of the African countries’ presidents and numerous international organizations and institutions, including the United Nations and World Bank.
In this context, the target of this summit is strengthening the political dialogue between Africa and its development partners.
The fourth G20 summit:
The president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi participated in the fourth G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, which was held on July 28th and 29th. That was after the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, invited the President to participate in the Summit, based on the Egyptian position in Africa and its presidency of the AU. President El-Sisi also participated in a mini-coordination African summit on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, which included the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the President of Senegal, Macky Sall. During the mini-summit, it was agreed to work on highlighting the development priorities of African countries towards the partners during G20 meetings, and strengthen the goals included in Agenda 2063 for African Development.
The second criterion: is on the African level.
The African Continental Free Trade Area was launched which is a major boost for economic cooperation between the Continent’s countries. The 12th Extraordinary African Summit was held under the presidency of Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in Niamey, Niger, on July 7-8, 2019. The summit witnessed the launch of The African Continental Free Trade Area after taking the agreement of the African countries and started working on the agreement.
First African Anti-Corruption Forum
Egypt hosted the first African Anti-Corruption Forum on July 12, 2019, under its presidency of the AU. This depended on the initiative launched by the president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in January 2018 during his participation in the annual African Leaders Summit.
55 countries and 200 high-level African officials attended the forum. It discussed the important topics, among them showing the nation's efforts in anti-corruption in numerous African countries fulfilling the continental and international commitments and the role of anti-corruption in development of Africa. Moreover, it discussed the mechanisms of combating corruption on the continental level and development of the human resources abilities in anti-corruption various aspects in Africa. It also discussed supporting Intergovernmental African coordination in combating corruption, and the role of the political will in the success of the anti-corruption efforts in Africa.
Celebration of the African Day:
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi gave a speech on African Day on 25th of May as the president of the AU. He emphasized during the speech the importance of preparing the continent’s youth to keep up with the developments of the modern era and to carry out their missions in leading Africa’s future. Moreover, he reinforced the continued enhancement of the role of African women as the heartbeat of the society and the beacon for economic transformation and stability. He also called for strengthening the cultural and civilizational links between the African people to reinforce the African identity and uphold the principles of African solidarity. The president also mentioned in his speech that we don’t have any other ways except to make efforts and to be attached with our unity to achieve the dreams of the founders and the aspirations of the great African people in a stable and flourishing continent can ensure a good living to its sons and spreads the light of civilization and tolerance and love culture to all the world.
The third criterion: the relationships between Egypt and African people.
Egypt has made significant efforts, including organizing the Africa Investment Forum and the Arab African Economic Forum, and Aswan became the capital for African youth. In addition, directives were issued to all Egyptian agencies to enhance the cooperation with the African countries in all the fields. Thus, multiple cooperation programs were achieved in various aspects; economic, trade, agriculture, irrigation, diplomacy, environment, youth, sports, industry, human resources and abilities preparation and others.
Egypt organized the African Cup of Nations:
Egypt hosted the African Cup of Nations during its presidency of the AU, which was originally scheduled to be in Cameroon, in the heart of the continent. However, the incomplete preparations of Cameroon to organize the largest sports event in the continent lead the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to take the rights of hosting from it. Nevertheless, they give it the right to host the next one in 2019 and reschedule the next ones in Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea in 2023 and 2025.
In this context, Egypt has hosted the African Cup of Nations four previous times in 1959, 1974, 1986, and 2006. However, this is the first time for Egypt to organize this event while holding the presidency of the AU to play the leading role in both political and sports.
Egypt also hosted the African U-23 Cup of Nations, impressing the world with the amazing organization of the championship in which the Egyptian pharaohs won its title for the first time in its history. Additionally, they qualified to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics games for the 12th time in history and the first since the last champion in London in 2012.
Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development:
The president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi launched the first addition of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development at the Sochi summit in the Russian Federation. This is in the context of the Egyptian presidency of the AU 2019 to open new horizons towards achieving Sustainable Peace and development in Africa.
The Forum was held on 11 December with the goal of encouraging the investments of the various resources of the African continent and transforming it into added value alongside with the development of infrastructure. Moreover, the goal of linking peace with sustainable development is to encourage and enhance the international financial institutions to help and sponsor development projects in Africa and attract investments to it. This will benefit the continent by enabling its products to Europe and vice versa through Egypt.
The Arab and African Youth Platform
The Arab African Youth Platform was hosted in Aswan from March 16 to 18, 2019, under the patronage of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. More than 11500 African and Arab youth participated in the platform to discuss the issues and challenges in the continent and in the Arab region. The president emphasized during the platform that the idea of the World Youth Forum comes to interact with all the world’s youth, to listen and speak with each other. He also reinforced the importance of maintaining these forums and that they should be at regular intervals to achieve their goals.
The Forum included different activities, such as a discussion session titled “Future of Scientific Research and the Health Care Facilities,” and a round table session titled “The Nile Valley: a Corridor for African and Arab integration.” Moreover, there were two entrepreneurship workshops, one titled “How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur” and the other titled “Social Entrepreneurship from an African Perspective.”
In the field of infrastructure and transportation:
The projects that connect Egypt with African countries were highlighted, especially the infrastructure project (Cairo–Cape Town) and the electrical interconnection project between Egypt, Africa and Europe, supplying electricity to these continents through transborder metal towers. In addition, the Water Connectivity Project (Alexandria–Victoria) aims to connect Lake Victoria in Africa with the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, contributing to regional development for all Nile Basin countries.
In this context, Egypt contributed to establishing an investment fund in informational infrastructure to support technological development and digital transformation on the continent, aiming to build modern economies based on the latest technological systems. Moreover, the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones and the Ethiopian Investment Commission of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia signed a memorandum of agreement to enhance bilateral investment relations.
On health level
Egypt has assumed the chairmanship of the African Union’s specialized Technical Committee on Drug Control while also launching health initiatives under President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi. These initiatives aim to combat communicable and non-communicable diseases, especially the “100 million SIHA” initiative, which includes the examination of non-Egyptian. Egypt also intends to establish a regional center in Cairo to support public health initiatives to activate public health initiatives in African countries to eliminate diseases and epidemics that pose a heavy burden on African countries.
Meeting with African Leaders
The president El-Sisi began his visits to the African countries with a historic trip to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. During this visit, he took over the presidency of the AU Chairing the thirty-second ordinary session of the Summit of African Heads of State and Government of the Union. In this context, on April 7th, the president started an international tour that included Ghana, Côte D’Ivoire, and Senegal, as a part of Egypt’s efforts to enhance communication and organization with its African brothers and enhance the relationships with African countries in all the fields.
On the margins of his participation in the United Nations General Assembly activities in September, President El-Sisi took part in a trilateral summit which included Muhammed Abduallah Farmaajo, president of Somalia, and Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya, to discuss some continuous bilateral issues between the two parties.
President El-Sisi hosted on June 9th the president of Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki, strengthening the strategic cooperation with Eritrea. He also emphasized the importance of going on in specific plans to develop the bilateral cooperation projects in all the fields and overcome all obstacles, particularly in the sectors of infrastructure, electricity, health, trade, investment, agriculture, and livestock and fisheries. In addition, he also emphasized the importance of enhancing the technical support programs from the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development to the Eritrea side.
Furthermore, there were other meetings with numerous of Presidents of African countries, among them were Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, president of Mozambique, Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, president of Chad, and the President of the Comoros. President El-Sisi discussed ways to enhance cooperation, consultation, and coordination on African issues of common interest, efforts to combat terrorism, and ways to strengthen bilateral relations on various levels.
As part of Egypt's presidency of the African Union, many African leaders and heads of state visited Cairo, including Moussa Faki, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, who met with President Sisi on the sidelines of the Arab and African Youth in Aswan. This importance of the African Union Development Agency (NEPAD). Since Egypt is one of the founding countries of the initiative, President Sisi appointed the agency's executive director on May 8th. The meeting resulted in an agreement of cooperation between the two to support NEPAD aimed at developing and enhancing economic integration and regional cooperation in Africa.
Conclusion:
Egypt has fulfilled what the President El-Sisi promised in his speech in the African Summit in Addis Ababa when Egypt assumed the presidency of the AU. The promise was that Egypt will do its best on continuing the path of structure and financial reform of the Union and complete the achievements made. This is a consolidation of the ownership of the member states over their continental organization and a strive for developing the tools and abilities of the union and its commissions. This is to meet the aspirations of African people. Moreover, this is to enhance the framework of sustainable development to provide more job opportunities for African youth.
Egypt has achieved many impressive results on regional and international levels, which gains praise from member states of the Union and senior officials of its administrative structure. Egypt has reaffirmed the principles and goals of the African Union in enhancing peace, security, and stability of the continent. President El-Sisi has participated in all international forums while taking in his consideration the concerns and hopes of the African peoples for a decent life, their right to sustainable development, and job opportunities. Furthermore, he has called on businessmen and major international companies to invest in Africa, highlighting the continent's multi opportunities and advantages, including natural resources and labor force.
Moreover, Egypt continues to enhance the role of African women as the heartbeat of their communities and a beacon for economic transformation and stability. This includes strengthening cultural and civilizational ties among its peoples, consolidating African identity, and upholding the principles of African solidarity.
English Language Coordinator: Asmaa Ahmed
