A diplomatic uproar has resulted from the exclusion of Israeli envoy Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li from the 36th African Union Summit in Ethiopia by AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat.
Bar-Li was dismissed because she was not the legitimately invited Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia.
The 36th AU Summit, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from February 18 to 19, is over. The summit took place in a significant year for continental administration. It also marks the first decade of the AU Agenda 2063 and the 60th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) founding.
The Agenda 2063 provides a vision and actionable actions for modernizing the African continent by 2063. In contrast, the OAU served as the AU's forerunner. The heads of state and government gathering allowed people to consider how far Africa has come and plot a course for achieving the shared objectives.
This year's theme gathering is Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation ( AfCFTA). It demonstrates how motivated and devoted African leaders are to move toward realizing the OAU's fundamental principles and Agenda 2063 objectives.
At the meeting, the AU's chair was replaced by Macky Sall of Senegal by Azali Assoumani, the president of the island nation of the Union of Comoros.
Although Assoumani swiftly pledged to speed up AfCFTA implementation, it is concerning that his nation is one of the ten nations that has not yet ratified the agreement, nearly three years after it entered into force.
He asks the continent to rely on him to hasten the implementation of the AfCFTA even though it appears to be a low priority for his nation. Moreover, South Africa was chosen to preside over the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC).
It will be interesting to see how South African President Cyril Ramaphosa would lead the PSC concerning the crisis in Mozambique, where South Africa's defense forces have been sent to assist in suppressing the rebellion.
Nevertheless, the biggest news to come out of the summit may have been the ejection of Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li, a senior Israeli diplomat and the deputy director for Africa in the Israeli foreign ministry, from the event.
A diplomatic uproar has resulted from this episode. The AU Commission Chairperson said through a spokeswoman that ambassador Bar-Li was forced to leave because she was not the legitimately invited Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia.
Israel's foreign ministry, meanwhile, expressed disappointment and denounced Bar-exclusion Li's from the proceedings, claiming that she was an authorized observer with complete admittance credentials.
The Jewish state accused Algeria and South Africa of orchestrating the expulsion of its representative based on hatred. Israel's assertions were quickly refuted by South Africa, which noted that the AU had not yet decided on Israel's observer status in any event.
Israel pledged to call the representative of South Africa to express its concerns. Several member states, led by Algeria and South Africa, promptly denounced the AU Commission's decision to offer Israel observer status in the organization beginning in 2021.
The opposition claimed that the organization's fundamental support for the Palestinian people, whose country is occupied by Israel, was incompatible with granting Israel observer status.
The country's ruling party, the ANC, has categorically referred to Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people as apartheid. But, due to the divergent views on the issue, which some fear may weaken the organization when unity is crucial, the discussion of whether to revoke Israel's observer status has been put off indefinitely.
Due to the ongoing military dictatorships in Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, the summit upheld the suspensions of those nations. The leaders pledged to assist the four countries in returning to the constitutional order while condemning undemocratic and constitutional changes in administration.
The AU's attitude ushers in a new era. The days when the continental body would ignore undemocratic and constitutional takeovers, which led some critics to label it a "club of dictators," appear long gone.
Military takeovers have made realizing continental goals like regional integration more difficult. One hopes that the AU's resolute opposition to the military takeovers in the four nations will act as a solid deterrence for similar events in the future.
Nevertheless, it is still being determined what these nations stand to lose by the suspension outside of being excluded from the yearly conferences, which have essentially devolved into high-sounding nothingness.
The AU Summit also took the time to support the decisions made at the African Development Bank-organized Dakar 2 Conference on Food Sovereignty and Resilience.
The Dakar meeting successfully raised $36 billion, boosting food and agricultural output across the continent.
With the recent worldwide food inflation brought on by the disruption of the food supply chains brought on by the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, this intervention is crucial. As a result, hundreds of millions of Africans are now food insecure.
As a result, this effort will increase Africa's food supply chains' resilience to external shocks like conflict and pandemics.
