The 30th summit of the African Union opened on Sunday 28 January and should close on Monday.
-At the end of a year of presidency of the African Union, Alpha Condé passed the torch to Rwandan Paul Kagame. Observers expect an acceleration of reforms with the entry into force of the 0,2% tax on imports to finance the AU. Egypt will succeed Rwanda in 2019.
About the Kagame tax: The Ten Finance Ministers Commission of the AU (F10), charged with the application of the 0,2% tax (known as the Kagame tax), met in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, to review the progress made. This body chaired by Chad’s Abdoulaye Saber Fadoul called on African countries to generalize the tax to finance 100% of the AU’s operating budget, 75% of its programs and 25% of peace support operations. As of December 2017.
Countries applying the Kaberuka tax:
At the end of December 2017, twenty states applied the 0,2% tax at various stages. Fourteen countries (Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Chad, Djibouti, Guinea, Sudan, Morocco, Gambia, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast) have already started collecting the tax and paying the proceeds. on a dedicated account, said the text.
Ghana, Benin, Malawi and Senegal have put in place internal legal and administrative processes to enable the implementation of the decision.
Despite their national economic and legal constraints, Mauritius and Seychelles have indicated their full commitment to the principles of AU funding.
-Algeria and Morocco get along. The two Maghreb rivals agreed on the level of the Peace and Security Council (PSC). Morocco obtained a seat for two years (with 39 votes and 16 absentions) in this key organ of the African Union, Algeria having withdrawn, keeping however the presidency of the instance via Smaïl Chergui, its former ambassador in Moscow.
–Nepad (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) is changing its name. It will now be called the African Union Development Agency. A break with the vision of the beginning of the millennium embodied by Mbeki, Obasanjo and Wade?
Zambia will house the African Center for Mineral Development (AMDC). The Lusaka bid was preferred to Conakry (Guinea), Nairobi (Kenya) and Khartoum (Sudan). It should also be noted that Zambia will house the Economic and Social Council of the AU.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the League of Arab States, on Sunday called on the African Union (AU) and its members to strengthen their partnership in the areas of peace and security, with particular emphasis on creating sustainable solutions to the crisis in Libya. The displacement of its secretary general in Addis Ababa was an opportunity for the Arab League to call on African countries to reject Israel’s candidacy for the position of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2019- 2020.
At the opening of the work of the Executive Council of the African Union, Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the Commission, condemned the remarks attributed to Donald Trump on “shitty countries”. The Chadian denounced the “hatred” of the American president with regard to Africa. The US president had taken advantage of a Davos summit to hold talks with Paul Kagamé, the future president of the AU (who was preferred to Guinea’s Alpha Condé) and give him a letter expressing his warm feelings towards Africa. .
Nigerian Muhammadu Buhari has been declared the anti-corruption champion by his peers at the African Union summit. A way to salute his commitment made the day after his accession to power in 2015.
