Malawi Wire

The current Chairperson of the African Union(AU) and President of the Union of Comoros, Azali Assoumani, called on Sudanese warring parties to resolve the current conflicts in Sudan through dialogue and reach a ceasefire agreement.

In an exclusive interview with Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) President Assoumani said that the African Union is doing whatever is necessary to resolve the problem of Sudan and move towards peace and expressed his hope that Sudanese parties would reach ceasefire agreement to settle the widespread conflict in Sudan.

“We are currently discussing on how the AU can resolve this problem, because the African problem needs African solution, together with other bilateral or multilateral partners who want to help us. In any case, to have peace, we need to unite,” the chairperson said.

The issue is serious because Sudan is a big country that has at least seven bordering countries, he said, adding the problem is not only the problem of Sudan and the neighboring countries but to the whole of Africa.

“Security issues do indeed unite us. For example, we can’t close our eyes to what’s happening in Europe today, because the consequences are here too, so security is something that must unite us.”

The chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on his part told ENA that the conflict in Sudan is unfortunate and the military solution is not sustainable, adding the AU is working hard for the parties on both sides to return to negotiations.

“When we talk about Sudan, unfortunately at the same time, we’re in an extremely difficult situation, and we’re currently fighting to put an end to it and to get the parties back to the negotiating table, because a problem like this has no military solution.”

Expressing his deep concern about the situation, the chairman urged the warring parties to quickly adopt a peaceful solution and an inclusive dialogue to resolve their differences and firmly reject any external interference that could complicate the situation in Sudan.

“The Sudanese need to agree on a process that will enable them to define the transition and conduct elections so that they can choose who will run the country.”

Citing as example the Pretoria peace agreement, Musa Faki also appreciated the strong leadership and the courage for realization of the peace agreement that has been shown by the federal government of Ethiopia under the leadership of Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed.

“I’d like to thank my Ethiopian brothers, the government and the TPLF for listening to the voice of reason to make peace. Because Ethiopia is one of the countries certain of this continent and therefore we are happy with this achievement because it will open better prospects for peace for people of Ethiopia.”

President Azali Assoumani also noted that he had discussed the issue of Sudan with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and expressed his belief that the ceasefire agreement mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States would be successful.

The president has also thanked and congratulated Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and all Ethiopian leaders for their achievements in implementing the Pretoria peace agreement for lasting peace in Ethiopia.

He added Africa must seek African solutions to African problems, drawing an example from the Pretoria peace agreement signed between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF.

“I would like to congratulate Prime Minister Abiy for the effort he has made to deal with the problems here, and now he has found unity and peace, which is a good example for other countries, and it’s a good lesson that we have found, so we must do the same for other places where there are problems, such as in the Sahel.”

African leaders should encourage and learn from Ethiopia, when we have problems, we should adopt this experience and try to seek African solutions to African problems, AU Chairperson and President of the Union of Comoros underlined.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The Arab League position on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) creates suspicion and difference between the fraternal people of Ethiopia and Egypt, Water Administration Consultant Fekahmed Negash said.

He further noted that Ethiopia must thwart the false propaganda being disseminated from other directions too by explaining the facts about the dam to the international community.

Ten years have elapsed since Ethiopia commenced the construction of GERD after carrying out a study based on the principle of mutual benefits of the riparian countries.

GERD is a flagship project which demonstrates that Ethiopia has the aim of developing together with the upstream and downstream countries without causing significant harm to the riparian countries, sticking to the principle of fair and reasonable water utilization.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (ENDC) stated that it will finish the designing of agenda and selection of participants for the national dialogue in the coming weeks.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, National Dialogue Commission Chairperson Professor Mesfin Araya said the commission has been in the process of selection of participants and designing agenda by gathering ideas from the grass roots across the country.

Selected participants from over 1,300 woredas will select their representatives at zonal level and agendas for the national dialogue will be collected at the capital city of the respective regional states, he added.

Collecting agendas, which is the vital task of the commission, will also be finalized before the conclusion of this Ethiopian budget year and submitted to the National Dialogue Commission, it was learned.

According to the chairperson, the inclusive national dialogue, which is the first of its kind to the country, starts at the grass roots and moves upwards.

The professor finally noted that “we use this chance (the national dialogue) properly and carefully.”

He believes that the national dialogue will also play a role in enhancing the culture of democracy and inclusiveness.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Angola is keen to further strengthen cooperation with Ethiopia and share the latter’s experience in agriculture and industrial parks.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Angola’s Ambassador Niguel Cesar Domingos Bembe noted that Ethiopia is doing very well in agriculture and industrial parks development as well as air service.

He said Ethiopia and Angola have been enjoying very good relations since his country got its independence in 1955, and the two countries signed their first agreement in air service after a year.

With regard to air service, “Ethiopia is the heart in Africa. So, Angola would like to learn and strengthen cooperation in this sector. We have a proposal project agreement from Ethiopia, and Angola still working on it. I think we will have news in the next month about this.”

Ambassador Bembe also said that the countries “need to increase cooperation in other sectors like pharmaceuticals and agriculture as Ethiopia has many experiences in this sectors and Angola needs to learn from Ethiopia in the area of agriculture. I also see that you have many industrial parks and we need to learn from this.”

With regard to regional integration, he stressed that African leaders and even the people need to work seriously for the realization of this if we are to build the Africa we want.

According to the ambassador, for a good integration to happen in Africa the counties need to first develop industrially and build infrastructures at the desired level.

“We are still very late, but we have time. For example, in my country, we are developing some projects in the infrastructure sector in order to make sure that we can facilitate the modernization of our people.”

He further stated that Africans have many challenges, but there is no challenge that cannot be overcome. First comes lack of infrastructures.

Next, there is energy problem in Africa. And for development and industrialization to happen we need energy service, Ambassador Bembe said.

“We have also many political challenges. But I think our leaders are willing to overcome the situation. What we need is unity to make sure that our national goals can also align with continental levels.”

Source: Ethiopian News Agency