Rwanda to lead the African Union in 2018

Rwanda was elected to lead the African Union (AU) in

2018 after the 29th ordinary session of the Assembly of the African

Union ended on Tuesday.

After the closing ceremony,

Rwanda's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, made the

announcement on her twitter account.

Rwanda will take

over the leadership from Guinea on January 30, 2018. The President of

Rwanda will then replace President Alpha Condé of Guinea for a period of

one year, the New Times reports.

This is the first time that Rwanda chairs the Union

since it was established in 2001 and launched in 2002 as African Union

(AU), replacing the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The

29th Ordinary Session of the AU has concluded in the Ethiopian capital

Addis Ababa with a number of issues being discussed including adoption

of report on reforms of the Union’s institutions, youth issues, and the

need to end conflict and wars in the continent.

This

summit however saw a low turnout of presidents including Egypt’s

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, and

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, among other key leaders.

Moussa

Faki Mahamat, the AU Commission chairperson, said in his speech that

Africa would deploy all its efforts to make 2020 the year of “silencing

the sounds of guns,” by adopting unified stances that promote peace in

the continent.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame while

submitting the report on AU Reforms urged African countries to unify

efforts to speed up the implementation of necessary improvements in the

pan-African body.