President Mutharika heads to AU Summit in Addis Ababa

Malawi President Peter Mutharika is due to attend the 28th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mutharika will travel to Addis Ababa on Sunday  for the summit starting on  Saturday.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Mgeme Kalilani said that Mutharika will depart through Kamuzu International Airport on Saturday at 3pm.

He is expected  would attend the Summit from 28-31 January, under the theme “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend Through Investment in the Youth”.

The return day for the Malawi leader has not been indicated.

The AU Assembly will be preceded, on 29 January, by a retreat of AU Heads of State and Government, where the leaders will consider a report to be presented by the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, on institutional reforms of the AU aimed at enhancing the continental body’s governance systems.

The report was commissioned at the last AU Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

Amongst other things, the Assembly will consider and deliberate on reports focusing on the state of peace and security on the continent, the African Peer Review Mechanism and Climate Change.

The African Union Assembly will also elect a new Chairperson of the AU Commission, Deputy Chair and eight Commissioners. The term of office of the incumbent Chair of the AU Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, came to an end in June 2016 and was extended by the AU leaders till now to enable the AU to elect her successor.

The Assembly is also expected to consider the application by the Kingdom of Morocco to become the AU’s 55th Member State.