Issued on: 14/02/2026 - 10:27

As the 39th summit of the African Union opened in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, the chair of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, used his opening address to denounce what he described as the “extermination” of the Palestinian people, while António Guterres spoke to African leaders on Saturday, renewing his appeal for the continent to gain permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council; although this year’s official theme focuses on access to water and sanitation, ongoing conflicts across the continent—particularly in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—have already pushed security to the forefront of discussions, as our correspondent Tom Canetti reports from Addis Ababa.

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