Excellency Azali Assoumani, President of the Union of The Comoros and Current Chairman of the African Union,

Excellencies Heads of State and Government and Heads of Delegation,

Excellence President Lula da Silva, President of Brazil,

Honourable Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority,

Mr. Secretary General of the United Nations,

Mr. Secretary General of the League of Arab States,

Madam Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission,

Honourable Ministers,

Representatives of International Organisations,

Invited Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen, All Protocols observed,

Just a few weeks after the celebration of the New year 2024, we are still within reasonable deadlines for the presentation of wishes. I would, therefore, like to seize the opportunity of this Session of your Assembly to convey to each one of you as well as to your Government and your people my best wishes for peace, stability and prosperity.

Mr. Current Chairman of the African Union,

Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have already spent seven good years at the helm of the Commission, years during which I have benefited from your wisdom and experience, in particular that of seven Heads of State, Current Chairmen of the Union.

During this relatively long period, the reservoir of experience that I have accumulated and the lessons learnt from the life of our Organisation allow me to begin formulating some thoughts which I will conclude at the beginning of next year, when I shall bid farewell.

Excellency Mr. Chairman,

Excellencies, Heads of State,

Our main challenges have not diminished in importance. Peace, political and institutional instability, Climate Change, deficits in economic governance, integration, poverty, marginalisation of women and youths in development and leadership processes in our political and social system, remain our main sources of concern. The incredible complexity of the world is far from helping matters. Conflict, violence and the decline of great principles have, unfortunately, taken over humility, peace and the nobility of the founding values of human civilisation.

Not only have social inequalities widened, injustices have multiplied, but hegemony and the absurd desire to resolve our differences by brutal and vain force prevail publicly before the eyes of all.

The most blatant case is that of Gaza in Palestine, literally razed to the ground, its people almost exterminated in the physical integrity of tens of thousands of its inhabitants, humiliated in their dignity and robbed of all their rights.

International law, International Humanitarian Law, Human rights, Morality in general, are blithely ignored, trampled underfoot, flouted.

العزيز صاحب الفخامة رئيس الوزراء الفلسطيني

‎كن واثقا من شجبنا القوي لهذه العملية التي لا شبيه لها في تاريخ الانسانية و كذلك من تضامننا التام مع شعبكم الشعب الفلسطيني

‎و تعلقنا الذي لا يلين بالعدالة تجاهه وتجاه كافة الشعوب و الدول التي يجب الان و ليس غدا ان يتمتع الشعب الفلسطيني بينهم

‎بكامل حريته و بدولته المستقلة ذات السيادة التامة في امن و سلام كبقية دول و شعوب المنطقة.

(Honourable Prime Minister, rest assured of our firm condemnation of the unprecedented operation in the history of mankind and also be convinced of our full solidarity with the people of Palestine and our unwavering commitment to justice for all the peoples and States, justice that must be done today and not tomorrow so that the people of Palestine may enjoy, together with other peoples, their full freedom and their independent State in all sovereignty in peace and security like other peoples in the Region)

In this regard, I would like to express my satisfaction with the dual judicial and ethical reaction of South Africa. Its referral to the International Court of Justice is based on the unwavering commitment of Africa to such values. It recalls with strong resonance the words of Nelson Mandela when he said: “We know very well that our freedom is incomplete without that of Palestine”.

The decision just taken by the International Court of Justice extends the relevance of the approach and resounds as a victory, not only for Africa, but also for all the other countries which have shown their unwavering support for the just cause of the Palestinian people.

Excellency Mr. Chairman,

Excellencies, Heads of State, Government and Delegation,

The war continues to rage in Europe between Russians and Ukrainians. The scope of its devastation of human lives and property continues to expand, to the great detriment of all the peoples of the world.

Here in Africa, terrorism is destroying some of our States by reversing priorities through the increase in exorbitant military spending, at the expense of vital social sectors, while opening the way to misleading populist speeches.

Unconstitutional Changes of Government have multiplied in total defiance of the entire political-legal order that founded our Organisation. Never since the establishment of the AU has such a number of Transitions, following Unconstitutional Change taken place in Africa. Our failure to counter such a phenomenon is obvious. Instead of being joyful modes of peaceful transfer or maintenance of power, elections have become, through the extent of their irregularities, factors for deepening crises.

It is, therefore, legitimate to wonder what has become of our African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and its twin sister the African Governance Architecture (AGA), the mere mention of whose acronyms galvanised us and made us shudder with pride?

Are we being deceived by designing them according to their current physiognomy? Did we err, by blind mimicry, in designing them the way we did? How then can we escape this nagging question?

Libya remains divided and exposed to all kinds of external interference to satisfy their insatiable appetites.

The Sudan, bruised, torn, deeply trampled by its elites, is sinking into chaos and the calls of its people for peace and justice remain ignored. How, therefore, can we not vigorously condemn the stubbornness of the authors of this senseless adventure and urgently promote a consensual political solution, which IGAD and the AU, supported by entire segments of the international community, had called for as soon as the war broke out?

The Horn of Africa continues to generate the most worrying trends for all peace and justice loving people. The imperative need for the full respect of the sovereignty, integrity, security and fundamental interests of all countries in the Region, has never been more crucial than it is today.

The Great Lakes Region is multiplying the signs of worsening of its eternal crisis fuelled by unresolved issues in the East of the Democratic Republic of The Congo. Africa cannot give up and not work to promote genuine peace in this Region.

The Sahel is an extreme source of concern with the vacuum that has dangerously established there since the withdrawal of the United Nations Mission, the denunciation of the Algiers Agreement and the withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger from ECOWAS.

Senegal, a model country in terms of democracy, worries us to the greatest

extent. Our fervent hope is that it quickly finds the path of wisdom to resolve its institutional crisis, in accordance with the principles of the rule of law and the fundamental interests of its great people. In this context, I welcome the position of the Senegalese Government to take into high consideration the decision of the Constitutional Council of the country and wish every success to the consultations planned by the Government to decide, in a consensual spirit, the best ways for the organisation of the inclusive, free and fair and transparent elections as quickly as possible.

Excellency, Mr. Chairman,

Excellencies Heads of State and Government,

However, beyond this bleak picture and its litany of difficulties, we made some achievements and the various Reports on our Agenda will highlight this.

Institutional reform is progressing successfully despite the shortcomings that we are called upon to identify and address lucidly.

Integration has progressed and the AfCFTA is gradually getting underway, even if its pace seems slow compared to our forecasts and expectations. Bold recovery measures must be taken with determination here.

The Peace Fund is taking shape. Its operationalisation is being done at a satisfactory pace. More sacrifices from our Member States and concrete contributions from our partners are necessary.

New organs have emerged in response to our needs, in the field of health, in particular. Their prompt operationalisation remains one of our major challenges, since it refers to the recurring phenomenon of decisions taken and their non-implementation, which becomes a real threat to our collective credibility.

The African Common Positions have been strengthened on the issues of Climate, reform of global Governance, financing of African Peacekeeping Missions, on which success has just been obtained at the United Nations Security Council. This is the moment to express my grateful thanks to all the members of the Council who contributed to this.

I would like to make special mention here of the enthusiastic support that you, my dear Friend Antonio Gutteres, absent for reasons beyond his control, creates a real void on this podium, have given us throughout these long years of struggle, to obtain this result.

The accession of the AU to the G20 Forum urges us to succeed by effectively making our irreplaceable contribution to the solution of global challenges while intensifying our advocacy in favour of the Continental priorities.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is, obviously, a vast field where we have sown and harvested quite well. There is, therefore, no point in self-flagellation. There is also no point in turning a blind eye to paralysing autism through denial of our shortcomings and failings.

The final purpose of my remarks, today, is to take the risk of looking into some of the shortcomings and institutional limits that continue to challenge us. The first shortcoming that the Institutional Reform of our Union has left unaddressed concerns the powers of the Commission and its Chairperson, in particular. I feel free and without embarrassment to point this out, since I am almost at the end of my term and the solution to the question will no longer concern me personally.

Although the Chairperson of the Commission is recognised in the texts as the Legal Representative and “Chief Accounting Officer” of the Organisation, he is paradoxically deprived of sufficient margin of manoeuvre to act urgently on strategic questions.

Another phenomenon deserves your close attention. The frantic tendency to make decisions without real political will to implement them, has grown to such an extent that it has become devastating to our individual and collective credibility. As an illustration, over the last three years 2021, 2022 and 2023, 93% of decisions have not been implemented.

This almost systematic defiance of the decisions of your Summits is perceptible at the level of the Member States as well as at the level of the Regional Economic Communities. It has become commonplace to see them overstep, indeed, even blithely violate, the decisions of Continental bodies.

In front of them, for example, the recurring decisions of the PSC, ignored and violated, have become unimportant, without impact. Subject to all unfortunate interpretations, Subsidiarity has been frankly overused. By a strange semantic shift, subsidiarity has come to sound like Substitution. This results in a legitimate questioning of the relevance of the practice of crowning our meetings with decisions. Should we let ourselves be carried away by the force of routine (business as usual) or courageously pull ourselves together?

We have no other recourse but to you, Excellencies.

Our eyes are fixedly turned towards you.

Our expectations too.

A major constraint has continued to interfere in our general action, it is what we faced in the operationalisation of our International Partnership. Africa must, certainly, count on its own intellectual strengths, the genius of its people and its immense potential, of extreme wealth. However, it cannot evolve in isolation, at a time when globalisation is in full swing. Africa can only develop in a solid and fruitful relationship with its international environment.

Consequently, the question of Partnership arises acutely. Bold thinking and courageous decisions must be made. Our credibility and the good international positioning of our Organisation are at stake.

Another question concerns Inter-African solidarity. During the times of national liberation and the fight against the execrable Apartheid regime, African solidarity, carried by the powerful feeling of PanAfricanism, was at its peak. It united us in a liberating historical current. Today, my experience during my two terms has enabled me, on a daily basis, to notice a real decline in the beautiful spirit of African solidarity and PanAfricanism, the soul of our renaissance. I ask myself and your Excellencies the question of how to reconnect with this heroic and glorious time?

How should we stop watching Terrorism ravage some of our countries, without doing anything? How can we accept just watching African countries destroyed, entire Regions engulfed by tremours and Tsunamis, without doing anything significant? How can we rediscover our African humanity, the basis of our identity and our common destiny?

Excellency Mr. Chairman,

Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are now strongly challenged by the urgency of clear positions on this set of issues, at the heart of the emergence of our Organisation and our Continent. The strengthening of our unity and the intensification of our struggles require a new start, a true renaissance of nationalism and PanAfricanism.

May I, in support of my plea, draw from the heritage of our Founding Fathers.

In favour of the theme of the Year on Education, I would like to quote an illustrious Teacher, a renowned Educator, whom we are preparing to honour, right here, at our Headquarters, with a Statue of his historical dimension.

Let us listen to Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. I quote: «The Role of African Nationalism is different or should be different from the Nationalism of the past, that the African National State is an instrument for the unification of Africa and not for dividing Africa; that African nationalism is meaningless, is dangerous, is anachronic, if it is not at the same time PanAfricanist.

May the beautiful spirit of Mwalimu continue to inspire us.

I thank you.