Excellency Mr. Joao Lourenço, President of the Republic of Angola and Vice-Chairman of the African Union,

Excellency Mr. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Host of the Summit,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Heads of State and Government,

Distinguished Members of the Executive Council,

Ladies and Gentlemen

The convening holding of this 16th Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly affords us the opportunity to reconnect with Malabo, this beautiful city always well prepared to host the meetings of our Union.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to H.E. Mr. Teodoro Obiang NGuema Mbasogo, for all the efforts made to provide our meeting with an optimal framework for consultation and reflection on the two major challenges that are hindering our ambition to build the Africa we want, namely Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government.

I would also like to commend and thank His Excellency Joao Lourenço, President of the Republic of Angola, who is the sponsor of the inclusion, at this Summit, of these themes, the negative impact of which on our Continent is not to be overemphasized.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

One could rightly wonder about the relevance of the correlation between Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government, as the two phenomena seem to feed off each other, with intertwined causes which provide fertile ground for military coups and terrorist attacks on our Continent.

Firstly, with regard to Terrorism, I would like to recall that the phenomenon was initially localised mainly in Somalia and Algeria. Defeated in Algeria, it unfortunately prospered in Somalia. It was from 2011 that it really exploded in Africa due to the Libyan crisis. This encouraged the arrival in the Sahel of thousands of foreign fighters and mercenaries. It caused the influx of defeated terrorist organisations in the Middle East. It resulted in the uncontrolled circulation of weapons. Gradually, terrorism grew and extended its tentacles to other Regions of the Continent. From Libya to Mozambique, Mali, the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa to Somalia through the Sahel, the Lake Chad Basin and Eastern DRC, the terrorist contagion continues to grow.

Africa was quick to react through the establishment of Joint combat forces, such as AMISOM/ATMIS in Somalia, the Joint Multinational Task Force in the Lake Chad Basin, the G5 Sahel Joint Force, the Mission of SADC in Mozambique (SAMIM) and bilateral initiatives also in Mozambique.

To the operational measures was added the reactivation by the African Union of legal instruments intended to fight against Terrorism, such as the Plan of Action on the Prevention and the Fight against Terrorism adopted in 2002 as the operational framework of the OAU Convention on the fight against Terrorism, adopted in 1999 and its Protocol adopted in 2004.

Mention should also be made of the Johannesburg Declaration on the Silencing of the Guns Initiative and the AU Roadmap on the Practical Steps for Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2030.

These strong principles were supplemented by relevant reflections made during the various fora held on peace and security in Africa.

Despite all these initiatives, Terrorism is not weakening on the Continent. First, because of insufficient African solidarity with countries that are victims of Terrorism, but also because of the failure to honour our own commitments.

I will only mention the case of the African Standby Force which, since its establishment, is not yet operational. On this issue, the political will has been lacking, even though we have the means and the human resources we need. African Armies have about 2,700,000 men. Mobilising only 1to 2% of this Force and providing them with the necessary resources would make it possible to reduce our dependence on foreign forces and to face Terrorism, with a better chance of success.

Then, our fight against Terrorism is slowed down by the lack of a strong commitment from the international community to be on our side. The latter applies to us the Policy of international double standards. While the fight against DAESH in the Middle East benefited from international mobilisation at all levels, the fight against Terrorism in Africa is reduced to the minimum.

Moreover, the financial and human resources deployed by the international community for peacekeeping operations are disproportionate in their magnitude to those, negligible, allocated by this same international community to African national efforts to fight against Terrorism.

The example of the G5 Sahel is enlightening. Our multiple requests to the Security Council, supported by the Secretary General of the United Nations, for the financing of this organisation from United Nations resources, have remained a dead letter.

Excellencies Heads of State and Government,

Turning now to Unconstitutional Changes of Government, we have all recently witnessed, with dismay and concern, the resurgence of military coups d’etat in some of our Member States. We are thus witnessing the resurgence of a practice that we believed to be gone forever, with the advent of a new era, the promising one of democratic consolidation.

Among the causes of these Changes put forward by the putschists over recent months, is prominently the inability, according to them, of the democratically elected civil powers to effectively combat Terrorism. Thus, to the now classic a posteriori justifications, such as the inefficiency of civil governments, bad governance in all its forms, the crisis of legitimacy of democratic institutions, is now added the argument of the monopoly of competence in matters of fight against Terrorism, held by the managers of legitimate State violence, which are the Armies. This new argument that has recently appeared on the African political and media scene reinforces the link between Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government mentioned above. From correlation, we slide dangerously towards causality. Coups d'etat become, in this perspective, the logical effect of the expansion of Terrorism. You will agree with me, Excellencies Heads of State and Government, that we must guard against such a shift.

It is at this level that the nagging question arises of respect for internal Constitutional provisions and Continental legal commitments to which our Member States have freely subscribed and which unequivocally prohibit accession to power by Unconstitutional means. I would like to recall here some of the texts adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union and which are the foundation of the African Governance Architecture.

They are:

- the Constitutive Act of the African Union;

- the Algiers Declaration of 1999;

- the Lome Declaration of 2000;

- the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance of 2007;

- the Protocol establishing the Peace and Security Council of the African Union of 2014 .

The sustainability and stability of democratic institutions is a guarantee of the economic and social development of our countries. Conversely, the untimely ruptures of the ongoing democratic processes constitute obstacles on the path of the emergence of the Continent.

It is, therefore, becoming urgent to refine the analysis of the causes of this resurgence of military usurpations of power in order to determine the appropriate therapy.

Some are of the view, perhaps not without reason, that the amendment to Constitutions for the purpose of confiscating power constitutes sources of contestation and instability in the countries concerned. These amendments, qualified as creeping Coups d'etat, because blocking any possibility of alternation can then lead to military Coups d'etat having in some cases an obviously popular support.

Moreover, the proponents of this thesis are not in contradiction with the provisions of Article 23, paragraph 5, of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which considers as an Unconstitutional Change of Government and liable to sanctions by the Union, I quote, “any amendment or revision of Constitutions or legal instruments which undermines the principles of democratic alternation.”

At this stage, we cannot pass over in silence the issue of the delays in the Transition processes carried out by the governments resulting from Coups d'etat, which is becoming a source of tension and dissension detrimental to the stability of the States concerned and those of their neighbours.

In this perspective, it is important to stress the urgent need for better coordination of the actions of the African Union and those of the Regional Economic Communities concerned with a view to supporting better a rapid restortation of the normal Constitutional order. It goes without saying that the strengthening of this coordination will have to be done within the framework of a division of labour based on the principles of subsidiarity, complementarity and comparative advantages.

Excellencies Heads of State and Government,

In the face of the facts that I have just pointed out on the theme of this Summit, it is imperative that we reverse the current trend of our collective security as well as that of our governance model.

Let us stop considering the fight against Terrorism as an ordinary phenomenon that can be solved by meetings, seminars and other colloquia. Strong and coordinated actions and concrete intra-African solidarity commensurate with the danger are the conditions for our victory over this gangrene.

Likewise, let's stop looking elsewhere when the political practices in our States clash with the rules and principles of virtuous governance that we have unanimously and sovereignly adopted. Sovereignty and the principle of non-interference must not take precedence over the duty of truth that we have towards each other. It is also the place to appeal to the Republican spirit of the African armed forces so that they refrain from any intervention likely to compromise the democratic achievements of the last thirty years on the Continent.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Africa is undoubtedly the last Continent in the world to experience Terrorism with such intensity and where Unconstitutional Changes still exist. It is indisputable that these two phenomena are reversing our development priorities and hampering our march towards progress. We must no longer accept this. We must take up this double challenge through bold and courageous measures, both within the States and at the Regional and Continental level, so that these intolerable attacks on our security and stability cease to flourish on the Continent.

I would like to believe that this Summit and the decisions that will be adopted will make it possible to trigger this new dynamism.

I thank you for your kind attention.