Africa AU summit opens as youth anger grows over bloc of old leaders

Body

The African Union opened its annual summit in Addis Ababa on Saturday to discuss issues facing Africa’s roughly 1.4 billion people, but the gathering began under a cloud of public frustration — particularly among young people. In reporting on the start of the meeting, the Associated Press said youth anger has grown as several countries across the region have grappled with military coups, disputed elections and protests that have been linked to economic hardship intensified by foreign aid cuts.

Many young Africans have portrayed the regional bloc as disconnected from their priorities, including through social media commentary that characterizes the AU as “a bloc of old leaders.” The criticism reflects a broader paradox, analysts said: Africa has the world’s youngest population overall, but it also has some of the oldest and longest-serving political leaders, a dynamic they linked to an upsurge in coups.

Liesl Louw-Vaudran, a senior analyst with the Crisis Group, said the organization has missed opportunities to be people-centered and citizen-driven, adding that the AU has “focused largely on governments and leaders.” She said youth frustration is driven by the perception that the AU does not represent their interests, warning that “What the youth is really asking and why people are frustrated is because this is not an African Union for citizens. It’s not a people-driven African Union.”

The reporting pointed to election disputes in several African countries over the last year, describing a pattern in which opposition candidates were sidelined and incumbents were reelected amid protests led largely by young voters. The Associated Press also said the AU was often accused of moving quickly to back reelected leaders while calling later for accountability in flawed processes.

One example highlighted in the coverage was Uganda’s January presidential election, during which authorities shut down the internet and clamped down on the opposition, according to the Associated Press report. After that vote, the African Union Commission issued a statement “commending” the conduct of the poll, a decision that the report said enraged many youths; one comment included the line: “Dictatorship club has spoken.”

The day after Uganda’s election, the AU’s election observer mission issued a preliminary report noting “reports of harassment, intimidation and arrest of opposition leaders, candidates, supporters’ media and civic society actors.” The Associated Press report also cited Macharia Munene, a professor of history at the United States International University in Nairobi, who said one long-standing challenge for the AU is weak enforcement of resolutions. Munene said the enforcement gap exists because “not all members meet their dues or fully accept what is generally decided.”

In Nigeria, resident Chima Ekwueme told the Associated Press that he sees the AU as failing to hold leaders accountable, pointing to Nigeria’s security crises and economic hardship despite its mineral wealth. “They are there for their own interests,” Ekwueme said, adding, “In Nigeria, we have all it takes to put things in order (but) look at how difficult things are and where is the AU?”

At the 39th African Union Summit, currently underway in Addis Ababa on Saturday and Sunday, the theme is water and sanitation. Discussions are expected to include Africa’s response to climate change and humanitarian crises following foreign aid cuts from international partners, including the United States.

On Saturday, African Union Commission Chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said: “From Sudan to the Sahel, to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in Somalia and elsewhere, our people continue to pay the heavy price of instability,” according to the Associated Press report. He also called for an immediate halt to the “extermination.. of the Palestinian people,” prompting Mohammad Mustafa, the Prime Minister of the State of Palestine, to thank Africa for its solidarity, the report said.

Even as leaders prepare to align continental priorities with international partners, the Associated Press report said critics are urging the AU to look inward — including by addressing what they see as gaps between expectations from ordinary people and how the bloc responds when leaders fail them.