Burundi Assumes AU Leadership for 2026
President Evariste Ndayishimiye of the East African nation secured the AU chairperson position during the bloc's summit in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, on Saturday, taking the reins from Angola's President Joao Lourenco.
The leadership position within the 55-member organization cycles yearly between states, assigning the chosen head of state responsibility for championing the continent at key global gatherings, driving forward the AU's strategic agenda, and facilitating crisis mediation coordination.
Saturday's gathering—the 39th Ordinary Session of the Assembly—convened under the banner "Assuring sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems to achieve the goals of agenda 2063," while Ghana secured the first vice chair position and Tanzania claimed the second vice chair slot in the reconstituted AU Bureau.
Accepting his new role, Ndayishimiye announced Burundi would govern "in a spirit of listening, impartiality, and cooperation with all… for the good of all member states," emphasizing consensus-building on pivotal continental matters.
He called on nations to escalate funding and commitments toward water infrastructure and sanitation systems, highlighting how insufficient access has intensified preventable illnesses, diminished economic productivity, and driven students from classrooms throughout Africa.
Burundi's president further committed to amplifying the continent's influence on the world stage while championing a more equitable, balanced, and inclusive global order.
Departing chair Joao Lourenco pressed leaders to escalate responses to armed hostilities and unconstitutional government transitions—challenges that defined his year-long tenure. His chairmanship witnessed Sudan's protracted warfare, turmoil spanning the Sahel, and diplomatic initiatives to defuse escalating tensions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Great Lakes territory.
The Addis Ababa proceedings spotlighted historical accountability, addressing the slave trade and colonial-era atrocities.
The AU released a statement underscoring "historical justice, truth, remembrance, reparatory justice, and the preservation of the dignity of African peoples."
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