THE African Union summit ended in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday with the body insisting it had a zero tolerance for undemocratic changes of power on the continent.

The 55-nation bloc also vowed to speed up progress towards an African free trade deal.

African Union leaders discussed a range of major challenges facing the continent, including the climate emergency, conflict and coups.

African Union commissioner for political affairs, peace & security Bankole Adeoye told a news conference: “The assembly reaffirmed zero tolerance against unconstitutional change. The commission is ready to support these member states to return to constitutional order — the idea is that democracy must take root and must be promoted and protected.”

Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Sudan — which have been ruled by military leaders following coups — remain suspended from membership of the African Union.

The new African Union chairman, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, said that he would leave no stone unturned to ensure the African Continental Free Trade Agreement became a reality.

It would be the world’s largest free trade agreement in population terms, covering 54 out of the 55 countries on a continent with 1.4 billion people. Only Eritrea has not agreed to participate.

The expulsion of an Israeli observer delegation to the summit at the opening ceremony on Saturday threatened to overshadow the gathering. 
Commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat granted observer status to Israel in 2021, but a number of nations objected because of the treatment of the Palestinians by the Israeli state. 

Mr Mahamat said that after disagreement last year over whether Israel should be invited to observe the summit, no final decision had yet been taken and so “we did not invite Israeli officials to our summit."

An Israeli statement said that “extremist states like Algeria and South Africa” had been behind the action.