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Kuda Bwititi in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa — whose annual vacation officially ended yesterday — has hit the ground running as he arrived in Addis Ababa to attend the 35th African Union Heads of State Ordinary Assembly that will deliberate on continental issues.

Earlier, Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana, service chiefs and other officials saw-off President Mnangagwa at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.

On arrival at the Bole International Airport, President Mnangagwa was received by Ethiopia’s Mines and Petroleum Minister Engineer Takele Uma, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Frederick Shava and Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Ethiopia who is also the country’s permanent representative at the African Union, Ambassador Taonga Mushayavanhu.

Zimbabwe is set to be involved in various matters that will be on the main programme and on the sidelines of the convention.

The summit will run under the theme “Building Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent: Strengthen Agriculture, Accelerate the Human Capital, Social and Economic Development.”

This theme dovetails with various initiatives that have been implemented by President Mnangagwa’s Second Republic to guarantee food security and nutrition for the nation, inter alia, the climate-proofed Pfumvudza/Intwasa scheme.

The programme was implemented at a time when climate change is wreaking havoc across the continent.

Yesterday, Zimbabwe was elected as one of the 15 members of the Peace and Security Council, a vital organ of the AU that deals with the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.

This means President Mnangagwa will use his statecraft to proffer solutions in the resolution of conflicts around the continent, with countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ethiopia and Mozambique currently afflicted by different forms of hostilities.

At the summit, Southern African States will continue to canvass for the rotation of the leadership of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) with Senate President Chief Fortune Charumbira – who arrived here earlier favourite to take over the chairmanship of PAP.

Zimbabwe is also contesting for the post of Director of the Development Bureau of the International Tele-Communications Union for the period 2022 to 2026, with Dr Cosmas Zavazava being the candidateThere is also a lobby for the African Medicines Agency to be set-up in Zimbabwe.

This agency seeks to manufacture pharmaceutical products in Africa to improve the access of quality medicines to people of the continent. Furthermore, there is a push for the AU to provide funding to facilitate the manufacture of fertiliser in Zimbabwe for distribution across Africa.

Last night, a Zimbabwean Ms Chido Cleopatra Mpemba, who is the Special Envoy on Youth in the Office of the Chairperson of the AU, Dr Moussa Faki Mahamat, paid a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa.

A former Midlands State University student, Ms Mpemba was last year appointed as the youngest diplomat in Dr Mahamat’s office.

In an interview with Zimbabwean journalists, she said:

“I am lobbying that come next year the next AU Heads of State summit should be held in collaboration with an AU Youth Summit so that we young people can get to sit on the same table with Heads of State and be able to drive the agenda in achieving the Africa that we want and engineer the solutions together,” she said.

According to the agenda of the summit, outgoing AU Chairperson President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to hand over the chairmanship to the incoming leader, President Macky Sall of Senegal.

African Heads of State will also launch the theme of the AU for the year 2022.

The summit will receive reports on peace and security as well as progress reports on the AUs response to the Covid-19 pandemic, among other matters.