South Africa leader takes African Union helm from Egypt

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa assumed the one-year revolving presidency of the African Union (AU) on Sunday.

Ramaphosa took over the presidency from the outgoing Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, the Egyptian president.

After assuming the gavel for a year-long AU presidency, Ramaphosa told the gathering that women and girls empowerment would be among his priorities.

He said the African Union declared the next ten years as a decade of women empowerment and 2020 the year of gender inclusion.

“We should liberalize women from the shackles of patriarchy,” he said. “You cannot have revolution without women, you cannot have democracy without women.”

He pledged to work for women’s financial and economic inclusion.

“There should be preferential and customs regime benefiting women,” he said adding that could be realized in the African context.

“Women deserve at the very least 50% representation in all structures in the continent,” he said, gaining the applause of thousands inside the Mandela Hall.

The 33rd Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union adopted the theme of Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development.

Security situations across the continent takes center stage during the two-day discussions that are now ongoing behind closed doors.