By Staff, Agencies African leaders gathered at an African Union [AU] summit in Ethiopia this weekend to discuss a coordinated response to climate change, Covid, and a series of military coups in the region. The AU bloc, formed 20 years ago to promote international cooperation, is struggling to address six coups or attempted coups in Africa over the past 18 months.

"Peace and security is seriously threatened in several of our regions and within some Member States," AU Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat said Tuesday.

Burkina Faso was suspended from the AU on Monday following a military coup on January 24.

The leaders will also discuss the bloc’s relationship with the Zionist entity.

In July, Faki accepted the ‘Israeli’ regime’s request for observer status at the AU, prompting criticism from states like South Africa, Nigeria, and Algeria who are pushing for the occupation entity’s status to be revoked.

The issue remains unsolved and will be discussed by the leaders this weekend.

Also on the summit agenda is climate change, which is aggravating regional floods, droughts, hot weather, and locust invasions all threatening food supplies, driving up hunger and migration.

The “elephant in the room” is the war in Ethiopia, which has killed thousands since November 2020.

Western and African embassies evacuated their citizens three months ago after the country declared a state of emergency - which it recently lifted - due to rebellious forces threatening to march on its capital Addis Ababa