By Mphatso Nkuonera
In Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, May 25, Mana: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo says this year’s Extraordinary summit of the African Union on Humanitarian Matters and Pledging Conference, taking place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea stands to benefit Malawi as it moves to recover from natural disasters.
Speaking to Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the extraordinary Summit, she said Malawi which has been hit hard by natural disasters during the 2021/2022 rain season stands a better position to be at the mercy of donors through the African Union organ.
“We are looking at cross border programmes that will be agreed, like how African can do to turn the Russia-Ukraine war impacts into an opportunity, in such a way that mother Africa doesn’t continue suffering due to wars and some conflicts taking place currently in Europe or other continents.
And again we will also discuss on how we can collaboratively handle outbreaks like the deadly Covid-19, so that as Africa we review and agree on the possible solutions, this is important and Malawi should take part in such strong decisions,” she explained.
The Minister added that Malawi expects direct aid from the African Union organ following the consecutive hit of cyclone Ana and Gombe that led to loss of many lives, besides heavy loss of property and infrastructure.
“Not all countries will pledge in fact Malawi expects to receive assistance to cushion the shocks from the disasters that led to huge damage,” she said.
She said conflicts and unconstitutional assuming of power across Africa affects her directly and indirectly as it displaces more people and spurs the number of figures of refugee who are hosted in Malawi.
“We have seen a lot of coup taking place, in so many countries in Africa this is unfortunate. This meeting will therefore, look at the root causes of nefarious activities, take them on one shoulder and provide immediate solutions,” she added
“Malawi’s main concern as a country is to make sure that, all the declarations that were signed as Africa Union should be realized and get implemented for the benefit of our continent.
“Therefore that compels this sitting to check on what is failing us to implement the instruments and declarations we willingly signed, some of these agreements are dated as old as 2010,” she added.
The AU high level sitting has plans to have consolidating efforts by African leaders to address the humanitarian challenges facing the continent, and develop resource mobilization strategies for addressing them, and also to look at sustainable solutions to the recent surge in terrorism and unconstitutional changes of government.