AFRICA’S top regional body opened its annual summit on Saturday in Ethiopia to discuss the future of the continent of some 1.4 billion people, as the organisation faces widespread discontent.

Set up to “promote the unity and solidarity of the African states,” analysts say the African Union faces a legitimacy crisis among youth for failing to meet their expectations.

Meanwhile, several African countries battle military coups, disputed elections and protests inspired by economic hardship worsened by foreign aid cuts.

Africa has the youngest population in the world, with more than 400 million people aged 15 to 35 years old.

But it is also home to several of the oldest and longest-serving leaders, a paradox that has contributed to an upsurge in coups.

With a young population set to double by 2050, it is the only rapidly growing region where its people are getting poorer.

Many African youths, on social media, express how they view the AU as “a bloc of old leaders,” which sees their interests as less of a priority.

The organisation has missed opportunities to be people-centred and citizen-driven and has instead focused largely on governments and leaders, said Liesl Louw-Vaudran, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.

“What the youth is really asking and why people are frustrated is because this is not an African Union for citizens. It’s not a people-driven African Union,” Mr Louw-Vaudran added.

Discussions at the summit centre on the continent’s response to climate change and humanitarian crises following foreign aid cuts from international partners such as the United States.

The summit comes as the continent realigns its priorities away from the former colonial rulers and the US amid a more hostile international environment.

“From Sudan to the Sahel, to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in Somalia and elsewhere, our people continue to pay the heavy price of instability,” AU Commission chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said on Saturday.