AFRICAN Union (AU) Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat called for national leaders to tackle conflicts on the continent on Saturday.

Mr Mahamat, speaking on the first day of an AU summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, also condemned a series of military takeovers across Africa.

Mr Faki, who heads the secretariat of the 55 member bloc, said he was extremely worried about a “litany of difficulties” facing the region.

He referred to Sudan as being “bruised, torn and sinking into chaos” from a war that has been raging since 2023. 

Mr Faki said that Libya was divided and exposed to foreign interference, the Sahel region was facing a dangerous power vacuum and the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo was leading to a worsening of its “eternal crises.”

He warned: “Africa cannot remain arms folded and not work to promote genuine peace in the region.”

Mr Faki also criticised what he described as a number of “unconstitutional changes of government” in West Africa.

His comment comes after three military-led takeovers in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, which have rejected French economic and military domination. The three nations have all announced they are leaving the Economic Community of West African States.

Mr Faki said that he was also concerned about the political crisis in Senegal after the country’s President Macky Sall attempted to postpone elections due to be held this month.

On Thursday, Senegal’s top court blocked Mr Sall’s attempt to delay the polls.

Adding to the challenges faced by the AU, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud accused Ethiopia on Saturday of trying to annex part of his country’s territory by signing a sea access deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland.

The agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland, signed on January 1, “is nothing more than annexing part of Somalia to Ethiopia and changing the borders of Somalia,” Mr Mohamud told reporters.