Trade, security top issues as African leaders meet for annual summit

Armed conflict, worsening food crisis and a free-trade pact are expected to be discussed in the two-day African Union meeting

African leaders will gather on February 18 in Addis Ababa for an annual summit, aiming to jumpstart a faltering trade deal while also focusing on the continent's most pressing challenges, including armed conflict and a worsening food crisis.

As the continent reels from a record drought in the Horn of Africa and deadly violence in the Sahel region and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the two-day African Union (AU) meeting will look to address these issues and accelerate a free-trade pact launched in 2020.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is billed as the biggest in the world in terms of population, gathering 54 out of 55 African countries, with Eritrea the only holdout.

African nations currently trade only about 15% of their goods and services with each other, and the AfCFTA aims to boost that by 60% by 2034 by eliminating almost all tariffs.

But implementation has fallen well short of that goal, running into hurdles including disagreements over tariff reductions and border closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most of the summit's sessions will be held behind closed doors at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.

But eyes will be on the bloc to see if it can achieve ceasefires in the Sahel and the eastern DRC where the M23 militia has seized swathes of territory and sparked a diplomatic row between Kinshasa and Rwanda's government, which is accused of backing the rebels.