African heads of state gather Sunday at the headquarters of the African Union for a summit meeting due to focus on how the body can play a more prominent role in resolving conflicts proliferating¹ across the continent.

 

非洲联盟国家的首脑周日聚集在非盟总部，召开了一场关于各国如何在非洲大陆解决不断蔓延的冲突的峰会。

 

The two-day summit has taken as its theme "Silencing the Guns," yet AU officials are well aware of their failure to achieve the goal adopted in 2013 of ending "all wars in Africa by 2020."

 

In remarks ahead of the summit, AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat painted a bleak² picture of the continent's security situation, citing extremist threats stretching from the Sahel to Somalia.

 

The "missed deadline" to silence the guns, he said, "reveals the complexity³ of the security situation in Africa."

 

The focus on conflicts this year marks a departure from multiple years of summits dedicated⁴ to reforming the AU and the implementation⁵ of a continent-wide free trade area.

 

Though some progress has been made recently in Central African Republic and Sudan, long-running conflicts in places like Libya and South Sudan have been joined by new crises from Cameroon to Mozambique.

 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will take over from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as AU chair, appears attuned⁶ to these big challenges.

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