President Kenyatta leaves for Addis to attend AU summit

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday morning left the country for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he will attend a two-day African Union (AU) heads of state and government summit.

The plane carrying the President and his entourage left Jomo Kenyatta International Airport shortly after 9am.

Top in this year’s AU agenda is the issue of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the recent Ebola crisis in West Africa.

Kenya is pushing for a comprehensive overhaul of the Rome Statute to ensure that its mechanisms duly recognize the African realities and socio-political context with regard to conflict resolution, justice, accountability and political stability.

President Kenyatta is accompanied by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, who will be attending the Organization of African First Ladies Against Aids (OAFLA) General Assembly on the sidelines of the AU summit.

The 24th Ordinary Session of the AU opens in Addis Ababa on Friday.

ATTEND IGAD MEETING

Besides the AU summit, President Kenyatta will attend the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) meeting, which is expected to thoroughly and conclusively deal with the issue of the South Sudan conflict.

Last week in Arusha, Tanzania, regional leaders, among them President Kenyatta, witnessed the signing of an agreement between rival factions of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) aimed at reunifying the party.

The AU Assembly is a semi-annual meeting of the heads of states and government where the most important decisions of the 53-member assembly are made. The assembly brings together all the African states except Morocco, which is not a member of the union.

The theme of the 2015 summit is "2015: Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063".

Preparatory meetings ahead of the summit have been going on in Addis Ababa since January 23, 2015.

Other key issues to be discussed include the establishment of the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (viewed against the recent Ebola crisis ), peace and security in Africa and alternative sources of financing the African Union.

Besides the AU and Igad meetings, President Kenyatta is also expected to hold a series of bilateral meetings with other leaders including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on matters of mutual interest.

Other leaders scheduled to hold talks with President Kenyatta include FAO Director Jose Graziano Da Silva.

President Kenyatta was seen off by senior government officials led by Deputy President William Ruto and Chief of Defence Forces General Julius Karangi.