During the opening of the 39th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the organization, the president invited all participants to meet in Luanda this year to analyze the ways and means to respond to the threats to peace, security, and development on the continent.

“I am convinced that this initiative can strongly contribute to strengthening the mechanisms and means for preventing, managing, and resolving conflicts in Africa,” he stated, and expressed concern about the emergence of a new way of implementing changes to the constitutional order of states, which should not be legitimized.

He referred to the seizure of power by force followed by elections supposedly to restore constitutional order, but where the same violators of that order are elected, which in his opinion is a way of whitewashing previous actions.

He warned that this practice is beginning to be seen as normal, something that should not happen because it threatens the continent’s principles and can indirectly encourage coups that are then whitewashed without any reaction.

He emphasized that promoting peace and security in Africa was central to Angola’s presidency of the AU, which is now coming to an end, and reaffirmed that the desired vision for the continent will only be possible if the guns are silenced.

He called for a collective effort to find swift, robust, and effective solutions to end the protracted conflicts that challenge the continent’s stability, terrorism and violent extremism, as well as unconstitutional changes of government.

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