In July the AU signed a protocol with China to construct an operational headquarters for the Africa CDC in Addis Ababa groundbreaking for which took place at a grand ceremony in December at which Elfadil representing AU chair Moussa Faki Mahamat was present along with Ethiopian and Chinese dignitaries...

The current AU Commission chairman Chad's Moussa Faki Mahamat is up for re-election and there is little sign he will not get a second four-year term (AC Vol 58 No 3 The scramble for the chair)...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and European Council President Charles Michel joined the talks by video-link as did African Union commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Secretary General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie Louise Mushikiwabo...

France's President Emmanuel Macron and Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez each made their first post-lockdown foreign trips to the summit along with African Union Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat to join regional presidents: Burkina Faso's Roch Marc Christian Kaboré; Chad's Idris Déby Itno; Mali's Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta; Niger's Mahamadou Issoufou; Mauritania's Ghazouani...

He is reportedly backing Kenya's Amina Mohamed a former foreign minister who was strongly tipped to chair the African Union but lost out to Chad's Moussa Faki Mahamat (AC Vol 57 No 22 Amina jumps to the front)...

Chergui is still involved in a power struggle with AU chair Moussa Faki Mahamat which is little changed since Africa Confidential first reported it last year (AC Vol 60 No 3 Diplomatic differences)...

On 6 December the new Commission President will make her first foreign trip to Ethiopia to meet Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the head of state President Sahle-Work Zewde the only woman currently holding such a position in Africa as well as Moussa Faki Mahamat the chair of the African Union Commission...