President Cyril Ramaphosa had his work cut out when he took on the chairmanship of the African Union this year.

He is committed to steering the continental body along its final bumpy stretch of road to the ambitious goal of silencing the Guns in 2020.

More importantly, the bean counters argue, he  has to oversee  the final implementation of the African Free Trade Agreement.

Both of these face an existential threat from COVID 19.

Silencing the guns means ending all wars, civil conflict, violence conflict, and gender-based violence on the continent.

Herculean does not being to describe this task.

Since their inception, African conflicts have gobbled up the lion’s share of United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Deploying the blue helmets currently takes up an amount approaching $8 billion a year. That is $1 billion more than the overall budget of the world organisation.

Of the 13 active UN peacekeeping operations around the planet, no fewer than seven – Western Sahara, Darfur, Central African Republic, Abyei, South Sudan, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo – are in Africa.

The latter is the largest and most expensive blue helmet operation, taking up 20 000 of the 100 000 UN peacekeepers deployed worldwide.

To put some perspective on this, the number of UN troops deployed in the DRC is half the number of US troops stationed in Germany.

The United States currently picks up 28% of the UN peacekeeping tab which is less than one percent of total US defense spending – about as much as Washington spends in a month on its military operation in Afghanistan.

African leaders have for a time sought to pay more for peacekeeping in their determination to give credibility to the principle of African solutions for African problems. 

The best they can manage is a 25:75 split in costs with  the UN and this has yet to be inked.

As the battle with the COVID 19 pandemic turns the G7 economies on their heads, African countries know that they will feel the cost even  more keenly.

They are having to go to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for money simply to feed their people.

The Bretton Woods institutions are obliged to make their assistance conditional on the recipients adhering to strict austerity policies.

Silencing the Guns and implementing an African Free Trade Agreement are undeniably desirable.

Silencing the Nevertheless AU chairman Cyril Ramaphosa will be hard pressed to convince the lenders that these projects take priority over fiscal discipline and  financing the bare necessities.  

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And he’s  his role as a sports ambassador for the Central African Republic to do so.

Boris Becker declared bankruptcy last year in the hope of clearing  his nearly one billion rands  worth of debt.

But he’s back in the London High Court claiming his appointment as a sporting, cultural and humanitarian affairs attache for the Central African Republic gives him immunity.

According to the 1961 Vienna Convention, Becker is not bound by legal processes in the courts of any country for so long as he remains a recognised diplomatic agent.

It means he will only have to pay his debts if the Central African Republic give their consent to debt collectors.

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According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, more than three years of civil war in South Sudan has forced 1.5 million people to flee into neighboring countries.

More than 3.5 million people have been displaced since fighting erupted between the government of President Salva Kiir and rebel forces led by the country’s former First Vice-President Riek Machar in mid-December 2013.

More than 2 million people have been displaced within the country, while more than 1.5 million have reportedly taken refuge in Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Congo, and Central African Republic.

More than 60 percent of the refugees are children, many arriving with alarming levels of malnutrition — enduring devastating impact of the brutalities of the ongoing conflict.

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The UN says South Sudan joins Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia as countries that have produced over one million refugees.

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UN Refugee Agency spokesman Leo Hobbs calls this a very sad milestone.

Civil war has torn at Africa’s youngest country for most of its five-year existence.

Neighbouring Uganda hosts the highest number of refugees, with 20 000 arriving in the past week from fighting in the  southern part of the country.

Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic also have taken in  tens of thousands of people fleeing South Sudan

The UN praised the countries, some of the world’s poorest, for allowing refugees to enter.

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The possibility of fresh fighting in Juba is a millstone around the neck of the AU’ that seeking to ensure the year-old Compromise Peace Agreement in South Sudan holds.

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The fighting that raged in Juba leaving hundreds dead and forcing nearly 50 000 to flee their homes is a reminder of the challenges the AU has been unable to resolve.

These range from the continued violent incidents in the Central African Republic to the refugee crisis and spate of killings that have rocked Burundi since President Pierre Nkurunziza took an unconstitutional third term in power.

It raises serious doubts about the AU achieving its goal of peace on the continent by 2020.

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It follows a detailed study in Guinea, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo  where, the organisation says, people living with HIV continue to suffer needlessly and die silently.

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Médecins Sans Frontières calls in today’s  report for UN agencies, European donor agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, as well as affected governments and civil society, to develop and implement a fast-track plan to scale-up life-saving antiretroviral treatment for countries where this coverage reaches less than one-third of the population in need, particularly in West and Central Africa.

MSF’s report warns against the converging trend of international agencies to focus on high-burden countries and HIV hotspots in Sub-Saharan Africa saying this risks overlooking the importance of closing the treatment gap in regions with low antiretroviral coverage.

The needs in West and Central Africa remain enormous with three out of four people in need not accessing HIV care.

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He’s the highest ranking person yet convicted by the international tribunal in the Hague.

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The judgment was hailed as a landmark decision in the fight against impunity for sex crimes in conflict.

Bemba’s unanimous conviction marks the first time the court has convicted an accused based on his role as a military commander.

It’s also the court’s first judgment recognising rape as a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Bemba showed no emotion as Judge Sylvia Steiner read out the long judgment highlighting the horrific crimes carried out by his militia.

He will be sentenced following a separate hearing. His lawyers can appeal the convictions.

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They’re meeting under the auspices of the Economic Community of Central African States. Four other countries have sent delegates.

Of the central African countries at the meeting, only Chad and Cameroon have actually experienced attacks by the extremists…

…who’ve killed more than 13 000 people these past six years – mostly in Nigeria.

The Yaounde meeting’s bent on finding an agreed solution to counter the terror group.

The presidents of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon are joined by ministers from Angola, Burundi, Sao Tome and Principe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the previous meeting in the Cameroon capital , leaders agreed to deploy a regional force of 8700 troops against Boko Haram.

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