At the recently concluded 39th AU Summit, African Heads of State and Governments formally launched the 2026 Theme of the Year: “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.”  Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye was also appointed AUC Chairperson for the year. Responding to recent shifts in global politics, there were renewed calls for deeper, more meaningful African cooperation. Yet, as Gebremichael Negash points out, the AU summit has been criticized for a lack of accountability for its commitments over the years.

The architectural restoration project on the Africa Hall in Addis Ababa has won the World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism prize. The Hall is an important site in Africa’s political history because it hosted the first OAU Summit, where African Heads of State articulated their vision for sovereign and united African states.

• This Year’s Grammy Awards honoured African musicians who have brought African music to global audiences, including Fela Kuti, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
• A new film, And She Didn’t Die, pays tribute to South African feminist writer, Lauretta Ngcobo. As narrated by her daughter, Kethiwe Ngcobo, Lauretta’s life was shaped by political struggle for gender equality in South Africa.
• More than 200 people died when the Rubaya coltan mine collapsed in DR Congo following a landslide earlier this year. The Rubaya mine produces 15 percent of the world’s coltan and has been designated a strategic asset under the mineral pact between the US and the DR Congo.

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Image: Flag of the African Union. 4 November 2010. Photo credit: The African Union, Public Domain.