ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) announced that the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) will take place from Jan. 21 to Feb. 10 at the headquarters of the 55-member pan-African bloc in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.
The AU summit will be held under the theme of "Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa's Development," according to an AU statement on Tuesday.
The 33rd session of the AU heads of states has been slated to take place from Feb. 9 to 10, and it will be preceded by the 36th ordinary session of the AU Executive Council, which comprises ministers of AU member states, from Feb. 6 to 7.
The 39th ordinary session of the Permanent Representatives Committee will be held from Jan. 21 to 22.
It was in Niamey, Niger in July 2019 that the AU Executive Council decided that "Silencing the guns: creating conducive conditions for Africa's development" would be the theme of the year 2020.
As a flagship project of Agenda 2063, a blueprint for prosperous and peaceful Africa by 2063, "Silencing the guns by 2020" was adopted by the AU heads of state during the 50th anniversary of the OAU/AU in 2013.
Conflict is one of the biggest challenges for the implementation of Agenda 2063, and with the vision of "Silencing the Guns," it aims to end all wars, civil conflicts, gender-based violence, violent conflicts and preventing genocide in the continent by 2020.
