President Paul Kagame delivers acceptance speech after being sworn-in as Chairperson of the AU
The AU chairperson chairs the bi-annual AU summits and also represents the continent in international summits, like the G8 and G20 summits. This will be the second position President Paul Kagame is holding, after being chosen to also lead the African Union Reform Process in 2016.
In his acceptance speech delivered against the backdrop of the theme of the year 2018:“ Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’ s Transformation”, President Paul Kagame said it is a solemn honour to accept the call to serve as Chairperson of our Union. He expressed his gratitude to the Heads of State for their double trust- first as the leader of the reform process and now as the leader of the African Union.
“ I promise to do this with you and do the best job I can. Obviously, I will need your full support” he said, before acknowledging the high experience of his predecessor, saying“ President Alpha Condé is a professor, a teacher, and I can safely say that I have learned from him. I have also seen his very big heart for Africa. Congratulations Mr President”. He called on his peers to join him in paying tribute to President Conde’ s impeccable service to our organisation.“ I have been lucky to work with his predecessor President Idriss Deby, and even luckier, to work with both of them. I want to assure you that I had a lot of wisdom flowing from them”, noted the newly elected Chair of the Union.
President Paul Kagame underlined that Africa’ s defining challenge is to create
6 • RWANDA • 2018