18th December 2014
My first task this week was to represent the #UK at a meeting of the African Union’s (#AU) Peace and Security Council #AUPSC on the subject of “Women, Peace and Security”. The UK has long been a strong supporter of much of the work of the AU, but especially when it comes to peace and […]
13th September 2014
A few weeks ago some cases of malaria briefly gave rise to rumours that #Ebola had arrived in #Addis. Thankfully this was wrong, but the story went viral on social media. Rumours and misinformation can spread even faster than Ebola. As the disease continues to spread, there are increasingly worrying projections about how far it […]
20th August 2014
As I write, I am representing the #UK in an open session of the Africa Union’s #(AU) Peace and Security Council #PSC in Addis Ababa to commemorate World Humanitarian Day #WHD2014 – a date which marks, of course, the horrific bombing of #UN Headquarters in Baghdad in 2003. It seems today that the humanitarian system is being stretched […]
18th July 2014
Child, Early and Forced Marriage (#CEFM) affects millions of girls every year. One in three girls in developing countries is married by the age of 18. Some are as young as eight. Girls who marry young will have babies while still children, putting them at risk of death or suffering for the rest of their […]
11th April 2014
I am writing this in Mandela Hall of the African Union in Addis Ababa, where Ministers, Ambassadors, Religious Leaders, Senior Officials and Civil Society are gathered to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide. “Kwibuka” (“to remember” in Kinyarwanda) is a global programme underway since January to ensure that the deaths of over a […]
29th January 2014
This year agriculture is the main theme of the 22nd Assembly of Heads of State and Government at the African Union (AU) – the AU Summit, which is taking place this week. But African leaders are also deliberating on the peace and security of the continent. Country situations at the top of the agenda are […]
6th November 2013
Today, I participated in the 2013 Africa Clearing House (ACH) meeting at the Headquarters of the African Union (AU) here in Addis. The UK co-hosted the event with the AU as part of our G8 Presidency. The ACH began in 2004 and aims to “provide a multi-lateral forum to exchange information on security assistance and […]
21st May 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
This week the Roadmap signatories meet in Addis. Their aim? To resolve a number of outstanding issues relating to the political process. And it’s vital they do. Over the next few months, the Signatories have an historic opportunity to make real progress and help Somalia move forward towards greater stability. Theirs is a challenging agenda: […]
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