27th African Union Summit: President Biya And Wife Chantal Notoriously Absent

The summit of heads of states of the most important political body in Africa holding in Kigali, Rwanda's capital ends today without the shadow of Cameroon's ailing  President Paul Biya.

The 27th summit of the African Union (AU) opened last Sunday, July 17, 2016 in the Rwandan capital. Several heads of states from all over Africa took  part in this  annual event which had as its main objectives, the voting of  the president of the Commission, and the introduction of the new Diplomatic Passport to members.

Cameroon was unfortunately represented instead  by Foreign Minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella. Mr Paul Biya, President of Cameroon, who has been in power for over 34 years is actually  one of the deans of the Union and his presence was of great significance, but the Cameroonian leader was once more out of sight at this year's summit. Mr Biya was notoriously  the only head of state absent from the  Central Africa bloc at the summit in Kigali .
At the ongoing summit, the outgoing Chairperson, Mrs Dlamini Zuma, issued the first two copies of the new African Union Passport  to the Chairperson of the AU,Chadian President, Idris Deby and Rwandan President, Paul Kagame.

Zuma said even though the initial plan was to issue the passport to heads of state, foreign affairs ministers and diplomats, the AU had been overwhelmed by calls from many who want to share in the privilege of holding the passport.

She said member-states should accept the challenge of issuing the passports to their nationals within their systems.
She said the commission had championed the rights of women, youth involvement in the continent’s development strides into the future and the launch of the African passport.

Mrs Zuma challenged the next commission to work towards achieving the 2063 agenda already set.

The AU is expected to choose a new chairperson to run the affairs of the commission for the next four years.

The electronic passport is proposed as an anecdote for dissolving border restrictions, thus building greater opportunities for trade within the continent, in hopes of boosting the overall economy.
Anyone with an A.U. passport would be allowed to travel freely within the union’s 54 countries without a visa. Government officials and heads of state at the A.U. headquarters in Ethiopia, will be the first to use the all-Africa passport, which is expected to expand to all citizens in 2018.
Despite the economic benefits, the passport could have an opposite effect