African leaders are set to consider a draft Memorandum of Understanding between the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities and the Regional Mechanisms on the utilisation of the African Standby Force.

This is according to the draft programme of the 39th African Union Summit, which is scheduled to begin on Saturday.

The Memorandum of Understanding, if adopted, stems from the recognition of the African Standby Force as a crucial instrument for promoting peace, security and stability across the continent.

The move is also in line with the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the protocol relating to the establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the AU.

The summit  also comes at a critical time for the continent, as African leaders seek collective solutions to ongoing security challenges and renewed calls for historical justice.

They are further expected to deliberate on reports concerning the conflicts in Sudan and South Sudan as well as the security situation in the Sahel region.

Other proposed agenda items include consideration of a study on the implications of describing colonisation as a crime against humanity, as well as the classification of certain acts committed during the eras of slavery, deportation and colonisation as acts of genocide against the peoples of Africa.

Meanwhile, Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and other African Heads of State and Government have arrived in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for the annual summit.

President Nandi-Ndaitwah, President Brice Nguema of Gabon, and Seychelles President Dr. Patrick Herminie are also scheduled to address the Assembly following their recent elections in their respective countries.