African Heads of State and Government pose for a photo during the Comesa summit in Lusaka, Zambia, on July 18, 2018. The annual summit which was to be held later this year has been cancelled. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The Comesa annual summit had been scheduled to take place in Khartoum, Sudan.
Sudan was stripped of its host status after months of public protests in the capital Khartoum.
This is the second time in three years, that the annual summit has been cancelled.
The annual summit for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa scheduled to take place in Khartoum, Sudan, which was to be held later this year has been cancelled. This is the second time in three years, that the annual summit has been cancelled.
The Lusaka-based secretariat has now confirmed that Comesa will hold its next summit in Egypt in the second half of 2020.
Sudan was stripped of its host status after months of public protests in the capital Khartoum, which led to the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in April.
“Sudan was supposed to host this year’s annual summit but couldn’t for obvious reasons,” Mwangi Gakunga, Comesa’s head of corporate communications told The EastAfrican.
Khartoum’s removal as host means that the chairperson of its Summit, referred to as the Authority, a position held by Madagascar, will remain as is until the next summit is held.
The Authority is the supreme policy organ of the Common Market and is responsible for the general policy and direction and control of the performance of the executive functions of the Common Market and the achievement of its aims and objectives and shall have such other powers as are vested in it under the Treaty.
