Africa Union dodges the bullet on Ethiopia-Somalia tensions

The African Union has made no significant progress on resolving the Somalia-Ethiopia dispute, a UN official said on Monday, reflecting the sensibilities the continental body has had to navigate around disputes between member states.

At a session of the UN Security Council on the situation in Somalia, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) to Somalia Catriona Laing expressed disappointment that the recent African Union summit in Addis Ababa skirted around the issue. It chose to focus instead on the theme of the year on education, science and innovation, even though issues of peace and security including tensions between member states were discussed in passing.