Is the African Union on its deathbed? Or has it already died?

So many negative happenings are currently defining the African continent, raising questions about the presence and relevance of African political leadership, which is clearly missing in action.

Wars, hunger, diseases, illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and a plethora of other woes encompass infrastructure, health, education and technology.

The last time the AU was heard from was in February during the election of its Commission chairman.

The contest pitted Kenya’s former Prime Minister Raila Odinga against Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf.

The campaigns leading up to the poll were a heated affair that captured global media attention.

The February 25, 2025, contest witnessed the election of Youssouf as the new African Union Commission chairperson to replace Chad’s Mahamat Moussa Faki.

Since the election, not much has been heard from either the AU or its Commission.

This silence comes amid more than 20 million children around the continent skipping school as a result of long internecine wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the intra-military strife in Sudan, political supremacy tussles in South Sudan and a host of other life-consuming skirmishes in a number of West African and Sahel countries.

Africa is a pitiable case. This is a continent where children die of starvation and malnutrition while leaders steal from those very poor people and their own countries’ resources.

Every day, hundreds of African immigrants travelling in overloaded boats perish in the Mediterranean Sea while attempting to cross to Europe in search of what they consider to be a better life.

The migrants are running away from persecution by repressive regimes in Africa, poverty and poor health care.

Sadly, African leaders dare not confront these debasing and harrowing incidents.

For a long time, Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been a strong proponent of more focused and self-respecting leadership in Africa and has lamented the humiliation people on the continent endure regarding economic marginalisation on the global arena.

Museveni’s Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame has similarly voiced his concern on the matter.

At the tail end of his administration, President Uhuru Kenyatta also raised the matter to international levels and called on Africa to take charge of its own affairs and address the issues facing the continent.

In his first few months in office after the August 9, 2022, General Election, President William Ruto was vocal on Pan-African issues, including the miseries migrants undergo while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. He has, however, noticeably gone mute on the subject.

The AU and leaders of Africa have chosen to look the other way as the continent continues to slide further into misery, trauma and pity.

Even though most African nations attained their independence over 60 years ago, the continent has yet to chart its own path amid challenging global geopolitics.

African leaders still watch from the periphery of hopelessness in global arenas where crucial decisions with far-reaching social, political and economic ramifications of international importance are made and executed.

For far too long now, Africa has taken a back seat on matters affecting its own people and left the Western capitals — and in recent times the Far East — to solve its problems.

Yet African heads of state converge under the auspices of the AU annually to discuss the continent’s challenges and achievements.

Strangely, the issues of illegal migration and repression from the affected countries do not feature. Such matters are left for the West to find solutions for.

The time is now for Africa to stand up. Leaders must change the AU from a mere talk shop into a serious caucus of reasonable men and women to lay strong foundations for the future of the continent. The AU must wake up from its long slumber.

The author is a Revise Editor with People Daily.