Buhari returns to Abuja after Malabo’s summit

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday night returned to Abuja from Malabo, Equitorial Guinea, where he participated in the 4th Africa-Arab summit.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that President Buhari while in Malabo participated in the opening ceremony and working session of the Summit, on Wednesday.

NAN reports that during the summit, Nigeria and other African countries received a pledge of $2 billion from the Kuwaiti government to fund key development initiatives in agriculture, youth empowerment, education and support to fight terrorism.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, confirmed this development in a statement.

“At the 4th Africa-Arab Summit, jointly organized by the African Union Commission and the League of Arab States, the Kuwaiti government said the amount would be released to African countries as soft loans to promote the development of the continent.

“The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) will release one billion dollars for the support of the fight against terrorism, youth empowerment and boosting agriculture, while another one billion dollars will be for strengthening educational systems in Africa,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari led the Nigerian delegation to the summit, which was attended by African Heads of State, and prominent leaders from the gulf.

NAN reports that Morocco and some Arab countries staged a walk-out of the fourth Africa-Arab World Summit in Equatorial Guinea in protest against the presence of a delegation from the Polisario Front, a group seeking the independence of Western Sahara.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Yemen as well as Somalia also left the one-day summit in solidarity with Morocco.

Morocco had made an official request to rejoin the African Union (AU), more than four decades after leaving the union in protest against the membership of Western Sahara.

“The country withdrew from the AU in 1984, when the mineral-rich and sparsely populated Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), commonly known as Western Sahara, was accepted as a member.”

The Kingdom of Morocco, however, officially submitted a request to accede to the African Union (AU) Constitutive Act, and therefore, become a Member of the Union.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975.

NAN