By Desire Assogbavi

The year 2015 has been declared by the Assembly of the African Union as the “Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”. Both bi-annual Summits of the AU will then be organized around this theme. In the practice, the theme will be symbolically launched during the January Summit but a number of related activities will be organized throughout the year 2015. However, some other burning issues will dominated the various policy discussions during the Summit.

The Summit will be as usual organized in 3 steps:

– The Permanent Representatives Committee (Ambassadors): 23 – 24 January

– The Executive Council (Ministers of Foreign Affairs): 26 – 27 January

– The Assemble of the AU (Heads of State and Government) 30 – 31 January

A number of other parallel/side meetings will also normally be held by states and non-state actors.

What is likely to dominate the…