UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for Africa to take “action for peace” to combat rising violence as the continent’s leaders held their annual summit in Addis Ababa.

Africa is reeling from a record drought in the Horn and deadly violence in the Sahel region and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the African Union (AU) meeting aiming to address these issues and jumpstart a faltering free trade pact.

Most of the sessions at the two-day summit will be held behind closed doors at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.

But eyes will be on the bloc to see if it can achieve ceasefires in the Sahel and the eastern DRC where the M23 militia has seized swathes of territory and sparked a diplomatic row between Kinshasa and Rwanda’s government, which is accused of backing the rebels.

“I am deeply concerned about the recent rise in violence by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rise of terrorist groups in the Sahel and elsewhere,” Guterres told the gathering.

“The mechanisms for peace are faltering,” the UN secretary-general warned. Nevertheless, he urged the bloc to “continue to battle for peace”.

At a mini-summit on Friday, leaders of the seven-nation East African Community pushed for all armed groups to withdraw from occupied areas in the eastern DRC by the end of next month.

Guterres met with several African leaders on Friday, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, to discuss in particular the crisis in the Congo. (AFP)

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