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The aspirations to independent development are growing stronger on the African continent amid the complicated international situations.

According to an Ethiopian media outlet Ethiopian Press Agency on November 22, the African Union bitterly criticized the external interference in the African countries including the Sudanese and Libyan disputes.

On November 20, the AU commissioner for politics, peace and security clarified before the journalists again the firm stand of the union on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the continent at the fourth AU weekly event on the post-civil war reconstruction and development.

The AU is opposed to foreign interference in the internal affairs of our continent without any hesitation and ambiguity, he said, noting that such interventions have a negative impact on the troubled situation, especially the regional situations like those in Sahel and Sudan. Denouncing the outside forces for interfering in the Libya issue on the pretext of the UNSC resolution, he said that what they seek are geopolitical interests and it emerges as a new threat to the continent.

Stressing the principle of "settling African issues by Africans", he noted that the goal of Africa is to strengthen the unity of Africa and peacefully resolve disputes and conflicts.

He added that it is important for African countries to have equal representative rights in the UNSC and the UN should be reformed.

The Algerian president, in a written speech sent to the opening ceremony of the 11th high-level meeting on African peace and security held in his country on December 1, said that the meeting was an occasion for Africa to demonstrate its ability and unity in a single voice at the UN arena.

The present international order system is at a crossroads of deciding where to go after veering off the track as the confrontation policy between big powers casts a shadow over the international justice, the idea of international order, global peace and security, he said, noting that the situation requires that the Peace and Security Council of the African Union and the three African countries, the non-permanent members of the UNSC, effectively coordinate the adoption of the UN peace and security resolutions.

Meanwhile, the director general of the Information and Security Bureau of Ethiopia referred to the need to formulate a strategy of the pan-African defence force at the first meeting of the defence ministers of Africa held in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, last October.

He said that the outside forces are posing security threats to the continent through direct and indirect interference, no one can solve the regional, diplomatic and security issues arising in Africa alone and they can be solved only through the active pan-African military and security cooperation. He demanded that African countries enhance cooperation, put an end to dependence on imports of military hardware and build their own capabilities.

Recently, Chad broke off military relations with France and decided on the French troop pullout from it. Senegal also urges the closure of the French military base stationed in its territory.

Referring to it, French TV channel FRANCE 24 on November 29 commented that African countries have decided on the withdrawal of French military bases because the French army does not play any role in settling the disputes in the countries concerned, but rather the disputes are being aggravated and expanded in the regions where the French troops are stationed. It added that it is natural for African countries to highlight the governments’ efforts to defend their national sovereignty with the issue of the French military base pullout.

Amidst the growing tendency towards rejecting the intervention by big powers in Africa, Niger is working to change the names of streets showing the traces of the past colonial history.