Relaxation along with resolutions
IT was a week in which nearly all roads led to Sandton, where African heads of state converged for the 25th AU summit.
The red carpet was rolled out as the private jets flew into Air Force Base Waterkloof and luxury sedans rolled up to ferry the continent’s VVIPs between fivestar hotels and the Sandton Convention Centre.
South Africa took over as host of the summit after Chad pulled out following threats from militant group Boko Haram.
Delegates from more than 50 countries were transported in top-of-the-range BMW 5 Series, S-Class Mercedes-Benzes and sleek Jaguars.
Hotels in Sandton, which included the five-star Michelangelo and the Hilton, were fully booked for the conference. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was spotted at the Hyatt Hotel in Rosebank.
On Friday, Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie addressed the summit on sexual violence.
Nelson Kgwete, spokesman for the Department of International Relations, said: “The journalists are surrounding her . . . but these are political journalists, not entertainment journalists. Not all are interested in her.”
Kgwete said the priority was to provide the AU with the facilities and logistics needed to host the summit.
These included sound equipment for interpreters for the five official languages — English, Arabic, French, Swahili and Portuguese.
In-between work, some delegates found a moment to savour the top designer wares at Sandton’s new Diamond Walk.
There was plenty of windowshopping, but a few delegates were spotted with bags from Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Jimmy Choo on Friday.
Of course, no visit to Joburg would be complete without a little drama. Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said a delegate, Nigerian citizen Gabriel Gundo, and his driver were held up by a group of men posing as police officers on their way from OR Tambo International Airport to Sandton on Wednesday.
They were robbed of $5 000 (about R62 000) and R700 in cash.
“Police have deployed a team of detectives on a manhunt for the suspects,” Dlamini said.
There was no update on the investigation by late afternoon. — Monica Laganparsad, Pericles Anetos and Jan Bornman