A Senior Mediation Advisor to the United Nations, Dr Emmanuel Bombande, has expressed worry at the African Union’s inactiveness in the ongoing Afghanistan humanitarian crisis.

According to him, it is worrying that since the crisis started, the African Union has failed to engage itself in international discourse concerning the matter and has released no statement on the issue.

He described the seeming indifference of the Union as disappointing.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Upfront, Bombande said, “Africa with almost 1.5 billion people is not at the periphery of global international discourse.

"So my personal expectation, which is a disappointment, is that I am not hearing anything from the African Union Commission.

“Not necessarily because of Afghanistan as it is, but to put the argument that we’re always taking ourselves out of the international political discourse, and yet in the Security Council there are always three African representatives, though not permanent representatives, we always have three non-permanent representatives.”

He added that “One would have thought that the 24-hour thinking that is continuous in international relations should have had an African Union statement that now informs other African states about the thinking that is collective that then informs what other African countries could do.

“And to the extent that you don’t hear that for me, it’s a bit of worry.”