The White House’s reasons for excluding these five nations is that those four countries were suspended from the African Union (AU).
Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Sudan are countries that have recently experienced several coups d’état and are currently ruled by transitional military juntas.
This unstable situation led the AU to sanction the military governments with the cessation of all activities related to the organization.
Meanwhile, a White House spokesman said that Eritrea was excluded from the summit because it has no formal ties with the United States. The summit between President Joe Biden’s administration and 50 AU representatives began on Tuesday to strengthen future US relations with that continent.
It is the first time since 2014 that the White House has organized such a meeting with African leaders when the Biden administration is seeking greater collaboration on trade, investment, and climate change, among other issues.
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