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Maas: “Africa will not be forgotten”
Seven weeks after taking Office, the German Foreign Minister took his first official trip to Africa.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently promised the African Union (AU) that his country would not neglect Africa, despite the many other crises around the world.
“Even if we are currently intensively involved with the issues in the Middle East, the German government will not forget Africa,” Maas said during a visit to the AU in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
Maas assured the AU's 55 member states that Germany remains committed to expanding cooperation, especially in the areas of security and economy.
It was the minister's first Africa trip, seven weeks after taking office, ahead of visits to Asia, South America and Australia. Maas has already travelled within Europe, to North America and the Middle East.
Maas visited former German colony Tanzania, where he discussed political and economic freedom as well as the rule of law.
A hundred years after the end of World War I, Maas also commemorated the war's African victims, “who are too often forgotten in Europe.”
Soldiers from Tanzania, formerly named German-East Africa, fought as part of the German army against British, Belgian and Portuguese troops. Thousands of African soldiers were killed.
© dpa