ADDIS ABABA: Conflict in Africa, especially the violence of Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgents, and efforts to stem Ebola will top the agenda as African leaders gather for their annual summit this week.

While the official theme of the African Union meeting will be women’s empowerment, leaders from the 54-member bloc will once again be beset by a string of crises across the continent when they meet at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital on Friday and Saturday.

AU chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who has said she is “deeply horrified” at the rise of Boko Haram, has said she will use the summit to drum up “renewed collective African efforts” to tackle the Islamists.

“Boko Haram are not just a threat to some countries, it is a threat to the whole continent,” Dlamini-Zuma said this week, with pressure mounting to set up a regional five-nation force of some 3,000 troops, currently stalled amid arguments between Nigeria and its neighbours.

More than 13,000 people have been killed and more than one million made homeless by Boko Haram violence since 2009.

With over a dozen elections due to take place this year across Africa, the focus will also be on how to ensure peaceful polls. The Institute for Security Studies, an African think tank, warns that “many of these are being held in a context that increases the risk of political violence”. Wars in South Sudan and the Central African Republic — both nations scheduled to hold elections — as well as in Libya are also due to draw debate.