These days, Africa is going through mixed trajectories of ample opportunities and challenges that behoove a collective and coordinated approach. While the good news is in short supply, the continent also carries the must-have ingredients for socioeconomic growth including a youthful population and untapped national resources. Caught between a grim past and a brighter future, Africa’s socioeconomic development relies on how the leaders of the member nations work and commit themselves to common goals.
And, as the continent celebrated the annual Africa Day, some of the messages of African leaders shed light on the major issues in which African leaders should rally behind and pinpoint the way forward for tapping the continent’s potential and redressing daunting setbacks. To do that, Africa needs to have an independent and strong continental bloc. Strengthening the African Union remains a tall order and paves the way to an integrated and strong continent.
The 2022 Africa Day has served African leaders and experts as an opportunity to echo the priorities, obstacles, and remedies.
It requires an integrated effort to achieve peace, health, and prosperity in the growing continent as per the wish of the AUC Chairperson.
On 25th May 2022, the African Union commemorated Africa Day. In his congratulatory message, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat described the Day as a memorial to the freshness of the first moments of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and an interrogative of the generation’s capacity to build Africa dreamed of by the then founding fathers.
May 25th is a day on which Africans celebrate commemorating the establishment of OAU currently known as the African Union. For Faki, the OAU transformed into the African Union manifesting a paradigm shift for strategic adjustment and operational efficiency with the sole objective of giving substance and consistency to “the Africa we want”.
However, the challenges in the continent are increasing in number and complexity and becoming more difficult to be resolved. For the past ten years, Africa has been confronted with the challenges of terrorism, violent extremism, and transnational crimes such as human, drug, and arms trafficking. Terrorism in particular is constantly gaining ground. Today, many States devote their resources and energies to protecting themselves from this phenomenon depriving vital sectors such as health and education, he mentioned.
The continent is also faced with the disasters generated by poor governance. According to the Chairperson, corruption, inter-community conflicts, unemployment, and unconstitutional regime changes are the most visible avatars of maladministration in the continent.
In addition, there is an economic crisis that is burdened by debt, climate, and energy crisis while the health crisis following the outbreak of COVID-19 weakens the production capacities of the various economic agents.
These days, Africa has become the victim of a distant conflict being carried out between Russia and Ukraine. By profoundly upsetting the fragile global geopolitical and geostrategic balance, it has also cast a harsh light on the structural fragility of African economies.
“Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent: Strengthening Agro-Food Systems, Health and Social Protection Systems for the Acceleration of Human, Social and Economic Capital Development” was the theme of the Africa Day celebration for 2022.
Therefore, this year’s celebration targets addressing malnutrition and food insecurity as the continent is confronting challenges such as food insecurity and malnutrition, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message on the Day.
These are amplified by global crises including COVID-19 and climate change, he noted. And they interconnect with ongoing difficulties caused by such issues as changing weather patterns, drought, poor sanitation, and crop-destroying insects – all of which have strong local consequences, he stated.
The prospects on the horizon are bright – from Africa’s growing and vibrant youth population, to initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Decade of Women’s Financial and Economic Inclusion, and the African Union’s bold vision on Agenda 2063.
The African Union has designated 2022 as the Year of Nutrition. He also urged the international community to join together in solidarity with all Africans to strengthen food security and put nutrition within reach of every person.
“We must also intensify our efforts to end the pandemic, reform the global financial system, stop climate change and silence the guns across all conflicts,” the Secretary-General said. The United Nations will continue standing proudly with Africans as we work to deliver on the promise of a prosperous and peaceful Africa for all.
Reinforced action to strengthen resilience in nutrition and food security will help overcome the effects of many of these challenges. And it will lay a strong foundation to empower communities, Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly recommended.
“It is up to us to harness the political will to achieve these goals. Africa has so much potential. It has both the human and technical resources to secure a brighter future for all its inhabitants.” African women are an integral part of the solution, especially as glass ceilings are shattered and gender barriers are broken. They are poised to play a greater role in driving sustainable agricultural practices, and development, and in achieving the African Union’s vision of Agenda 2063.
“Working together with all stakeholders and in partnership with UN Agencies, we can transform Africa into an economic powerhouse. We can help the continent achieve all the Sustainable Development Goals. And we can ensure that the needs of all its inhabitants are fully met,” Shahid said.
The African Union has rationally reacted to the challenges through a series of actions and an abundant normative production stated in Decisions, Conventions, and Strategies, determining the mechanisms of action to attain the desired objectives, AUC Chairperson noted.
Among these is found the courageous Institutional Reform of the African Union undertaken in 2016 aimed at improving the governance of the Institution and making it a key player in multilateralism.
Becoming into effect in 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) makes Africa the largest common market in the world. The AU reinforces the measures taken in terms of the free movement of persons and goods.
Determination and solidarity were clearly demonstrated in the face of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The strong mobilization of African leaders and the effective coordination provided by the African Union in the Continental Response are testimony to the ability of Africa to face the challenges in a united and resolute manner. “In less than two years, some of our Member States have succeeded in setting up COVID-19 vaccine production plants on their territories,” Faki noted.
The African Union has taken a number of initiatives including the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in response to the food and nutrition crisis, which has obvious consequences for the health of the peoples in the continent.
The AU Commission has also worked to address concerns about health, education, infrastructure, energy, science, and research, the sectors whose promotion and realization are necessary conditions for the development of Africa.
“The results have not always matched our ambitions. But we are on the right path. From the focused pooling of all our energies and geographically dispersed resources will emerge the Africa we want,” he said.
Continued efforts are still needed, including advocacy in regions and communities where risks are greatest, strengthening social protection systems, and protecting access to good food and nutrition for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups like small children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and older people, and other at-risk groups. The 2022 Africa Day is aimed at generating awareness and consciousness for nutrition and health concerns in Africa.
This is also emphasized in the long-term vision encapsulated by Agenda 2063. Where one emphasizes the importance of nutrition for the “Africa We Want” with goals of “African people have a high standard of living, quality of life, sound health and wellbeing” and “citizens are healthy, well-nourished, and have a life expectancy of at least 75 years.” If and only if the AU achieves the goal of improving quality of life, peace, and security that it would name itself alongside with successful global counterparts.
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 1 JUNE 2022
