{"id":38046,"date":"2023-09-24T08:08:18","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T08:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=38046"},"modified":"2026-07-10T02:41:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:41:25","slug":"african-leaders-said-enough-is-enough-at-u-n-general-assembly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2023\/09\/24\/african-leaders-said-enough-is-enough-at-u-n-general-assembly\/","title":{"rendered":"African leaders said \u201cenough is enough\u201d at U.N. General Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0If you listen to the African leaders addressing the\u00a0U.N. General Assembly<\/strong>\u00a0this year, the message is emphatic and unanimous: The continent is done being a victim of a post-World War II order. It is a global power in itself and must be partnered with \u2014 not sidelined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Most of Africa has logged a lifetime of independence \u2014 roughly 60 years \u2014 and the continent of more than 1.3 billion people is more conscious of the challenges stifling its development. There\u2019s also a new boldness that comes with\u00a0the African Union\u2019s G20 seat.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe as Africa have come to the world, not to ask for alms, charity or handouts, but to work with the rest of the global community and give every human being in this world a decent chance of security and prosperity,\u201d Kenyan President William Ruto said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Africa has been clear about its capacity to become a global power, from\u00a0efforts to tackle climate change<\/strong>\u00a0at home \u2014 such as the existential threat of climate change upending lives and livelihoods in the region, despite Africa contributing by far the least to global warming \u2014 to helping to foster peace elsewhere, like in\u00a0Russia and Ukraine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In his address, Ghana\u2019s President Nana Akufo-Addo blamed Africa\u2019s present-day challenges on \u201chistorical injustices\u201d and called for reparations for the slave trade. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said the continent is poised to \u201cregain its position as a site of human progress\u201d despite dealing with a \u201clegacy of exploitation and subjugation.\u201d Nigeria\u2019s leader, Bola Tinubu, urged his peers to see the region not as \u201ca problem to be avoided\u201d but as \u201ctrue friends and partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfrica is nothing less than the key to the world\u2019s future,\u201d said Tinubu, who leads a country that, by 2050, is forecast to become the third most populous in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the largest bloc of countries at the United Nations, it is understandable that African leaders increasingly demand a bigger voice in multilateral institutions, said Murithi Mutiga, program director for Africa at the Crisis Group. \u201cThose calls will grow especially at a time when the continent is being courted by big powers amid growing geopolitical competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A PARADOX, YET UNSTOPPABLE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the U.N.\u2018s sidelines, the African Development Bank mobilized some political and business leaders at an event tagged \u201cUnstoppable Africa,\u201d a phrase seen as reflective of the continent\u2019s aspirations just days after the first-ever Africa Climate Summit called richer countries to keep their climate promises \u2014 and invest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with a young population set to double by 2050, Africa is the only rapidly growing region where its people are getting poorer and where some are celebrating the rampant takeover<\/strong> of their democratically elected governments by militaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfrica is a paradox,\u201d said Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa\/Gulf chief analyst at the Nairobi-based Sahan Research think tank. \u201cIt is not just a continent of dwindling hope, there are parts of Africa where we are seeing innovation, progressive thinking and very smart solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abdi said the world is becoming more interested in Africa and how it contributes to current global challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is definitely potential for Africa to be more assertive and to drive progressive and fairer change in the global system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Ghana\u2019s Akufo-Addo, correcting an \u201cunfair\u201d world order must begin with the payment of reparations from the era during which an approximated 12.5 million people were enslaved, according to the often-referenced Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is time to acknowledge openly that much of Europe and the United States have been built from the vast wealth harvested from the sweat, tears, blood and horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the centuries of colonial exploitation,\u201d Akufo-Addo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A SEAT AT THE TABLE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The continent relies heavily on foreign aid for its development needs, receiving the largest share of total global aid, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Still, it continues to suffer from a global financial system that forces its countries to pay eight times more<\/strong> than the wealthiest European nations, resulting in surging debt that eats up what is left of dwindling government revenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Africa\u2019s total public debt reached $1.8 trillion, 40 times more than the 2022 budget of the continent\u2019s largest country Nigeria, according to the U.N.\u2019s agency for trade and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfrica has no need for partnerships based on official development aid that is politically oriented and tantamount to organized charity,\u201d President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said. \u201cTrickling subsidies filtered by the selfish interests of donors will certainly not allow for a real and effective rise of our continent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tshisekedi\u2019s country has the world\u2019s largest reserves of cobalt and is also one of the largest producers of copper, both critical for clean energy transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Africa needs instead, according to Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, is a more inclusive global financial system. In such a system, Nyusi said, Africans can participate as \u201ca partner that has (a) lot to offer to the world and not only a warehouse that supplies cheap commodities to countries or international multinational corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coronavirus pandemic laid bare how the challenges could be life-threatening: Officials were forced to confront that barely any drugs or vaccines were made on the continent, and that more solutions need to start at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa\u2019s capacity is not only in its population but also its rich natural resources. However, speaking with a collective voice is stymied by national-focused, rather than regional, policies , said Ibrahim Mayaki, the African Union\u2019s special envoy for food systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main obstacle to Africa\u2019s development is its fragmentation in 50-plus countries,\u201d said Mayaki at a New York event organized by the Africa Center think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As African leaders spoke glowingly about the continent as a force on the global stage, some at home said the leaders must begin by delivering the dividends of democracy to their people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this richly endowed region, at least half of its 54 countries are among the 30 least developed in the world, according to the latest U.N. Human Development Index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople will respect you naturally if you\u2019re doing well as a leader and they see your people are not suffering,\u201d said Grace Agbu, a resident of Nigeria\u2019s capital city, Abuja. \u201cYou don\u2019t beg people to respect or partner with you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Nigeria, chronic corruption<\/strong> and bad governance<\/strong>have robbed millions of the benefits of being Africa\u2019s largest economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on the day Ghana\u2019s Akufo-Addo demanded equal rights and justice for Africa in his address, police officers in his country were arresting dozens protesting the country\u2019s worst economic crisis in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Africa wants to be taken seriously, its leaders need to address the serious challenges the continent confronts including preventable ones such as acute conflict in several parts of Africa and a wave of coups, some driven by despair among the population about a failure to deliver security and basic governance,\u201d said the Crisis Group\u2019s Mutiga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guinea\u2019s military leader told the General Assembly the continent\u2019s challenges sometimes have to be addressed by soldiers like him<\/strong> when elected presidents fail to do so. He took power after a 2021 coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe era of the old Africa is over,\u201d Col. Mamadi Doumbouya said. \u201cThis is the end of an unbalanced and unjust era where we had no say. It is time to take our proper place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0If you listen to the African leaders addressing the\u00a0U.N. General Assembly\u00a0this year, the message is emphatic and unanimous: The continent is done being a victim of a post-World War II order. It is a global power in itself and must be partnered with \u2014 not sidelined. Most of Africa has logged a lifetime of independence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":38049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[8790,1648,4899,545,12729,7994,6850,13052,7358,9467,5249,11583,8924,7241,9331,8938,3862,10767,596,5313,1384,6731,8440,246,6725,11337,11606,913,6144,5196,5494,6621,9505,6496,11638,6428,6225,3577,6046,192,8604,2264,5318,5579,6464,7022,8601,10954,10419,5572,9683,12187,864,12085,990,434,1136,11973,5485,1253,5396,421,9374,3805,4497,1013,7540,3457,5655,9881,5618,244,1898,11906,10097,10329,5180,7231,7999,10701,9262,5251,7563,10415,36,594,5140],"class_list":["post-38046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-abuja","tag-africa","tag-african","tag-african-development-bank","tag-african-leaders","tag-africans","tag-aid","tag-akufo","tag-bank","tag-bola-tinubu","tag-budget","tag-capital","tag-chance","tag-charity","tag-city","tag-clean-energy","tag-climate-change","tag-conflict","tag-congo","tag-coronavirus","tag-corruption","tag-coup","tag-crisis","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-debt","tag-demand","tag-democracy","tag-democratic","tag-drugs","tag-economy","tag-energy","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-food","tag-forced","tag-foreign-aid","tag-friends","tag-future","tag-g20","tag-ghana","tag-global-community","tag-government","tag-guinea","tag-gulf","tag-horn-of-africa","tag-human-being","tag-independence","tag-international","tag-justice","tag-military","tag-millions","tag-n","tag-nairobi","tag-nations","tag-new-york","tag-nigeria","tag-nyusi","tag-one","tag-pandemic","tag-paris","tag-peace","tag-police","tag-population","tag-president","tag-president-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-ramaphosa","tag-reserves","tag-russia","tag-security","tag-smart","tag-soldiers","tag-south-africa","tag-special-envoy","tag-the-general","tag-tinubu","tag-trade","tag-ukraine","tag-union","tag-united-nations","tag-united-nation-general-assembly","tag-united-states","tag-war","tag-william-ruto","tag-work","tag-world","tag-who","tag-young"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38050,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38046\/revisions\/38050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}