UNGA 81: Group tasks Africa with building economic power

The Foundation for Peace Professionals has called on African leaders attending the ongoing 81st United Nations General Assembly to strengthen the continent’s economic, institutional and security capacity to make its positions on sovereignty and global affairs more consequential.

The foundation, popularly known as PeacePro, said African governments must move beyond making declarations on international law, foreign interference, economic inequality and sovereignty without developing the capacity required to defend those positions.

This was contained in a statement issued on Friday and signed by the Executive Director of PeacePro, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, who said Africa’s long-standing demand for greater influence in global affairs must be matched with concrete diplomatic, economic, legal and security action.

The foundation urged African leaders to approach the UN as representatives of sovereign states with clearly defined interests and the capacity to defend them.

The statement read, “Africa does not have a shortage of speeches. Africa has a shortage of power behind its speeches.

“A sovereign position must have sovereign capacity behind it. African leaders should not approach the international system as petitioners seeking permission to defend Africa’s legitimate interests.”

PeacePro said demands for respect for African sovereignty should be accompanied by stronger security, intelligence, economic and institutional systems across the continent.

“Every major African declaration should answer a simple question: What are we prepared to do if our position is ignored?” it asked.

The foundation stressed that its call was not for Africa to isolate itself from the international community or confront other regions, but for the continent to develop the capacity to engage global powers from a position of greater strategic equality.

“Africa should cooperate with the United States, China, Russia, Europe, India and every other global power where such cooperation advances African interests. But meaningful partnership requires the capacity to negotiate, not merely the obligation to comply,” the statement said.

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PeacePro proposed what it described as “Speech to Action Diplomacy,” under which major positions announced by African leaders at the UN would be followed by measurable actions at national, regional or continental levels.

It said Africa’s defence of international law should be backed by stronger African legal and diplomatic mechanisms, while opposition to foreign interference should be supported by intelligence, institutional and economic resilience.

The foundation also called for greater investment in financial institutions, industrialisation, energy security, technology and intra-African trade as part of efforts to strengthen economic sovereignty.

On security, PeacePro said African governments should develop the financial, logistical and military capabilities required to sustain African-led peace operations rather than relying excessively on external support.

The foundation further argued that demands for greater African representation and influence in global governance would have limited effect without the economic and diplomatic leverage needed to make such influence meaningful.

PeacePro said the African Union’s Agenda 2063 already provides a strategic vision of a united, resilient and influential continent, but added that the major challenge was translating the vision into institutional capacity and measurable action.

It called on African governments to deliberately build capacity in energy, food, finance, technology, industry, defence, maritime security, transportation, education, intelligence and institutional governance.

“Africa should not merely tell the world what it wants. Africa must build the capacity to make its choices consequential.

“The era of speeches without strategy, declarations without implementation and demands without enforcement must give way to an era of African capacity, African coordination and African strategic action,” the foundation stated.

PeacePro said the real measure of African sovereignty should not be the applause received after an African president delivers a speech at the UN, but what the continent is capable of doing after the speech.