Africa grapples with failure to ‘silence the guns’
SEVEN years ago, amid extravagant celebrations marking the African Union’s 50th anniversary, the continent’s heads of state declared they would “end all wars in Africa by 2020.”
But as leaders travel to Addis Ababa this weekend for the latest summit of the 55-member bloc -- organised under the theme “Silencing the Guns” -- there is little question they are doomed to fall well short of their goal.
Some success has been achieved in Central African Republic and Sudan, but long-running conflicts in places like Libya and South Sudan have been joined by new crises from the fringe of the Sahara to Mozambique.
In remarks Thursday to AU foreign ministers, AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat painted a bleak picture of the continent’s security situation, citing extremist threats
stretching from the Sahel to Somalia.
The “missed deadline” to silence the guns, he added, “reveals the complexity of the security situation in Africa.”
In an op-ed this week in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper, Solomon Dersso, head of the AU’s human rights body, was blunter, saying the current level of insecurity “seems to make a mockery of the theme of the year.”
Two days of talks open on Sunday.
As they grapple with their failure to foster peace, African leaders have struggled to convince world bodies like the UN to take them seriously -for example as they seek a more prominent role in Libya.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will take over from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as AU chair on Monday, appears well aware of these challenges.
In a speech to South Africa-based diplomats last week, he warned that conflict “continues to hamper” development.
South Africa’s goals of advancing economic integration and curbing violence against women “must be underpinned by the promotion of a peaceful and secure Africa,” he added.
- Libya and South
Sudan Diplomats say Ramaphosa would do best to tackle the economic and political root causes of violence.
“Silencing the guns of course is the mother of all themes,” Osama Abdelkhalek, Egypt’s ambassador to the AU, told AFP.
“If you want to address it, you’re speaking about the grass-roots socio-economic challenges, about political challenges, in addition to security challenges.”
Ramaphosa has said Libya -- mired in chaos since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi -will be a key focus during his time in the chair.