The Foundation for Peace Professionals, also known as PeacePro, has urged African leaders attending the 81st United Nations General Assembly to focus on building the continent's economic, institutional and security capacity. This, according to the foundation, will make Africa's positions on sovereignty and global affairs more consequential. The call was made in a statement issued on Friday and signed by the Executive Director of PeacePro, Abdulrazaq Hamzat.
PeacePro stated that African governments must move beyond making declarations on international law, foreign interference, economic inequality and sovereignty without developing the required capacity to defend those positions. The foundation stressed that Africa's long-standing demand for greater influence in global affairs must be matched with concrete diplomatic, economic, legal and security action. This, it said, will enable African leaders to approach the UN as representatives of sovereign states with clearly defined interests and the capacity to defend them.
According to PeacePro, Africa's shortage is not in speeches, but in the power behind its speeches. The foundation emphasized that a sovereign position must have sovereign capacity behind it, adding that African leaders should not approach the international system as petitioners seeking permission to defend Africa's legitimate interests. Instead, they should approach it as equals with the capacity to negotiate and defend their interests.
The foundation 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. This, it said, will enable Africa to engage global powers from a position of greater strategic equality. PeacePro 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 urged African governments to 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 noted that 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. The foundation called on African governments to deliberately build capacity in energy, food, finance, technology, industry, defence, maritime security, transportation, education, intelligence and institutional governance.
The foundation stressed that 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. PeacePro said that 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.
Key points
- The Foundation for Peace Professionals is calling on African leaders to build the continent's economic, institutional and security capacity.
- The group proposes "Speech to Action Diplomacy" to enable Africa to engage global powers from a position of greater strategic equality.
- The foundation emphasizes that demands for greater African representation and influence in global governance require economic and diplomatic leverage.
