Plenary 2 – Global crises and sovereignty in Africa

Context

For several decades, many African countries have been facing cyclical political, economic and social crises. This situation is exacerbated, year after year, by the lack of sustainable responses to develop the resilience of states and populations to the multi-faceted impacts of the global crises that shake the world. Indeed, Africa seems to be a victim of the aftermath of global convulsions. Heavily impacted since the long periods of drought in the 1970s, through the end of the Bretton Woods agreements, the continent has gone through many crises, the best known of which are the world oil crisis of 1973, the economic and financial earthquake of 2008, not to mention the global health crisis of 2019, the stigma of which is still vivid. The Russian-Ukrainian crisis has sounded the alarm in several African countries, by the magnitude of its consequences, especially in the energy and food sectors. (especially in the energy and food sectors).

This situation of eternal dependence on the jolts of globalization raises the imperative need to build new sovereignties capable of driving sustainable socio-economic development. How to position the African continent as a major economic player in globalization? Despite the continent’s abundance of natural resources, the virtual lack of autonomy of African countries in crucial areas such as energy, food and health remains a permanent source of concern and social tensions that generate instability. If, throughout their history, African systems have sometimes shown their resilience in the face of crises, conflicts and other pandemics (AIDS, yellow fever, Covid 19…), the time has come to learn the lessons from the last two global shocks, namely Covid 19 and the Russian-Ukrainian war, in order to finally build real sovereignty, and to remove Africa from the vagaries of a long night of dependence. This imperative is all the more important as the continent must, at the same time, take up its security challenges by rethinking the foundations of its security and defense cooperation with its partners. This refoundation will also have to be done with the major asset of the continent that represents the youth of its population, an essential lever in the conquest of new sovereignties.

Objectives

Faced with the new global geopolitical challenges, the question is how African systems can develop new models of political new models of political, economic, security, food, health and energy sovereignty, security, food, health and energy, capable of adapting and absorbing to adapt and absorb exogenous shocks in a sustainable manner.

Issues to be addressed

  • What mechanisms should be put in place to ensure health, energy and food sovereignty?
  • What is the role and place of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in AU community integration? How to establish public-private partnerships to ensure and consolidate the African health, energy, food and military industry?
  • How to rethink and harmonize cooperation commitments with international partners for a sovereign and autonomous Africa, especially in terms of defense and security?

Date

25 Oct 2022
Expired!

Time

9h00 - 10h30
Category

Speakers

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