“Africa is ready to progress”, said this Saturday the General secretary of the United Nations, citing the main development initiatives of the continent: Agenda 2063 and the Decade for the Financial and Economic Inclusion of Women.
António Guterres participated in the African Union Summit taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he praised the many plans of that bloc aimed at promoting progress and alluded to the abundance of natural resources.
“AND its greatest asset: its peoplerepresentative of a wide range of cultures and languages”, he stressed.
In his speech, Guterres spoke for a Integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africastating that existing development initiatives mark a “truly transformative path towards job creation and new sources of prosperity for Africans, especially youth”.
“The 21st century could be, must be, the century of Africa. We must take advantage of the continent’s natural, human, cultural and business wealth to make this a reality. But first, we will have to pass a series of massive tests, ”he emphasized.
More financial support
Despite his optimism about the future of the continent, the head of the UN acknowledged that Africa faces huge crisesfor which he called for action.
This action, he said, begins with more financial support for a continent hit by a dysfunctional and unfair financial systemdue to inequalities regarding the availability of resources for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and due to an inflationary crisis exacerbated by the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Guterres argued that the financial system denies debt relief to African countries and charges exorbitant interest ratesthus depriving economies of investment in vital areas such as health, education and social protection.
He stated that in order to respond to this situation, a radical transformation of the international financial systemand specified that said transformation should be based on the needs of developing countries.
Decarbonization and development
The Secretary General also spoke about the climate crisis, highlighting Africa’s problems of access to energy and development challenges in a continent rich in fossil fuel sources, where millions do not have electricity.
To decarbonise and develop, African countries need a wider access to technologies such as battery storage systems, components and raw materials, he said.
He added that it requires “tidal wave of support” from developed countries to strengthen the leadership shown by various African countries on climate issues.
Among the continent’s most notable efforts in this regard, he cited Kenya’s green economy strategy, efforts to protect Congo’s tropical forests, South Africa’s Just Transition Energy Partnership and the African Union’s ambitious Green Stimulus Programme.
Guterres explained that the endorsement must include a crisis loss and damage funddoubling financing for adaptation, and ensuring that all countries have early warning systems in place that protect against extreme weather events.
strong peace missions
Referring to peace and security, Guterres asserted that the role of the United Nations becomes increasingly complex, with more conflicts, terrorism and insecurity. Therefore, he asked for a more flexible and efficient systemsuch as that proposed in the UN New Agenda for Peace, which aims to strengthen the Organization’s peace missions.
This new agenda links peace, sustainable development, climate action and human rights with greater participation of women and youth.
“I strongly support the creating a new generation of strong missions peacekeeping and anti-terrorist operations led by the African Union with a mandate from the Security Council under Chapter VII and with guaranteed financing, even through established quotas”, Guterres pointed out.
In closing, the Secretary-General endorsed the UN’s determination to work with every African country to harness the continent’s enormous potential and overcome the obstacles that stand in its way.
