United Nations Security Council meeting on Peace and Security in Africa

Harold_Agyeman

Ambassador Harold Agyeman
Ghana’s Representative to the United Nations
New York, New York
March 30, 2023

 

Peace and security in Africa: The impact of development policies in the implementation of the Silencing the Guns agenda.

 

Mr. President, Your Excellency Mr. Filipe Jacinto Nyusi,
I must perforce thank Mozambique for organising this important debate. It is well understood and widely appreciated that without peace, national efforts at sustainable development are impeded. What is less appreciated is the impact of development policies on peace, which in turn has translated into inadequate support for the efforts to ensure that development policies do not detract but rather have a positive impact on peace.

We therefore welcome the insightful statement of Under-SecretaryGeneral Christina Duarte as well as the excellent briefing by Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the African Union High Representative for Silencing the Guns and Mr. Mirko Manzoni, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General to Mozambique. We believe that the rich contribution of the briefers to the debate would help the Council to better converge its views and identify further ways by which its intersecting actions with other organs and bodies could support Africa’s ambition to pacify the continent by 2030, in line with our commitment to silence the guns.

 

Mr. President,
The Africa we know, is a continent of promise – a promise that unfortunately has been shackled by the reality of competing international interests, well-intended but harmful global policies, disjointed actions, and diminished national capacities. It is such influences that have, among others, held back Africa’s prospects in mobilising its endowed natural resources, youth bulge, large market size of 1.3 billion people, and combined economy of some US$3.5 trillion in muting the “sound of the gun” and permitting Africa’s children to be fully educated, its prosperity to be developed and shared by its people, and its peace and stability assured by its governments. Indeed, the capability of African States is a necessary factor for peace, and historical and present policies that have undermined the continent cannot be glossed over if we are to be true to ourselves. Africa has carried over into the present, the consequences of unfavourable global adjustments in the monetary and financial spheres, but also in trade and other dimensions.

It cannot rightly be said that a region that has 33 of its 54 member countries being classified as least developed, has equitably benefitted from participating in the international system, even if one were to grant that all the factors for this state of affairs were national. At the present moment, monetary policies in major markets are disproportionately affecting smaller economies; with rising interest rates, depreciating currencies, elevated cost of living and reduced fiscal capacity to absorb shocks. Mindful of Africa’s complex and challenging political, security and socio-economic situation, we welcome the African Union’s extension of the implementation of the Silencing the Guns initiative and its 2030 Master Roadmap, and note the continuing relevance of Security Council resolution 2457 (2019).

 

Mr. President,
While acknowledging the moderate gains made since the establishment of the Initiative 10 years ago, we note that challenges remain with implementation. It is against this backdrop that Ghana would like to focus on three issues that we believe could support the efforts in silencing the guns in Africa, beyond the more traditional areas of work which we wholly support.

 

First, in silencing the guns, it is important that development policies that support the continents efforts to address the root causes of conflict, including the situation of economic and social inequalities that have destablised several countries, should be deepened. Among others, it would be important for States to be supported to fulfil their social contract with citizens, as required, through the renewal of national institutions, the enhancement of State presence throughout national territories, and the provision of basic social services to all populations, especially the underprivileged and poor who can least afford privatized basic services. This is a policy goal that is necessary to insulate vulnerable populations from the infectious radicalization of extremist and terrorist groups and we believe that the United Nations Development System can play an important role in that regard.

 

Secondly, Africa is a young continent whose youth dividends can only be effectively realized if its children and youth are properly educated and mobilized into beneficial innovation and value creation. This transformational agenda is a costly venture that most government’s find too risky to undertake within the short electoral cycles. We therefore urge enhanced and sustained international support for the generational development that the power of education brings. We welcome the commitments made by leaders last September to transform education for the world’s children, a significant proportion of whom would be in Africa. In our view, an educated and decently employed youthful population places the continent on the trajectory of peace, away from divisiveness, strife and conflict.

 

Thirdly, Africa’s prosperity is fundamental to its peace. It is for this reason that the continent has through its 2063 Development Agenda established the African Continental Free Trade Area to improve economic integration and unlock development potentials for the people of the continent. The continent’s development agenda should therefore form the framework around which international support is given and cooperation carried out with the continent. This is necessary to avoid disjointed actions and also to enable the continent’s own strength to be mobilized for its development.

 

Mr. President,
Before concluding, I would like to reaffirm Ghana’s commitment for all continental, regional, national and local actions that support efforts to silence the guns, including good governance, investment in preventive measures, and the harnessing of the complementarities between development and security policies in building a resilient and continental community for durable peace.
We particularly underscore the crucial role of traditional and religious leaders in reinforcing peace in Africa and believe that the moral values and native wisdom they uphold, has earned them
reverence and a place in many African countries to positively impact the political, security and development landscape. In Ghana for instance, the National House of Chiefs, the National Peace Council, the Council of State and the Christian Council of Ghana, all of whose membership include traditional and religious leaders, have made positive contributions to our national peace and stability. Through their efforts, the Peace Pact signed by all the presidential candidates since the 2012 national elections has deepened social cohesion and helped amplify the importance of peaceful and legal processes in addressing electoral grievances.

 

We also believe that the diversity of African societies must be embraced and leveraged for development through inclusive and balanced social, cultural, ethnic and religious representation in national life. Africa’s stability can be assured and women and the youth not left behind if we embrace the fact that though we may be different we all can belong.

 

Finally, Ghana believes that development policies can impact positively the implementation of silencing the guns in Africa. We however must move beyond the business-as-usual approach by strengthening cooperation at the national, regional, and international levels as well as by demonstrating stronger political will including in the implementation of existing commitments within the AU/UN partnership framework.

I thank you.