Strengthening the role of the African State in addressing global security and development challenges

Ambassador Harold Agyeman
Ghana’s Representative to the United Nations
Security Council Chamber
United Nations, New York
May 23 2024

MAINTENANCE OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY: STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF THE AFRICAN STATE IN ADDRESSING GLOBAL SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES

Mr. President,
Let me once again commend Mozambique for the diligent manner it is undertaking its responsibilities as President of the Security Council for the second time during its present membership.

Ghana welcomes the focus of today’s open debate and the opportunity it provides to contribute to the objective for a strengthened role for African States in global security and development. We thank the briefers for sharing their perspectives on the matter and take note of their unique insights.

While Africa is not a homogenous continent, we regret the reality persisting today of a majority of African States being weakened as a result of the uneven distribution of the benefits of an international system that has been designed to deliver more for the few and powerful and suppress the aspiration and determination of the many.
The potential contribution of African States to global stability and development has therefore been stymied for its more than 1.4 billion people; and despite a combined economy in excess of US$3.5 trillion, Africa’s economy works for the richer world rather than its own people. With 60 percent of the world’s arable lands, it is cruel that Africans account for a significant proportion of the 828 million people suffering from severe or moderate food insecurity and the 50 million people on the brink of starvation.

Mr. President,
Neither ignorant of the devices at play nor of the challenges at hand, the States of Africa, under the mobilisation of Agenda 2063 – the Africa We Want – are determined to overcome every constraint and set the continent on the path of unity, peace, stability, and prosperity.

For today’s open debate, however, Ghana will highlight three (3) points relevant to capacity and necessary for African States to play their rightful role in international peace and development.

First, as Ghana has often advocated, the international governance system for financing, trade, development as well as peace and security needs a reset to reflect the world of today and not that of 1945. The financial architecture needs urgent reform in ways that ensures that the representation, structure, decision-making process and financial allocations system of the IFIs work for all, especially countries most in need; trade and development arrangements need to be undertaken on much more fairer terms and in the spirit of solidarity; and concerning the question of the reform of the Security Council, Africa’s permanent membership to reflect its long term perspectives for the maintenance of international peace and security needs to be addressed to cure the historic injustice that has been done to the continent of Africa and its people through exclusion.

Secondly, within the context of Africa’s continental integration, the ownership and leadership of continental peace and security arrangements would need to be deepened to “Silence the Guns” by 2030 through enhanced implementation of the African Peace and Security Architecture, the Governance Architecture and strengthened collaboration between the institutions of the Africa and those of partners such as the United Nations and its organs, especially the Security Council.

With its youthful population and resource rich heritage, Ghana firmly holds that Africa’s future and destiny will be determined by Africans and strongly supports the accelerated implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement and its protocols, as the initiative that unlocks the potential of Africa and delivers the hopes of peace, stability and prosperity for its States and people. Our actions must therefore emphasise the link between development and its impact on the preservation of the peace and the prevention of conflicts.

Thirdly, we acknowledge the importance and urge national efforts that improve governance, ensure inclusivity, and provides enlightened political leadership to drive the efforts and ownership of African States as capable entities over their economic governance, development process and national stability, with due regard to the global commitments assumed in the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals. We urge in this regard a strengthened engagement between African States and UN Country Teams, led by a strengthened and well-resourced Resident Coordinator System.

Mr. President,
Finally, Ghana would like to underscore the urgency to act at scale to respond to the pressing needs of Africa States for a reformed international governance system, for favourable global policies backed with resources, and for solidarity and support to implement continental and national actions that unlocks their full contributions to our shared common future.

In the meantime, we must sustain the modest but necessary beginnings that we are witnessing in the form of the African Union’s representation in the G20, the expansion of Africa’s representation on the Executive Board of the IMF and the World Bank, as well as the Security Council’s decision to provide significant funding from UN assessed contributions for African Union-led Peace Support Operations and the General Assembly’s decision to approve US$50 million from 2025 for building and sustaining peace.

As I thank you for your attention, and conclude by affirming that “Africa’s peace and prosperity is the world’s peace and prosperity