Online Reporter
Mukudzei Chingwere in LUANDA, Angola
AFRICA cannot continue to rely on donors and well-wishers to secure its peace and development, and the continent must mobilise and use its own resources to confront conflicts and protect its future, Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga has said.
The VP was speaking on Sunday in Luanda, where he attended the 21st Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
VP Chiwenga said Africa already has the institutional machinery needed to prevent conflicts, but lacks the political will and implementation required to make those mechanisms work.
He said the continent could not expect outsiders to shoulder the cost of protecting African lives, resources and sovereignty.
“Africa cannot just depend on donors, on well-wishers. We want to build our continent. Therefore, we must pay the price to fund ourselves,” said VP Chiwenga.
“On mechanisms for the prevention of conflict in Africa, the mechanisms are already in place. What is lacking is the implementation part.
“We have the resources. First of all, we have to defend those resources and utilise them for the benefit of our own people. If we want peace and security, we must do it. We cannot wait and ask other people to do it for us.”
VP Chiwenga’s remarks came as African leaders concluded a summit devoted exclusively to strengthening the continent’s capacity to prevent and resolve conflicts, against the backdrop of wars, terrorism, violent extremism and political instability that continue to strain African peace and security institutions.
The AU had set the Luanda summit apart from routine declarations, directing that it produce concrete and time-bound measures on conflict prevention.
VP Chiwenga said the challenge went beyond simply finding money for peacekeeping operations.
He linked the continent’s security to control of its vast natural resources, warning that African countries must first protect those resources and ensure that they are used for the benefit of their populations.
His argument highlights one of the central contradictions facing Africa — a resource-rich continent that continues to depend heavily on external financing to address conflicts that are often fuelled by competition over those same resources.
From Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to Somalia, the Sahel, Libya and northern Mozambique, the AU says Africa is confronting increasingly complex security threats, including terrorism, violent extremism, piracy and transnational crime.
The AU Commission has consequently called for stronger early-warning systems, better coordination between the AU, regional blocs and member States, greater political intervention before crises escalate, and more effective implementation of decisions already taken by continental institutions.
VP Chiwenga said the discussions and presentations by AU leaders, including Angolan President Joao Lourenco and AU Commission chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, had reinforced the need for Africans to take greater ownership of the continent’s peace and security agenda.
President Lourenco, who hosted the summit as the AU Champion for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa, urged leaders to turn existing political, diplomatic, financial and institutional instruments into concrete action to prevent conflicts from becoming wars.
He said peace was essential not only for stability but also for economic development and the achievement of Agenda 2063.
Mr Youssouf was equally blunt about the financing challenge, calling for sustainable financing of peace operations and a fully operational AU Peace Fund.
He said Africa’s peace agenda could no longer depend primarily on external resources.
