Africa should push hard to realise its agenda

Hamdan Wadi Correspondent
Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 established the principle of equality of states having full authority within their own territory, and equality between religions and thus eliminated religion as a source of political power as was the case at that time in Europe. It is the treaty that planted the seeds of

people sovereignty and created the rudimentary roots of both democracy and nationalism, that was the way Europe chose to put an end to its internal armed conflicts through negotiation.

However, the Eurocentric character of the Westphalia settlement may not fit the globalised world of today and tomorrow but it is an example of how Africa can negotiate and reach a consensus on our position on this globe which is still using medieval methods of domination.

Diplomacy is the art of creating and managing relationships among nations.

It is a multi-playered board war-game known to most strategic game players and at the heart of it is negotiation between the players who might include among them great powers and their subordinates and other neutral.

It is the arena where deals and alliances are made and broken.

To begin a game one has to learn about the opponent, whether he is generally reliable or not, his objectives, strategy and tactics and the psyches also; the more you know about the other players the better you will be able to predict the outcomes.

We all owe the founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity a solemn homage and tribute on the visionary and historic step they took to form an institution that would be the vanguard of the African people’s aspirations for freedom, unity and solidarity.

It is a sacred duty to find a prominent place to this organisation between its counterparts in today’s world.

This year our leaders have raised the banner of women empowerment and development towards Africa Agenda 2063. It is a step that bears plausible assurances that Africa is in the right direction.

The choice has been revealing and deliberate in the sense that women are the cornerstone of stability and social progress; the continent cannot move forward without women in the lead.

It is recognition of the role of the woman as a driving force for the change and development that looms.

Under the able leadership of the last one still alive of our extraordinary founding fathers, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the member states have moved to mainstream gender issues into their national laws and development programmes. The instruments and frameworks that have been put in place for the empowerment and elevation of women cover various spheres of social interaction and development, ranging from governance, politics and access to justice, education, health and ownership of the means of production.

These transformative decisions are a realisation that women of Africa are a formidable asset in achieving sustainable social and economic development as well as the eradication of poverty, hunger and disease.

A few weeks remain and the 25th AU Summit will convene under the banner of (Human Rights with Focus on Women’s Rights), which is another attempt by our leaders to push towards unequivocal recognition of human rights in general and women’s rights in particular.

While addressing these noble goals, let us not underestimate the obstacles set forth by the detractors who do not want success for Africa.

In order to defeat the detractors, Africa should be politically united, economically integrated and culturally recognised.

If Africa aspires to be a strong and influential global player and partner it should speak with one voice in global affairs on those issues which affect the community and the innocents.

In this respect, many African countries are experiencing unilateral coercive measures (UCM) that affect directly the innocents and by doing so threaten the social cohesion and fabric and reduce the expected benefits of the agenda at hand. Africa Agenda 2063 is both vision and action plan. It is a call for action to all segments of African society to work together to build a prosperous and united Africa based on shared values and common destiny.

Unilateral sanctions negatively affect the implementation of the agenda as well as human rights generally and particularly the rights of the most vulnerable — women, children and the disabled.

· Hamdan Wadi is the Ambassador of Sudan to Zimbabwe