Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says member states of the African Union must move beyond conferences and recommit to taking concrete action against violent extremism and conflicts which have characterized the continent.
According to the Minister, no amount of funding can cure that challenge of violence if governments fail to create jobs and opportunities for the teaming youth of the continent.
The Minister was speaking on August 29 at the extraordinary African Union summit convened in Angola to firm up resolutions on conflict prevention and taking swift action on dealing with violent attacks which have become regular occurrences on the continent.
Mr Ablakwa said “the time has come for us to carry out an earnest introspection. The scenes of our continent cannot continue on this tragedy, where we have normalized conflicts, normalized terrorism, violent extremism and normalized humanitarian crisis. We need to take a new path.
“We have pursued all these AU paradigms and protocols and convened meetings to recapitalize the peace fund. But perhaps what we should begin to recapitalize, in all humility, is our heart and our mindset.”
Commenting on a recent migration tragedy where some Moroccans stormed Spain, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa noted that African countries can reverse that trend by creating jobs and opportunities to halt such exodus.
He said “just last month, over 72,000 of our young people desperately tried to enter Ceuta. 111 of them died.
“As we speak, 600 million Africans don’t have access to electricity. That’s 43% of our population. Only last year, IOM reported that over 2,180 young Africans died in the Mediterranean looking for greener pastures. We need to recommit to job creation, industrialization, real decentralization, sharing the wealth of this continent, the diamonds, the gold, the bauxite, the oil and gas that we have blessings.”
The 26th Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union on the Strengthening of Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa in Luanda, Angola will end on Sunday August 30 with actionable plans on preventing all forms of conflict on the continent to make Africa safer.
Foreign Minister Ablakwa says “this is a new paradigm that we [AU leaders] need for our continent.”
By Martin Asiedu – Dartey
