Since the negotiations for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) were launched in Johannesburg in 2015, remarkable progress has been achieved – largely because of the political will and commitment of the Assembly of Heads of States and Government of the African Union (AU) to ensure that Africa takes concrete steps towards the creation of an integrated market.
Supporting the AU build its capacities towards conflict prevention and mediation in Africa
In partnership with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Alliance for Peacebuilding organized PeaceCon 2020, from 7 to 9 December 2020. PeaceCon 2020 brought together experts and practitioners
ACCORD’s Executive Director Dr Vasu Gounden gives remarks during the 9th Africa Students and Youth Summit on the impact of COVID-19 on elections in Africa.
If there was ever a moment in the history of humanity that calls for the deepening of dialogue across different nations, generations, and cultures about a world that we want to see, the year 2020 is that moment. Instead of allowing the disruptions created by the emergence and spread of COVID-19 to weaken our collective resolve to find creative solutions to the challenges we commonly face, we ought to be inspired by the creativity, the innovations, and the resilience that ordinary people across the world have attempted to create.
Recognition of the nexus between foreign policy and public health is not new; it has found episodic expression that tended to dissipate, only to re-emerge with time. This has been the case because traditional notions of advancing national interests through foreign policy have tended to be anchored around the fields of trade and defence, with health seen as part of so-called “low politics”. This has tended to underplay the foreign policy dimensions of health.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted peace operations. In the short term, activities have been reduced to the most critical, rotations have been frozen and most staff are working remotely. Most of the missions have adapted remarkably well. However, even more changes are likely in the medium term, when the global economic recession that is expected to follow in the wake of the virus may force peace operations to contract drastically in size and scope.
The contributions at the 14th Extra-Ordinary Summit on Silencing the Guns served to reaffirm the commitment of the current leadership of the continent to the moral and political duty given to us by our forebears to achieve an Africa free of conflict. The summit was able to answer some critical questions on the actions we must now take to advance this responsibility, including in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is no getting around it: the COVID-19 crisis will hit Africa’s people particularly hard. Even if the infection rate remains low, the socio-economic devastation is already being felt. Access to clean water supplies and basic health services remain a challenge throughout the continent, making the containment measures taken by most countries all the more challenging. Beyond the immediate health concerns, the pandemic is triggering a global economic slowdown, which will severely hamper Africa’s development ambitions and curtail a successful two decades of macro-economic improvements and social gains.
Twenty-five elections were scheduled for 2020 in Africa. While some states chose to postpone their elections, citing COVID-19, others opted to continue. Holding elections during a pandemic has resulted in a number of new challenges. Some states have exhibited resilience by managing to conduct well-run elections, despite COVID-19. However, in other cases, attempts to conduct elections during the COVID-19 pandemic have increased tensions, undermined trust in democracy and contributed to election-related violence.