The February 2021 mandate renewal for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is an opportunity to review what we know about climate change and security in Somalia, and to consider what governments and multilateral organisations can do to improve the way they manage climate related security risks. Research finds no direct causal relationship between climate and conflict but has identified multiple pathways through which climate-related change interacts with political, social, and environmental stresses to compound existing vulnerabilities and tensions. These factors combined can undermine development gains, impact the dynamics of ongoing violence and disrupt fragile peace processes. Additional pressures, such as COVID-19, compound the risk and makes a country like Somalia even more vulnerable to shocks and setbacks, as the recent political crisis shows.
Heads of State and Government of the 55 Member States of the African Union (AU) met on the 6th and 7th February 2021 for their 34th ordinary session. For the first time, the most significant diplomatic gathering of the Continent, which usually brings together over 7000 delegates at the headquarters of the AU in Addis Ababa, was held by videoconference to avoid further spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The 2021 elections of the top leadership team of the African Union Commission (AUC) were historic because they were the first following the adoption of the institutional reform process of the Union. It was therefore the litmus test for the proposed reforms adopted by the Union in 2018 particularly concerning the election of the senior leadership of the Commission. Of particular importance is that according to the reforms the chairperson, deputy chairperson and six commissioners have to be, on a rotational basis, representative of the five regions of Africa and the team has to be gender balanced.
The 34th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Assembly took place without the usual fanfare. Held away from the gaze of the public via an online platform courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic, the AU summit set by design a very limited agenda. Apart from the transition of the leadership of the AU Assembly from South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and an update on the institutional reform of the AU, the summit focused, in the main, on the election of the new leadership of the AU Commission and Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 15th of February 2021 will go down in history as the day on which a woman, and an African, was elected for the first time to the important post of Director-General of the WTO. It is a proud day for women all around the world and a proud day for all of us in Africa. However, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had to wait several months for a change in the administration of the United States before there could be consensus on her appointment, despite her having the support of the overwhelming majority of the members of the WTO. This very fact underscores the vital importance of this job at this particular juncture in our world.
The effect of COVID-19 has not been limited to Africa alone. The pandemic first emerged in China, the epicentre, from where it spread to Europe, and then to North and South America. If these regions of the world that have been heavily infected and affected by COVID-19, are able to implement measures to bounce back then we in Africa must do the same by learning from their experience and by devising our own home-grown solutions.
Savings clubs and other such community self-help arrangements can help people to cope better with the negative side-effects of the lockdown policies that governments introduced to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19. In countries such as Zimbabwe, without an effective social protection system for the poor and disadvantaged, savings clubs have often provided a buffer against the vagaries of broader economic and social challenges in local communities. Typically, ordinary people in Zimbabwe are faced with hunger and poverty due to a complex combination of macroeconomic instability, climate shocks and policy missteps. COVID-19, lockdown policies and social distancing regulations have added to the burden faced by ordinary people and have produced negative consequences on both formal and informal economic activities. The unemployment rate is estimated at 90%.
The impact of COVID-19 has become far-reaching and multidimensional in nature. It ranges from social, cultural, physical, economic to political dimensions. While many countries are working hard to ensure that the impact is minimised, new challenges are emerging. It is clear that the pressure of the pandemic has exacerbated a mounting economic crisis.
COVID-19 has had a significant impact on border communities in the Chipinge district in south-east Zimbabwe, which shares borders with Mozambique and South Africa. The borders are the lifeline of the Chipinge communities, and the efforts of the three governments to regulate the movement of people from either side of the borders, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, have negatively affected the economic and social interactions of the border communities. One unfortunate side-effect is that these measures have increased the space for illicit trade and organised crime along the borders as people try to earn a living and interact, in spite of the COVID-19 restrictions.
The dawn of 2020 heralded an auspicious beginning for four defining initiatives with particular significance for Africa: the historic agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); the African Union (AU) theme on Silencing the Guns 2020: Creating conducive conditions for Africa’s development; and two notable anniversaries related to women, peace and security (WPS). These were the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325 (2000). It is worth recalling that the WPS agenda was established by UNSC Resolution 1325 and seeks to empower women in efforts aimed at preventing and ending conflict, and building and sustaining peace. Unfolding against this backdrop was one of the greatest threats to global health.
A few months ago, I warned the United Nations Security Council that the world stood on the brink of a hunger pandemic. A toxic combination of conflict, climate change and COVID-19 had threatened to push 270 million people to the brink of starvation. Famine was real. It was a terrifying possibility in up to three dozen countries if we did not continue to act like we had been acting. Fortunately, since then, the world really listened. Donors and leaders all over the world responded; they acted. Countries large and small took extraordinary measures to save the lives of their citizens and support their economies, spending US$17 trillion on fiscal stimulus and central bank support. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the G20 nations threw a lifeline to the poorest nations by suspending debt repayments. That made a huge impact. With our donors’ help, the global humanitarian community launched a huge and unprecedented global fightback against the coronavirus.
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.