The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called for earnest introspection by African leaders, saying the continent cannot continue on a path where conflicts, terrorism and humanitarian crises become normalised.
"The time has come for us to carry out an earnest introspection.
The seeds of our continent cannot continue on this tragedy, where we have normalised conflicts, normalised terrorism, violent extremism and normalised humanitarian crises.
We need to take a new path," he said.
Speaking at the 26th Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) in Luanda, Angola last Saturday, Mr Ablakwa said while the AU had pursued various paradigms, protocols and convened meetings to recapitalise the AU Peace Fund, what the continent truly needed to recapitalise was its mindset and leadership approach.
"We have pursued all these AU paradigms and protocols and convened meetings to recapitalise the peace fund.
But perhaps what we should begin to recapitalise, in all humility, is our heart and our mindset," he stated.
The Foreign Affairs Minister also called for tolerance among governments and nations on the continent, and the need for them to be more visionary in dealing with conflicts on the continent.
“Can we be more tolerant of each other? Can we be more compassionate?
Can we be more visionary about the root causes of conflict?
We can have $1 billion, $10 billion, $100 billion in a Peace Fund; if we do not change course, if we do not adopt a new leadership paradigm, we will face similar problems,” Mr Ablakwa added.
The Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council was held ahead of the AU's engagements on peace and security financing and reforms tomorrow.
On the human cost of the continent's challenges, Mr Ablakwa referenced desperate migration attempts by young Africans.
"With the youth of our country, let's look at the images of last month, just last month, over 72,000 of our young people desperately tried to enter Ceuta. One hundred and eleven of them died," he said.
Mr Ablakwa also drew attention to the continent's energy poverty, stressing that 600 million Africans, representing 43 per cent of the population, still lacked access to electricity.
The Foreign Affairs Minister cited figures from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) that more than 2,180 young Africans died in the Mediterranean last year while seeking greener pastures.
New paradigm
Mr Ablakwa said Africa, as the richest continent in natural resources, must recommit to job creation, industrialisation and genuine decentralisation that ensured equitable distribution of its wealth.
"We need to recommit to job creation, industrialisation, real decentralisation, sharing the wealth of this continent, the diamonds, the gold, the bauxite, the oil and gas that we have and the blessings.
"We are the richest continent. How can we share these resources for the African young people? This is a new paradigm that we need for our continent," Mr Ablakwa stressed.
