BY ANDUALEM SISAY GESSESSE – African leaders and the African Union Commission (AUC) are urged to advance justice and reparations for Africa at the ongoing AU Summit. The leaders are told to advance the agenda of reforming the global financial architecture which has been harming African people.
The call is made this afternoon by a group of civil society organizations namely AFRODAD, One Campaign and Christian Aid. The call came as African leaders are gathering in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for their annual meeting at the headquarters of the African Union Commission. The AU has not used its potential, according to Serah Mekka, Africa Executive Director for One Campaign. She indicated that African countries need to negotiate as Africa through AU – not as individual country – for negotiations like debt with big countries mainly the lenders.
They urged that the current global financial architecture designed while most African countries were under colonization needs to be reformed including the voice and interests of African people. In addition, there is an urgent need to restructure the dominant financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), according to the participants of the online press conference.
They also call for Africa’s debt cancellation including those by the private lenders and establishment of a multilateral all-inclusive debt restructuring mechanism. The panelists have also raised the issue of illicit financial flows from Africa, which ultimately goes to the richer countries via tax haven should also be part of the global financial architecture African leaders need to raise on global forums such as the UN assemblies.
They also called on African journalists and the media to spread the voice of African people and raise the awareness of the people about the burden related to debt and its implications on the lives of the ordinary African citizen. “Africa can’t arise to the level we want without the media,” said Serah Mekka of One Campaign.
The media has a very important role in terms of raising awareness about the ideology of development with an African perspective or narrative, according to Dr. Yungong Theophilus Jong, Policy Advisory & Research Manager at AFRODAD (Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development).
Began today with experts’ meeting, the African heads of states summit is expected to be concluded on the 16th February 2025.