LATER this week, the African heads of state and government will be convening in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the African Union’s 38th Ordinary Session.
The theme of the summit is ‘Justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations’.
Africa’s top leadership hopes to strategically position itself in any conversation, discourse and initiative seeking to address historical injustices meted on Africans and people of African descent across the world.
Decision on the theme was made two years ago in February 2023.
The summit will not be a one agenda though. Other items are equally lined up. It is expected to establish a new leadership for the African Union Commission, including the chairperson, arguably the most contested position.
But it is conceivable, indeed likely, that other items may feature in the conversations by the heads of state and government; either as loud pronouncements or whispers within the hall.
The context leading up to the summit has witnessed some monumental developments; both within and without Africa.
The escalating conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo will, if it does, and most likely it will, ring a familiar tune in the ears of the summit.
The sharp and loud cries of the victims of the DRC violence should shake the leadership out of its deafening complacency.
But if the distance between Goma in the DRC and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia drowns the wailing of the suffering, similar and familiar cries in Sudan should at least serve the same purpose.
Thousands of kilometres away in the US, the implications of President Donald Trump’s decisions are already being felt at home, in Africa.
The decision to abruptly halt foreign aid has triggered unprecedented disruptions, with aid-reliant project and services being suspended.
Thousands have been put out of work. This is yet another development that is likely to shape conversation in Addis Ababa.
Either directly or indirectly, the fallout from President Trump’s decision will most likely influence a section of the agenda in Addis Ababa.
The ongoing wars in DRC and Sudan reveal a worrying trend in Africa’s crises; a debilitating normalisation of conficts.
The pattern entails according immediate intense attention to conflicts as they emerge or assume an escalatory trajectory for the ongoing ones.
The inevitable lapse of time poses a direct challenge to sustaining focus and attention to an existing conflict.
The passage of time pushes the conflicts to the painfully familiar bin of ‘forgotten wars and conlicts.’
The conflict in Sudan, pitting the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, broke out in April 2023.
In about two months, it will hit two years.
Though it attracted attention as it started, the lapse of time has virtually obviated it from the immediate memory. Some estimates put the death toll at over 100,000.
Eastern DRC can hardly recall when, if at all, it tasted peace. In all fairness, it is a generational conflict.
The attention it attracted most recently is courtesy of the escalation that saw the M23 seize control of Goma.
To be clear, the escalation did not disrupt peace, for none existed. It was, until then, just another one of the ‘forgotten conflicts.’
The manifestation of ‘normalisation’ of conflicts in Africa is in the predictable pattern; focusing attention at the point of emergence or escalation, while allowing the lapse of time to relegate such conflicts to the periphery of collective memory.
The sad reality remains. The consequences of ‘normalised’ or ‘forgotten’ conflicts are just as painful and catastrophic as that of the ‘known’ wars.
Therefore, as the heads of state and government converge in Ethiopia this week, they should be reminded of the need to urgently act to disrupt the normalisation of the conflicts in Africa.
While commending the quest to seek reparations for Africa’s historical injustices, it is worth pointing out that similar effort should be dedicated toward securing justice for the current generation. Otherwise, the leadership would lack the moral authority to seek redress for the past injustices if they perpetuate the same presently.
By Star