The UN’s Summit of the Future must deliver practical solutions to challenges humanity is facing today to chart out a better tomorrow.
Today’s world has fallen into its own trap. Certain countries leave no stone unturned to keep their hegemon. Others are vying to dethrone the hegemony. And these two antagonistic relations are proliferating yet unprecedented challenges before us. One can enumerate from terrorism, piracy to cross border war and civil strife that are devastating the present generation. If unabated, these menaces are a complete recipe to perish humanity from the face of the planet.
On Tuesday, 24th September 2024, world leaders are scheduled to make speeches in what is known as the UN ‘General Debate”. The theme of the general debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly goes: Leaving no one behind acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.”
What a captivating theme! It wows the reader. Doesn’t it?
The terms raised in the theme are powerful–“peace,” “sustainable development,” “human dignity,” “present and future generations….”
No arguing the fact that peace is the bedrock for humanity to thrive. Without durable peace, the world’s civilization risks collapse.
But the question is–why is our world lacking peace? Many would agree that the origins of the absence of peace are ill ambitions. A rush to sustain or build the edifice of hegemony is mushrooming problems. Global powers that have already established their hegemon want to perpetuate it. And they frustrate emerging powers from coming to the position they already possessed. The competition and rivalry among these powers are ending up in military buildups and confrontations in regions that are deemed strategic.
One can see the current dynamics befalling the Horn. Superpowers and emerging powers are competing to influence the region. They view the region from its geopolitical, geoeconomical, and geostrategic aspects. All vie to have control over the Red Sea and Gulf of Eden. It is a pity they are shortsighted when it comes to humanity’s aspect.
The dynamics are setting a barrier to the region’s development. Pure development ambitions are considered an issue of security. This is obviously to appease certain quarters and also to keep the region poor.
A case in point in this regard could be the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The flag-ship project is financed by Ethiopians. A sane mind never misses the point that it is a pure development project. GERD is a clean energy project that promises regional economic integration. Ethiopia time and time again demonstrated its position that it does not have intention to harm downstream countries.
By the same token, Ethiopia invited the downstream basin countries–Sudan and Egypt–to witness the dam’s site firsthand. It also provides all the necessary documents to the panel of experts (IPoE) for their scrutiny. The three countries–Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt– signed in 2016 the Declaration of Principles (DoP). Over and beyond, Ethiopia has made it clear that it will prioritize the basin countries in supplying clean energy. But, certain quarters seem to be green eyed with the project. They attempt to taint the project as if it poses significant harm to them. They simply condemn over 60 percent of Ethiopians to continue living in darkness.
Similarly, Ethiopia, as an important player in the Horn of Africa and even beyond, started translating the continental ambition to practice. Africa’s vision over the coming decades is to integrate peoples and economies among themselves. A few are telling us that it is a fait accompli for us to remain landlocked. Ethiopia’s ambition is to integrate its economy with peoples, and to harness the dividends of mutual benefits.
It is, therefore, the right time for world leaders to debate around this year’s theme. This is an opportune moment for world leaders to reach consensus and furnish the way for a constructive engagement thereby leaving behind a rosy future for the generations to