Owusu on Africa: Africa in the 2023 UN General Assembly: “Reparations, Unfair treatment, Western democracy…”

By Fidel Amakye Owusu

When John Rockefeller Jr. donated land to the United Nations (UN) after the Second World War, signs of the Cold War were already on the wall. However, as a businessman, he knew less about the implications of the location of the UN headquarters in Turtle Bay. He perhaps did not know that it was going to be a place where leaders from all over the world would have the opportunity to speak freely and criticize his country.​

Over the years, the UN General Assembly has been a forum for free speech for world leaders. They have criticized, praised and encouraged each other as they take turns to speak. Leaders who would otherwise not be invited to Washington get the opportunity to reproach US foreign policy from New York. During the Cold War, this got quite heated. Fidel Castro of Cuba was a regular Washington critic.​

And so what?​

In the early decades, very few African heads of state made headline speeches at the UN General Assembly (UNGA). Apart from Kwame Nkrumah, Haile Selassie, Gamal Nasser and a few others, most speeches were nothing out of the usual.​

Post-Cold War, some leaders including Nelson Mandela were exceptional. However, most addresses have been filled with complaints, innuendos and self-vindication. Dictatorial African leaders would often stress the concept of sovereignty and call their critics “hypocrites”.

Some of the most corrupt and inefficient leaders who take advantage of their systems are the ones who mount the UNGA platform and make requests and demands of the world. They will talk about reparations while plundering resources back home.​

This year’s UNGA session has not been an exception. The Junta leader of Guinea after enumerating the challenges of his country and region, criticized “Western Democracy”. He, however, did not give an alternative to that. If “Western democracy” means Trump accounting for his actions and Hunter Biden being investigated, is that not what Africa needs?​

The President of Ghana notably mentioned reparations to Africa for the slave trade. While this has been adequately argued by others for decades, the Ghanaian leader presides over one of the most wasteful governments in the country’s history. Do we need the reparations in such hands?

No.

Certainly, African states need to create domestic environments that put their economies on the path of development. This includes accountability, inclusiveness, political participation, responsible use of state funds and resources, and less corruption. Without these, no speeches and verbose at the UNGA will help.​

A fair global system will be a major factor in Africa’s development. Regardless, no level of global reforms will be consequential in acutely flawed domestic systems.

Fidel Amakye Owusu is an International Relations and Security Analyst. He is an Associate at the Conflict Research Consortium for Africa and has previously hosted an International Affairs program with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). He is passionate about Diplomacy and realizing Africa’s global potential and how the continent should be viewed as part of the global collective.