79th United Nations General Assembly: What’s at stake for Africa?

Analysis

The 79th UNGA, centred on the theme ‘Unity in diversity, fostering peace, sustainable development, and human dignity’, presents a critical opportunity for African nations to tackle urgent challenges like climate change, health crises, and persistent conflicts. It will also serve as a strategic forum for advocating reforms to reshape the global governance system into a more equitable and inclusive model, ensuring that Africa's interests and perspectives are more integrated into international decision-making processes. What critical issues must be prioritized at UNGA 79 to ensure Africa secures the necessary support, representation, and financing to address its most urgent challenges?

About

Carine Gazier is a Consultant at Concerto, specialising in political and economic issues and the energy sector in Africa. Contact Carine at cg@concerto-pr.com for more information on the subject, or to find out more about how Concerto can help you.

QUICK INSIGHTS

Amid the growing climate crisis and its impact on development, Africa looks to UNGA 79 to revive discussions on carbon taxes and green financing.
Ongoing violent conflicts, rising migration, and health crises highlight the need for solutions that promote sustainable development and create opportunities for youth.
Africa also seeks greater representation in UN decision-making to ensure global policies better reflect its interests and perspectives.

Securing new funding amid climate change urgency

The 79th United Nations General Assembly follows closely on the heels of the Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change, adopted a year ago by African leaders. Urgent climate action and unlocking climate funding are expected to take centre stage in discussions on sustainability and green financing at the UNGA. A critical agenda item for African leaders is evaluating and adopting a robust carbon taxation framework targeting key sectors like fossil fuels, maritime transport, and aviation. The Nairobi Summit also highlighted the need for increased pressure at the UNGA and COP meetings to implement a Global Climate Finance Charter. At the UNGA, global leaders are poised to advance discussions on COP28’s declaration of a Global Climate Finance Framework. This initiative encapsulates pivotal commitments, including the annual investment of USD 5-7 trillion by 2030 to transition towards a greener economy, expedite the objectives of the Paris Agreement and broaden the pool of concessional finance available for climate initiatives. Beyond these calls for mobilizing climate finance, African nations will seek to pursue bilateral agreements, especially with other emerging nations, to bolster South-South cooperation.

Confronting security challenges: charting a new framework for peace initiatives

The UNGA remains a vital platform for African nations and pan-African institutions to build global partnerships, secure support for peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts, and ensure African voices shape global security strategies. Conflicts across Africa hinder development, displacing populations and trapping youth in cycles of violence. With global powers gearing up for the Summit of the Future, which focuses on youth empowerment, aligning a resilient framework with the African Union (AU) ‘s Agenda 2063 for a “prosperous and peaceful Africa” will be critical at the UNGA. Central to the peace and security agenda will be strengthening the UN-Africa Union partnership, particularly regarding financing peacekeeping operations. In December 2023, the Security Council adopted a resolution addressing sustainable funding for AU-led peace support operations, yet governance and planning challenges remain. Under this resolution, the Security Council requires explicit authorisation for any mission that seeks UN funding. Only AU-led operations are eligible, excluding operations conducted by regional blocs. Discussions on these gaps will be imperative at the UNGA. In the wake of the Mpox outbreak, Africa is still grappling with significant health security challenges. Epidemics and pandemics, as seen with COVID-19, have exposed the continent’s vulnerabilities. The pandemic underscored inequities in global health systems and the lack of preparedness in African countries, mainly due to inadequate infrastructure, healthcare services, and medical commodities. This has spurred a push for greater investments to build resilient health systems and supply chains. The AU and EU have already committed to expanding their health partnership, and African nations will seek further agreements at the UNGA to strengthen health security. In this context, vaccine sovereignty and establishing a sustainable vaccine production sector in Africa will be pivotal topics, with countries like Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, and Rwanda advancing vaccine manufacturing capabilities. These discussions will build on progress from the Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Innovation.

Addressing Africa's underrepresentation in the global system

UNGA 79 will be chaired by former Cameroonian Prime Minister Philemon Yang, who is strongly committed to UN reform. A key theme will be enhancing the participation of developing countries in UN decision-making, focusing on addressing Africa's underrepresentation. African nations have long advocated for greater influence in bodies like the UN Secretariat and Security Council (UNSC). Reforming the UNSC is increasingly urgent, with calls for challenging the dominance of the P-5 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States). African countries are pushing for two permanent and two additional non-permanent seats in the UNSC, aiming to increase their total representation among non-permanent members to five. This initiative is supported by other countries, including India and China. It has gained backing from global leaders such as U.S. President Joe Biden, who announced in 2022 his support for increasing the number of permanent seats for countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This would ensure a more inclusive and representative decision-making framework within the UN.