Network Meeting for KAS Alumni from East Africa: Africa's new Role in Times of geopolitical Upheaval

19 – 22 January, 2023 / Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

On invitation of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation (KAS) the four-day seminar brought together more than twenty KAS Alumni from the DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and KAS staff from country offices in East Africa and Germany to strengthen a cross-country network of former KAS-scholarship holders and promote a value- and interest-based exchange of views on current topics of African and European importance.

Benno Müchler, KAS Country Representative Ethiopia/African Union, highlighted in his opening remarks activities organized by KAS in Ethiopia/with the AU, which contribute to KAS' global goal of promoting democratisation processes worldwide. This was followed by an interactive session on “Pathways into Politics and Possibilities for political Participation”. Most discussions were focused on the challenges youth and women face while vying for office. Additionally, it was pointed out that the legislation in many countries and the political environment do not favour youth to participate effectively.

The first panel on the impact of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine was opened by Stefan Friedrich, KAS Head of Department for Sub-Saharan Africa, making clear that this unacceptable breach of international law is a watershed moment for Europe. Key points raised by the panellists regarding the effects on the African continent included the increase in food insecurity, unfair treatment of African refugees and increase in fake news and propaganda. Others argued that because of the proximity of the war, the intra-wars on the African continent, the strong relations between some African countries and Russia affected the votes for the UN General Assembly Resolution of 2 March, 2022. Stefan Friedrich responded to a comment on African countries who abstained their vote in the UN General Assembly Resolution that “it is possible to have good relations with a country but if it does not do the right thing, one has to criticize it and not shy away.” Participants then had the opportunity to get a guided visit of the African Union compound and receive a briefing from Ambassador William Azumah Awinador-Kanyirige, Senior Adviser in the Office of the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security. He gave an insight on AU’s focus areas such as conflict resolution, consolidating good governance amongst others. Also, mentioning a few challenges like how to measure development progress, preventing terrorism and potential solutions. The day came to a close with a high-level panel discussion on the “21st Century Challenges and the Human Potential” reflecting on “Leadership, Modern Society, and the Importance of Values”, organized by the KAS Country Office Ethiopia/AU. The panel involved diplomats from the Ethiopian government, AU, youth adviser to EU commissioner and trade sector key players. Some of the take aways were Africa needs to focus on countering the consequences of climate change, innovative ways to encourage economic growth, ensure meaningful youth engagement in the political arena and encourage inter-generational leadership.

Next day’s panel session on conflict dynamics in East Africa focused on the war in Tigray, chaired by Nils Wörmer, KAS Director Regional Programme Security Dialogue for East Africa. Crucial points mentioned were, that this war has led to gross violations of human rights, food insecurity, rise of Internally Displaced Persons and, increase of refugees into South Sudan. The ensuing exchange with KAS Alumni from West Africa was about increasing Russian influence in the region. As such, from 2017 to 2021 Russia was the largest supplier of major arms to Africa according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. This also resulted to a military cooperation agreement in 2021 with West African countries like Nigeria to train the armed forces. However, negative implications are manifold, e.g. Russian-directed disinformation campaigns. The afternoon continued with a discussion on developments in African-European relations. In his input Mathias Kamp, KAS Policy Advisor East Africa and Multilateral Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa, named challenges as inter alia the imbalance in terms of trade and exports. Some KAS Alumni argued that the growing influence of other external powers such as China could lead to the weakening of the African-European relations because of their contribution to infrastructure development in their African countries. The conclusion drawn from the discussion was that to strengthen relationships, governments need to be more strategic, genuine and clearly communicate their interests in these partnerships. The day was rounded off by a dinner discussion with human rights lawyer Ameha Mekonnen, Executive Director of Lawyers for Human Rights and former Chair of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, on the human rights situation in Ethiopia and recent transitional justice efforts.

To conclude, KAS representatives from Berlin headquarters, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya country offices discussed activities and opportunities to strengthen Alumni networks across Africa including: regional alumni gatherings, involvement into leadership programmes and trainings, engage alumni as experts at events and publications, scholarship possibilities in Germany and the newly established LinkedIn group. Stefan Friedrich’s closing remarks, he identified key areas and priorities of the work of KAS in Sub-Saharan Africa for 2023: scholarships, security issues in the Sahel, multilateral affairs in East Africa and economic development.