Conflicts and wars on the African continent holding back its stability: SAfrican Prez

Conflicts and wars are holding back the African continent's economic growth, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said, emphasising that ''continental unity'' holds the key to prosperity in the future.

Ramaphosa spoke at the seventh edition of the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security on Monday evening, as part of his visit to five West African countries that ends on Tuesday.

"Conflicts and wars continue to hold Africa back from walking the road of peace and stability," Ramaphosa said, calling on all African countries to work together in order to achieve economic growth, stability and long-lasting peace.

"Our success rests in holding fast to the principle of continental unity. Our unity must also involve peace on our continent and acting together to confront those who are spreading mayhem in our regions and continent.

"We need to forge new ways of collaboration in pursuit of a better Africa and a better world," he said as explained how the southern African countries worked together to form a joint fighting force to repel the insurgents causing mayhem and death in Mozambique.

Ramaphosa did not name the Mozambican rebels as being allied to the Islamic State, but analysts have widely reported that they were responsible for the insurgency.

"These efforts are becoming successful and we need the international community to support our efforts because it is the duty of the international community to foster peace throughout the world. No part of the world should be left to fight this war alone," Ramaphosa said.

The president shared that when South Africa hosted the 14th AU Extraordinary Summit on ''silencing the guns in Africa'' last year, a renewed deadline had been agreed for this.

"We resolved to extend our collective target of silencing the guns in Africa to 2030, and to continue following the 'AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to Silence the Guns'. This important work must continue, as AU peacekeeping operations on the continent should be supported by us all," he said.

"We have an immense task before us as African nations," Ramaphosa said, as he detailed the need to address and overcome the developmental lags even before the COVID-19 pandemic that started last year while simultaneously trying to drive an economic recovery.

"This requires from us that we are innovative with our economic planning. (We need to) harness the potential of new sectors and industries such as the green economy and the fourth Industrial Revolution... (we also need to) forge ahead with operationalising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)," the president added.

AfCFTA, initially mooted in 2018, is a free trade area created by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among the African Union nations, with trade between the countries starting at the beginning of 2021. The agreement aims to create a single, liberalised market to deepen the economic integration of the continent.

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