What happened to 'African solutions to African problems?'

DW (English)

Qatar and the US made just two attempts, and they resolved the impasse in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Whereas, a continental approach by the African Union and other individual leaders made several attempts and failed. How can this be changed?

Transcript

00:00for the first time since the resurgence of the conflict in the eastern democratic republic of

00:09congo the key rebel group afcm23 has committed to a declaration that may end the fighting

00:16the agreement brokered by qatar comes barely a month after the u.s led a similar peace agreement

00:22between rwanda and the drc as usual the african union welcomes this as a significant development

00:31but what happened to the famous slogan of african solutions to african problems because it's a lack

00:37of trust angola for example leading the au mediation efforts was a problem from the beginning purely

00:42because rwanda met angola with mistrust you know when kenya was taking the charge of it previously

00:49the dlc made kenya with mistrust welcome to the flip side the au has been criticized for not doing

00:56enough to help the continent overcome its many problems especially insecurity but to be fair

01:02the au and other regional blocs have put forward several plans as far back as 2006 when a pact for

01:09security stability and development of the great lakes region was signed in nairobi subsequently in 2007

01:162008 and 2009 several mediation efforts led to the signing of different agreements including

01:24the recent deployment of saddick troops into the drc all these attempts failed why some people

01:31believe it boils down to who is invited to the negotiating table au même moment que le parti

01:37discute à différentes tables de négociation les mêmes parties déploient leur force sur le terrain c'est

01:42qu'on a quand même des raisons de rester sceptiques qu'on invite d'autres d'autres mouvements parce

01:52que si on ne les invite pas je crains qu'ils puissent aussi rester frustrés qu'ils continuent à massacrer la

01:58population pour qu'ensuite et aussi on les appelle à l'air tout pourtant on ne restera pas un pays de dialogue

02:05en dialogue de mixage en mixage de brassage en brassage je pense c'est l'occasion de les faire une fois pour toutes

02:12but there's also the issue of power play what is the u.s and qatar offering that the au isn't

02:19there's obviously an incentive for both rwanda and the drc to you know get favorable relationships

02:24with qatar and the u.s um specifically specifically from an economic cooperation perspective um you know

02:30the the dlc is looking for greater investment from the u.s you know there are talks of a migration deal

02:37between rwanda and the u.s you know it them reaching an agreement can prove lucrative from

02:42an external kind of cooperation perspective with the u.s they are definitely trying and they can't

02:47have the capabilities to come up with solutions because a lot of those countries actually have

02:51a deep understanding of the conflict it's just when it comes to enforcement that they are very limited

02:56because you know they they can't use their diplomatic muscle in the same way that the u.s and and qatar

03:02are using because they don't have the same amount of economic power and they don't have direct for

03:09example trade impacts that they can leverage against the rc and rwanda some also say african

03:15regional blocs like au almost always come late to the party in terms of mediation you know one of the

03:22things that i think they can get better at is interfering or rather call yeah basically interfering

03:28before an escalation not waiting to you know for for the two countries to start um basically fighting

03:35which is what is what happened between drc and rwanda to issue statements and to kind of activate

03:41the mediations but to monitor the situation closely and anticipate any escalation and act before the

03:47escalation because once things have escalated and that's what we are saying right now it's very hard

03:52to bring back the two parties um together while acknowledging the vital role of external actors in

03:59resolving conflicts across various regions the question remains whether africa can truly achieve

04:05its long-standing motto of finding african solutions to african problems and reduce reliance on foreign

04:12mediation at the core of it all africans seek one fundamental thing peace if external factors can assist

04:21in making this a reality then so be it it's time to move beyond the slogan african solutions to african

04:28problems however if we choose to continue using this phrase let us be clear and direct about its

04:34implications and that's the flip side

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