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Will AI help or hurt Africa?
AI technology might be able to help poorer nations “leapfrog” entire development phases, the Financial Times wrote this week — just like how some nations skipped mass landline adoption and went straight to mobile phones in the last two decades.
AI startups are popping up across Africa, trying to tackle problems in health care, education, and language and dialect differences. And foreign firms are starting to invest too: Microsoft and the UAE-based fund G42 announced a $1 billion investment in Kenya to build data centers, develop local-language AI models, and offer skills training to people in the country. Amazon has said it’s investing $1.7 billion in Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure across the continent. For its part, Google has begun developing African-language AI models and given $6,000 microgrants to Nigerian AI startups.
But there’s also concern that AI could deepen existing digital divides — especially if popular large language models aren’t developed with Africa in mind, don’t support local languages, or if the continent lacks the infrastructure to run high-powered models efficiently.
UN Security Council: Liberia’s top diplomat joins calls for Africa’s representation
Will Africa's push for permanent representation on the UN Security Council succeed? Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti echoed the region’s calls for reform, challenging the council’s control by wealthy nations.
The UN Security Council was originally set up post-WWII when many African nations were still under colonial rule, but today they feel sidelined in global governance.
“Many African countries have had different experiences that have led many of us to believe that the current configuration for global governance on peace and security is no longer fit for purpose. The needs of countries during conflict, post-conflict for reconstruction, are not being met in line with the expectations,” Nyanti told GZERO at the SDG Media Zone during the 79th UN General Assembly in New York City. Nyanti echoed recent calls for African countries to be granted permanent seats on the Security Council. “It needs to happen,” she said, emphasizing that Africa is the source of “most of the resources of the world” and “critical to global governance.”
Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, delivers a speech at the high-level panel discussion on ''Education in Peril: The Human Cost of War'' during the opening session of the 5th Observance of the UN International Day to Protect Education from Attack at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) in Doha, Qatar, on September 9, 2024.
Liberia’s top diplomat calls for “total overhaul” of UN Security Council
UNITED NATIONS – African countries are ramping up calls for permanent representation on the UN Security Council, contending that it’s a paralyzed institution dominated by a few wealthy countries and in desperate need of reform.
When the Security Council was first established in the aftermath of World War II, many African countries were still under colonial rule. In the time since, the framework of the Security Council has largely remained the same, but the world it represents has changed dramatically.
“Many African countries have had different experiences that have led many of us to believe that the current configuration for global governance on peace and security is no longer fit for purpose. The needs of countries during conflict, post-conflict for reconstruction, are not being met in line with the expectations,” Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti told GZERO at the SDG Media Zone during the 79th UN General Assembly in New York City.
“It's important that voices are heard. We talk about leaving no one behind. And if the countries that are affected don’t feel they have adequate and just and equitable representation, then there’s a problem,” Nyanti added.
Nyanti echoed recent calls for African countries to be granted permanent seats on the Security Council. “It needs to happen,” Nyanti said, emphasizing that Africa is the source of “most of the resources of the world” and “critical to global governance.”
“You cannot have a rules-based world order that does not reflect all of the world's people adequately,” Nyanti said.
On Wednesday, during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, many African countries, including Sierra Leone, Algeria, and Mozambique, pointed to the council’s ineffective response to the spiraling situation in the Middle East as evidence of the need for reform.
“Increasing geopolitical competition has increasingly turned this chamber into a battleground,” said Manuel Gonzalez, Vice Minister of Mozambique’s Foreign Affairs, referring to Russia’s backing of Iran — which supports Hezbollah — while the US stands alongside Israel. “The security council must restore its relevance and impartiality, therefore Mozambique reiterates its calls on the need for Security Council reform which also takes into consideration the African common position.”
The US recently endorsed granting permanent seats to two African countries but without the veto power wielded by the original five members: the US, Russia, China, France, and the UK. When asked whether permanent seats without veto power would effectively be symbolic, Nyanti said, “I think just talking about veto or non-veto is not the issue. It's about overhauling the entire system.”
“I believe very, very strongly that we need to go back to the beginning, go back to the foundation, look at what’s there, and look at what needs to be totally overhauled and reformed,” she said.
Watch John Haltiwanger's full interview with Foreign Minister Nyanti here.
Chinese honor guard stand in formation as the plane carrying Kenya's President William Ruto arrives at the VIP terminal of the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, September 2, 2024, ahead of the China Africa Forum.
African leaders gather to hear Beijing’s pitch
Leaders from 50 African nations are expected to gather in Beijing on Wednesday for the 9th triennial China-Africa Cooperation summit — aimed at deepening strategic coordination between China and Africa – but China’s ongoing economic woes have shifted the tone considerably.
The background: These fora used to be an opportunity for Beijing to splash the cash about, but spending peaked after the 2015 summit, which promised some $60 billion in loans and investments over 3 years. By comparison, Chinese loans in Africa totaled just $4.61 billion in 2023 — and Beijing’s guests will want to hear why pledges from the 2021 summit to buy $300 billion in goods from Africa have gone unfulfilled.
Beijing will also need to reassure its partners about several incomplete infrastructure projects, including a major rail project to link East African population and industrial centers.
What’s the pitch? Beijing wants to sell a vision of a green economy future powered by African minerals supplying Chinese manufacturers. But Beijing isn’t alone: Africa’s role in the global economy is only set to grow more important in the 21st century, and the US, UK, South Korea, Italy, and Russia have all set up African summits in recent years. We’re watching how China’s overtures are received.Pro-reform protesters participate in an anti-government demonstration over what organisers say are tax hikes, bad governance, constitutional violations, extra-judicial killings and cost of living, in Nairobi, Kenya, August 8, 2024.
Kenya set to reintroduce tax hikes. Will protests follow?
The Kenyan government is reintroducing the controversial tax plan that fueled young Kenyans’ protests earlier this summer. President William Ruto scrapped the $1.2 billion plan at the end of June after demonstrations turned deadly, but the government faced a funding shortfall as a result, downgrading its credit rating over concerns about Kenya’s ability to service its $78 billion public debt.
When he ditched the bill, Ruto vowed to address the concerns of young Kenyans, who have struggled to find jobs in an economy failing to keep up with population growth. They argued that rather than increase taxes, the government should crack down on corruption.
Disillusioned youth are increasingly inciting civil unrest across Africa, where by 2030, 42% of the world’s young people will reside. Youth-led protests were also seen in Uganda and Nigeria this summer, and last week, more than 400 young people gathered at the UN offices in Nairobi for the Africa Youth Forum 2024 where they expressed their discontent with leaders they feel are denying them political and economic opportunities.
We will be watching to see whether reintroducing the tax plan reignites protests in Kenya, and whether young people across Africa can turn their discontent into political change.
A permanent Security Council seat for Africa?
Guterres offered few specifics on how Africa should be represented. That appears to be a question for the African Union. For now, the 15-member Security Council consists of five permanent members with veto power – China, France, Russia, the US, and the UK – and 10 nonpermanent seats allocated regionally, including three seats for African states, two for Asia-Pacific, two for Latin America and the Caribbean, two for Western Europe and other states; and one for Eastern Europe.
UNSC permanent members have a veto over votes of the Council. Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio told the Council on Monday that Africa should have two permanent seats and added that “Africa wants theveto abolished. However, if UN member states wish to retain the veto, it must be extended to all new permanent members as a matter of justice.”
Guterres said in January that all five current permanent members favored greater African representation, though they will certainly haggle over the details of reform. But for now, the number of voices in favor, at least in principle, continues to grow.China's top diplomat Wang Yi speaks at a meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Park Jin, in Busan, South Korea, on Nov. 26, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Ukraine and China talk Russia, France prepares for terrorist attempts at Olympics, New Zealand abuse scandal, Hunger expected to spike in Africa
12: Ukraine’s top diplomatmet with China’s foreign minister on Wednesday, signaling that China would like to play a more central role in finding a diplomatic end to the conflict. The talk comes after China’s previous attempt to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, a 12-point plan put forward in 2023, wasquickly dismissed by European leaders for being pro-Russia.
1,000: Ahead of Israel’s opening football match against Mali at the Olympic Games on Wednesday night, around1,000 French police officers formed an “anti-terror perimeter.” The game, along with a match between Ukraine and Iraq, have both been given the designation of high-risk because of their connections to global conflicts.
200,000: In New Zealand, an independent investigation found that more than200,000 people are estimated to have been abused by state organizations entrusted with their care. Many of the victims were children in foster care, and the abuse included sexual assault, electric shocks and chemical restraints, sterilization, starvation, and beatings.
600 million: UN officials said that levels of hunger are set to remain “shamefully” high in a report that predicts almost600 million people will be undernourished by 2030 – half of which will be in Africa, putting it on track to overtake Asia as the continent with the most hunger in the world. Hunger rates have jumped in the wake of COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and are likely to only worsen as climate change progresses.
Supporters of a bill aimed at decriminalizing female genital mutilation demonstrate as parliament debates the bill in Banjul, Gambia March 18, 2024.
Gambia celebrates upholding its historic FGM ban
Gambia’s Parliament on Monday rejected a bill that sought to overturn the 2015 landmark ban on female genital mutilation – a dangerous practice involving the partial or total removal of female external genitalia.
The bill was brought forward by religious conservatives in March to decriminalize the practice – arguing it is “one of the virtues of Islam” – and was initially met with majority support from MPs.
Debate over the decision has divided the small and largely Muslim West African nation between conservative figures and anti-FGM activists for months. However, women, religious figures, and doctors campaigned fiercely, swaying lawmakers’ opinions to reject the bill on every clause.
Women across Gambia celebrated, but much progress is still needed. Gambia ranks among the top 10 countries of reported FGM practices, as almost three out of every four women from aged 15 to 49 have been subjected to this procedure. And although criminalized by the 2015 ban, the legislation is weak at best – carrying only a three-year sentence and a roughly $740 fine – and has only led to three convictions.
After almost becoming the first nation in the world to overturn such a protection, Gambian women are fighting more than ever for stricter enforcement of the FGM ban to protect their daughters, friends, and themselves.