Amid the ongoing crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, crises in Africa have been ignored or thrown to the back burner.
Essentially, some of Africa's dire challenges unfolding on the continent are not being televised, as the global agenda is firmly rooted elsewhere where Western interests are at stake.
Take the crisis in Sudan, for example; it came about following an armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Sudan conflict is arguably the largest man-made crisis on the continent and the world right now because it has seen about 11 million people being displaced, which is the largest displacement crisis in the world, surpassing even the Syrian crisis.
Over 25 million people, more than half of Sudan's population, require humanitarian assistance, due to widespread hunger, thirst, and disease, with millions facing extreme food insecurity, water scarcity, and health crises.
Sudan's critical infrastructure, such as homes, schools, hospitals, and cultural centres, has been destroyed leaving millions without access to basic services.
The scale of deaths -- 14 700 people killed and 30 000 injured, health catastrophe caused by measles and cholera outbreaks as 70 percent of health facilities in conflict-affected areas have been rendered inoperable or closed, would be enough to shock the world, and place it firmly on the global agenda, pretty much like the conflict in the Middle East.
However, the world is watching and engrossed elsewhere. In other parts of Africa, peace and security challenges also persist unchecked. There is crisis in the Horn of Africa which has seen 16 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya urgently needing food and 40 percent of the overall population in the Horn of Africa being undernourished, particularly in Somalia where 70 percent of the population is grappling with hunger and 3.3 million hectares of land destroyed by locusts in Kenya, Djibouti, and Ethiopia, while 1.6 million traditional farmers (pastoralists) have had their lives destroyed. The multi-faceted conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is another flashpoint on the continent.
In the latest developments over the past two years, 6.9 million people have been internally displaced, while the death toll of the recurrent crisis has reached up to 6 million. In a nutshell, the crises in Africa have led to massive present and continuing suffering in the form of displacements, poverty, food insecurity and regressed development.
Efforts should be made to bring an end to the crises, which have been ignored by the powerful West in its focus with other regions such as Middle East and Ukraine.
Africa and China are already partners within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and have throughout the years identified peace and security challenges among key frontiers for partnership.
The forthcoming 9th FOCAC Summit which will take place in Beijing, China in early September -- barely 90 days from now -- should pay particular attention to the peace and security challenges because of their urgent nature and impact on long term development goals on both sides at a time when the world's attention is trained firmly away. Africa is not alone.
It has China, as its partner -- and this year should mark a turning point in the relationship between the two sides and how they shape the world. What are the key meeting points between Africa and China when it comes to peace and security?
a. Silencing the guns
Last year, during a high-level open debate of the United Nations Security Council on the impact of development policy on the implementation of Africa's Silencing the Guns initiative, Chinese envoy Liu Yuxi, the special representative of the Chinese government on African affairs, made a number of significant points that included the strengthening of international coordination to better help Africa meet its challenges, how to forge synergy between development policies to address the root causes of conflicts, and how to advance the UN's cooperation with Africa to provide stronger support.
The "Silencing the Guns in Africa" initiative is one of the pillars of the African Union's (AU) Agenda 2063 vision and aspires to end all wars and conflict, prevent genocide, and stop gender-based violence.
Liu said: "We need to help African countries build a professional, efficient and strong security sector to tackle real security threats such as terrorist extremism and intercommunal conflicts," he said.
"The UN peacekeeping operations in Africa need to respect the views of the host countries and support their efforts to strengthen security-sector development and reform."
b. Peace and security projects
China has committed to undertake 10 peace and security projects for Africa, continue to deliver military assistance to the AU, support African countries' efforts to independently maintain regional security and fight terrorism, and conduct joint exercises and on-site training between Chinese and African peacekeeping troops and cooperation on small arms and light weapons control. President Xi Jinping outlined nine programmes, during the 8th Ministerial Summit of FOCAC in Dakar, Senegal. In 2021, Africa and China came up with the "Vision 2035" document which undertook to jointly explore a new path towards peace and safety for common security in China and Africa.
Among key deliverables in the document are: Building a more peaceful Africa through upholding the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concepts, China and Africa and to pursue peace through cooperation and resolve differences through consultations. China supports African countries in seeking African solutions for African problems. The two sides stated that they jointly promoted the "timely accomplishment of 'silencing guns in Africa". The second pillar of Vision 2035 is "Building a safer Africa" through closer exchanges and cooperation in joint exercises and training, peacekeeping and stabilisation, fight against terrorism, counter-narcotics, counter-piracy and other areas, while Internet security and the management and control of small arms have become new directions for cooperation.
Thirdly, the two sides undertook to ensure "Building a more stable Africa" whereby China and Africa shared experiences in governance and enhance the alignment of development thinking and concepts.
According to the document, "China supports African countries in independently exploring a development path tailored to their own national conditions, enhancing governance capacity building, building an open and inclusive society of common prosperity and achieving long lasting peace and stability for the continent."
c. Food security
Food insecurity and hunger in Africa have been caused by a combination of nature and man. Frequent droughts have been worsened by climate change, leading to large scale famine. In areas such as the Sahel and Horn of Africa, cited above, droughts and wars have led to immense human suffering. In Southern Africa, countries such as Zimbabwe are feeling the effects of climate change through recurrent droughts and unpredictably extreme weather events. Africa and China already cooperate in this area, and should take advantage of the forthcoming summit in Beijing to underscore cooperation with termed activities and action. Broadly, under the aforementioned nine programmes outlined by President Xi, the poverty reduction and agricultural development programme sees China undertaking 10 poverty reduction and agricultural projects for Africa, and send 500 agricultural experts to Africa. China will set up a number of China-Africa joint centres for modern agrotechnology exchange, demonstration and training in China, encourage Chinese institutions and companies to build in Africa demonstration villages for China-Africa cooperation on agricultural development and poverty reduction, and support the Alliance of Chinese Companies in Africa for Corporate Social Responsibilities in launching the initiative of "100 companies in 1 000 villages".
China supports Africa in developing modern agriculture by forming a complete system of breeding, planting, processing, storage and logistics, and developing featured industries of livestock breeding and cash crop, so as to enhance food security capabilities of African countries, and improve safety and value added of African agricultural produce and food."
Full story: www.herald.co.zw
Zimbabwe is already a beneficiary of these programmes and has received agricultural experts. It also has a demonstration site in Mashonaland West. Last week, China's Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhou Ding said China supported agricultural development and food security in Zimbabwe through various forms. The ambassador said China was committed to supporting Zimbabwe to improve agricultural infrastructure. China has completed more than 1 000 boreholes across the country in recent years, providing access to clean drinking water for more than 400 000 people. Wanjin Agricultural Development Company, a Chinese enterprise, has long been dedicated to the agricultural sector in Mashonaland West.
China also imports huge amounts of macadamia nuts and fresh citrus from Zimbabwe and is negotiating the agreement on importing avocados from Zimbabwe. Following the El Nino-induced drought that has hit Zimbabwe and other countries in southern Africa, Amb Zhou said China has provided the country with two batches of emergency food assistance valued at around US$6 million in the past 12 months. And over the past 20 years, China has delivered over 10 shipments of food assistance supplies to Zimbabwe.
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The food assistance has supported Zimbabwe in addressing its pressing needs and sparing millions of people from the threat of food shortages.
China is also committed to carrying out technology transfer.
The China-aid Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre in Zimbabwe has been established and engaged in technical training in agriculture, and cultivation of agricultural experimental fields, with a view to push for agricultural modernization in Zimbabwe. China has sent six groups of Chinese agricultural experts to Zimbabwe since 2009 to provide agricultural technical assistance. The China-Zimbabwe Agricultural Cooperation and Poverty Reduction Demonstration Village in Mashonaland West was set up in 2019 to share China's experiences in poverty alleviation. The 6th Chinese Agricultural Expert Group to Zimbabwe was deployed in the country last September and has travelled frequently between Harare and Zvimba to rehabilitate the Demonstration Village.
The agricultural experts have supplied equipment for a solar powered water system that presently meets daily drinking and irrigation needs of more than 300 households in the Zvimba community.
While maintaining the Zvimba Demonstration Village, the group is building another demonstration village in Shamva District, Mashonaland Central Province. In the next three years, the expert group is expected to share their expertise of new farming technology with Zimbabwean farmers by offering training classes.
These efforts show that China and Africa should use the upcoming FOCAC Summit to advance cooperation in peace and security as well as food security. As argued by the Chinese envoy, Liu, it is important to support Africa in achieving sustainable development; against the background that development and security are interdependent and complementary.
This article has been produced by the Ruzivo Media & Resource Centre, a Zimbabwean think tank that specialises in analysing global and local issues. The think tank undertakes research, curates events and special publications with the aim of finding answers and solutions to issues affecting the globe.
