Guinea’s President Alpha Condé, who currently fronts the African Union as President, has called for a new era of self-reliance to push development forward and end poverty on the continent.
In an interview with Euronews in Paris, the president addressed issues that Europe and Africa face – most namely t*errorism.
Condé suggested that development was the only solution to end both t*errorism and poverty.
E*xtremism is flourishing in some spaces of the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa. Al-Q*aeda linked a*ttacks have rocked Niger and Mali and have also been staged in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and M*auritania.
The Islamist e*xtremist group Boko Haram is also attempting to d*estabilise northern Nigeria and Chad through a series of a*ttacks.
“T*errorism flourishes on poverty and injustice, so if t*errorism develops in Africa, it is because there is poverty,” Condé said.
The current th*reat of famine in east Africa has been labelled as the largest humanitarian crisis in the history of the United Nations, and with funding for relief in affected countries – Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen – falling billions short, there is a danger that many will s*tarve.
Condé stated that climate, drought and wars are “largely responsible” for famine.
He also expressed his wish to see a new era of equality between Africa and Europe, as well as the wider world, and said he believed that the region could be a key platform in international trade.
“We can be a factory for Europe, provided they understand that it is a win-win cooperation and cooperation that brings a beneficial partnership for both,” he said.
However, as President of the African Union, Condé called for an era of self-reliance to begin in the continent.
“Africans must first begin by counting on themselves because the development of Africa will be done only by Africans,” he said.
“We want Africa to be major, to be Africans deciding their future, and not to be told what to do.”