Leaders from across Africa at the weekend focused attention on the key role that the continent has the potential to and requires to play in a world confronted by multiplying, cumulative global challenges.

The leaders who converged on Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, for the 2023 Ibrahim Governance Weekend (IGW) hosted by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation from 28th-30th April, included politicians, thought leaders, private sector and civil society representatives.

Speaking at the event, Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, admonished Europe and the rest of the world never to underestimate or take Africa for granted.

“As we speak, the world is changing around us. I think everybody knows that. All of the previous assumptions are being broken. We are seeing different powers rising, tensions, camps being formed – so where exactly is Africa’s place here?” Ibrahim said.

“Europe, and the rest of the world too, should not underestimate Africa, talk down to Africa or give instructions to Africa – Don’t take Africa for granted!” he said.

The 2023 Ibrahim Forum, part of the IGW, focused on Global Africa, with sessions on ‘Africa in the World: Multiple Assets’; ‘The World in Africa: Growing Competition – State and Non-state Actors’; and ‘Africa in the Multilateral Architecture: Where is Its Voice?’.

The sessions, respectively, examined Africa’s place in the world, highlighting the continent’s assets and potential, without downsizing the current barriers to achieving this potential; invited conversation from a range of actors present in Africa to expose their interest for the continent; and explored Africa’s current and future position in the multilateral system, the need to amend both the representativity and efficiency of the current system, and the rise of alternative “competitors” at multilateral level.

Discussions were also held on the ongoing conflict in Sudan, with former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, and International Crisis Group President and CEO Comfort Ero making public interventions.

A public one-to-one conversation Ibrahim had with Hamdok discussed Sudan’s historic roots of instability and the conditions and prospects of solving the current crisis, while another with Kenyan President William Ruto focused on the ongoing climate change debate – including the value of creating an efficient carbon market – as well as reforms to the multilateral architecture and processes, such as removing the currently punitive assessment of African risk.

“There is blame on all sides, mistakes made on all sides, but I also think from crisis comes opportunity, if our political space will learn the lesson that there is need to work together; we need to work on common denominator programmes. Politics is an art of compromise in the interests of the country,” Hamdok said.

President Ruto put the responsibility of placing Africa’s viewpoint on the table squarely on the shoulders of Africans.

“It is our responsibility. They say it is the wearer who knows where the shoe pinches. So, it is our responsibility to engineer the debate that will put on the table our perspective, our point of view, on what kind of financial architecture – global financial architecture – that would work not just for us but for everybody,” he said.

Nigeria’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo harped on the imperative of commencing “a coordinated approach towards innovation on the continent, bringing together all stakeholders to coordinate efforts at scaling up investments and building programmes that provide the right enabling environment and produce talent pipelines that support the growth of innovation on the continent”.

AU Commission’s Mahamat spoke of “an immeasurable potential for initiative, creativity and productive growth in all areas of human assets” that will result from the projection that Africa’s population will more than double by 2100 and its youth will be half of the world’s youth.

“This will be Africa’s century,” Mahamat said.

A highlight of the 2023 Ibrahim Governance Weekend was the Leadership Ceremony, where former Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou received his 2020 Ibrahim Prize medal. It was also an opportunity to hear from some of the most prominent voices in global leadership and governance on the challenges and prospects facing African leadership.

“No country on the continent can go it alone, Africa needs the glue of the values of pan-Africanism as defined by Agenda 2063,” Issoufou said.