Kenyan President William Ruto, a strong advocate for African Union (AU) institutional reforms, stated yesterday that ongoing conflicts are causing Africa to lose $18 billion annually.
He made this known at the high-level Extended Bureau Retreat on AU Institutional Reforms held in Nairobi, Kenya. “Between April and June 2024 alone, a total of 1,000 terrorism incidents were recorded across Africa, resulting in 4,818 deaths,” he stated.
He noted that Africa is currently home to 35 million internally displaced persons, 8.9 million refugees, 1.1 million asylum seekers, and 1 million stateless individuals.
Conflicts across Africa have intensified recently, contributing to a worsening humanitarian situation.
For example, troops from the DRC and Rwanda exchanged fire along their shared border in Goma, deepening an already dire crisis in a region scarred by wars between 1996 and 2003.
In the Sahel, countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger continue to grapple with escalating insurgencies by militant groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS, further destabilizing the region.
Sudan, too, has been facing severe internal unrest, with clashes between the military and paramilitary forces plunging the country into chaos since April 2023.
Ruto emphasized that the African Union’s current security architecture is ill-equipped to address the continent’s complex dynamics and challenges.
He called for the urgent revitalization of the peace and security framework, highlighting that the AU’s presence in regional hotspots remains weak, fragmented, and under-resourced.
