Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has challenged African leaders to support their own peace initiatives, underscoring the importance of African-led sustainable solutions.
Uhuru was speaking in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, at the African Union Retreat on Friday, calling upon African leaders to use their own resources to generate indigenous African sustainable solutions.
“If we truly want sustainable solutions that are African-born and led, we can’t do that if we are not in a position to back what we do through the resources that we generate,” Uhuru stated on Friday.
According to Uhuru, African Nations should work towards self-sustainability in peace processes. The former president noted that this approach is essential for achieving a peaceful and stable continent.
The former president also advocated for peace and unity among African Nations noting that none can survive without the other.
Uhuru, who sits in the AU High-Level Panel for Ethiopia and is a Facilitator of the EAC-Led Nairobi Peace Process, lauded the outgoing AU Chairperson Moussa Faki for establishing the AU Peace Fund, which aims to support peace operations and crisis response across the continent.
The former president challenged African leaders to address challenges related to ethnicity, religious conflicts, resource disputes, and climate change-induced conflicts to realize true integration.
“No individual country can deal with them,” Kenyatta emphasized urging for a collective approach.
He added, “None of us is an island.”
Uhuru joined prominent African Union (AU) Commission leaders, Special Representatives, Heads of regional economic communities and Mechanisms (RECs), and International Envoys at the 15th High-Level Retreat on the Promotion of Peace, Security, and Stability in Africa, held at the Sofitel Hotel in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
The retreat which ends on Saturday 26, provided an opportunity for leaders to reflect on and review the AU’s mediation strategies and preventive diplomacy efforts, with the view of determining their impact, suitability, and effectiveness in the current context of evolving conflicts in the African continent.
This is the first time former President Uhuru Kenyatta has publicly appeared after a long time away.
Uhuru was last seen in public in June addressing delegates during the 2024 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF) Democracy Dialogue in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.
