Organisation of African Unity

Aziz Pahad: the unassuming South African diplomat who skilfully mediated crises in Africa, and beyond

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Friday, September 29, 2023
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Together with a small group of foreign policy analysts, I worked with Aziz over the span of 30 years, shaping the post-apartheid South African government’s approach to international relations and its foreign policy.

Key Points: 
  • Together with a small group of foreign policy analysts, I worked with Aziz over the span of 30 years, shaping the post-apartheid South African government’s approach to international relations and its foreign policy.
  • We spent countless hours debating foreign affairs and the numerous crises and challenges government had to face as a relative “newcomer” in continental African and global affairs.
  • Sadly, towards the end of his career as a diplomat he witnessed the slow decline of South Africa’s stature and influence in global affairs.

The Mandela and Mbeki years

    • Under presidents Nelson Mandela (1994-1999) and Thabo Mbeki (1999-2008), South African diplomats who’d sharpened their skills during many years of exile became sought-after as facilitators and mediators.
    • Under their guidance Africa converted the Organisation of African Unity into the African Union, and reset relations with the international community via the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
    • Neither could it withstand the grand corruption which reached its apogee in South Africa under former president Jacob Zuma (May 2009 - February 2018).

Preparatory years

    • The congress became involved in the broader anti-apartheid struggle in later years.
    • In 1963, Aziz completed a degree in sociology and Afrikaans at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
    • It eventually shaped government’s more formal foreign policy of 2011, entitled Building a Better World: The Diplomacy of Ubuntu.
    • It lives on as the Institute of Global Dialogue, based at the University of South Africa.

Role in government

    • From there, he was appointed by President Mandela as deputy minister of foreign affairs.
    • This enabled him to play an unassuming but key mediating and facilitation role dealing with major crises on the continent and beyond.
    • Aziz resigned from government and parliament in 2008, shortly after Mbeki was removed as president of the ANC in 2007.

The ‘diplomat-scholar’

    • He played a prominent role, with his brother Essop, in a small but influential think-tank, the Concerned Africans Forum.
    • In 2015 he headed the short-lived South African Council on International Relations.
    • The council was established by the government as a body of experts and a sounding board for senior decision-makers.

Environmental disasters and climate change force people to cross borders, but they're not recognised as refugees – they should be

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Tuesday, September 26, 2023
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In response to these challenges, many individuals and communities have no choice but to abandon their homes and seek safety elsewhere.

Key Points: 
  • In response to these challenges, many individuals and communities have no choice but to abandon their homes and seek safety elsewhere.
  • The challenge, however, is that people crossing borders due to weather don’t qualify as refugees under key laws and conventions.
  • It’s predicted that the number of people displaced due to weather shifts or disasters will reach as many as 1.2 million people by 2050.
  • I recommend that international laws and conventions be amended to explicitly include people forced by weather shocks to move across borders.

Lack of protection

    • Refugees in Africa are also protected by the 1969 Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Convention.
    • These laws provide them with a safe haven, access to fair asylum procedures and protection from discrimination.
    • This means that people forcibly displaced only by environmental disasters are not entitled to refugee status, although deserving of temporary protection.
    • It has raised awareness of climate change as a driver of displacement and the need to address protection for people displaced in the context of disasters.

What needs to change


    People displaced by adverse weather developments should be given more than temporary protection. This will require changes to international regulations and national laws. For instance, a protocol regarding climate-induced displacement should be added to the 1969 OAU convention so that displaced people who cross international borders are legally covered.

African Union: climate action offers organisation unique chance for revival

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Thursday, July 20, 2023
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Reporters, however, failed at the time to pick up on one notable point: that the initiative was not taken within the framework of the African Union (AU).

Key Points: 
  • Reporters, however, failed at the time to pick up on one notable point: that the initiative was not taken within the framework of the African Union (AU).
  • This is yet another illustration of the fact that this organisation is struggling to establish itself on the international stage.
  • The institution, which replaced the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 2002 and brings together the continent’s 55 states, is based on the model of the European Union (EU).

The African Union, a secondary player in international relations

    • The number of Turkish diplomatic representations has more than tripled in just 20 years, and China is now the leading investor in Africa.
    • Despite all this, Africa’s role on the international stage has not fundamentally changed since the 19th century.
    • In the eyes of the outside world, the African continent remains largely a passive subject, a mere supplier of raw materials.

Reforming the African Union and identifying its key objectives

    • In this respect, two documents dating from several years ago, whose recommendations have been insufficiently implemented, contain some interesting ideas.
    • Objective 7 seems the most likely to generate the massive global support that the pan-African institution really needs.

Great Green Wall and Congo Basin as continental priorities

    • We recently suggested stepping up climate communication and public diplomacy on the Congo Basin.
    • Bodies such as the Congo Basin Blue Fund, the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC), and the PAFC Congo Basin Initiative (CBI) are, from this point of view, large-scale environmental initiatives that have already prompted the AU’s main partners to commit themselves wholeheartedly.

Climate action and the African Union

    • In light of the above, we believe that climate action and diplomacy, particularly through the GGW initiative and the Congo Basin, could help the AU to restore its international image.
    • À lire aussi :
      Grande muraille verte au Sahel : les défis de la prochaine décennie

      Climate action backed by the Congo Basin could yet add more weight to the AU’s diplomacy.

    • It is essential that the African Union plays a central role in climate diplomacy.
    • The industrialised countries will be among the first beneficiaries of successful action on the GGW and the Congo Basin.

Tanzania-South Africa: deep ties evoke Africa’s sacrifices for freedom

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Tuesday, April 4, 2023
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As the South African presidency noted, ties between the two nations date back to Tanzania’s solidarity with the anti-apartheid struggle.

Key Points: 
  • As the South African presidency noted, ties between the two nations date back to Tanzania’s solidarity with the anti-apartheid struggle.
  • This history is an important reminder of the anti-colonial and pan-African bonds underpinning international solidarity with southern African liberation struggles.
  • It’s also a reminder of the sacrifices many African countries made to realise continental freedom.

Liberation struggle bonds

    • Tanzania’s support for South Africa’s liberation struggle needs to be understood as part of its broader opposition to colonialism, and commitment to the achievement of independence in the entire African continent.
    • Nelson Mandela addressed the conference with the aim of arranging support for the armed struggle in South Africa.
    • It was the first external structure set up by the two liberation movements.
    • Its capital was chosen as the operational base of the OAU’s Liberation Committee.
    • Also stationed there were the armies of other southern African liberation movements – ZAPU, Frelimo, SWAPO and the MPLA.

Hitches in the relationship

    • In spite of Tanzania’s support for the liberation movements, their relationship was not without its contradictions or moments of ambivalence.
    • In 1965, for example, the ANC had to move its headquarters from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro, a small upcountry town far from international connections.
    • The Tanzanian government had decided that only four members of each liberation movement would be allowed to maintain an office in the capital.

Lived spaces of solidarity

    • But Tanzania remained a significant place of settlement for South African exiles.
    • In the late 1970s and 1980s, additional land donations from the Tanzanian government enabled the ANC to open a school and a vocational centre near Morogoro.
    • Its other aim was to counter the effects of Bantu education, a segregated and inferior education system for black South Africans.
    • These became unique spaces of lived solidarity between the ANC and its international supporters.

DGAP-News: Tony Elumelu Foundation funds 5000 African SMEs from 54 African countries for its 2021 Entrepreneurship Programme

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Wednesday, November 17, 2021
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Consisting of both new start-ups and existing small businesses, the 2021 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs have undergone world-class business training, mentorship and coaching and will have a life-time access to the Tony Elumelu Foundation alumni network.

Key Points: 
  • Consisting of both new start-ups and existing small businesses, the 2021 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs have undergone world-class business training, mentorship and coaching and will have a life-time access to the Tony Elumelu Foundation alumni network.
  • Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony O. Elumelu shared, "To you young African entrepreneurs - work hard, dream dreams, and be very disciplined.
  • Speaking on the panel with Mr. Elumelu, 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, Hauwa Liman, Founder of Afrik Abaya, shared: "I am always proud to say that I am from the inaugural cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme.
  • For a list of the selected 2021 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs and information on our applicants, please visit the website of the Tony Elumelu Foundation here ( https://bit.ly/30pmzqN ).