Quotable Quotes from 2024 Africa Public Square – Nairobi

Shuvai Nyoni:

1. …the APS is a platform meant to instigate open debate among African public intellectuals of diverse backgrounds on topical issues of peace, security and development in Africa.
2. Conversations about the future of Africa’s Peace and Security continues to reverberate within the corridors of the ALC. Some of these issues have been agreed and disagreed upon. This pursuit is to reimagine Africa’s intergenerational conversation with a cross-section of intellectuals to speak to a continental space. The continental space requests a fresh look, a fresh global space to discuss Africa’s conflicts.
3. …the security agenda in the global sphere which places Africa in the centre of global uncertainties…APS aims to speak back to global powers to advance the continent’s peace, security and development agenda.
4. … [the] APS will harness Africa’s intellectual power, rethinking Africa’s response to its marginalisation on the global stage.

Prof. ’Funmi Olonisakin:

1. …think of an alternative future that does not simply look at elections which vote for individuals and singular actors. Based on the review of the literature and policy responses, there is practically no new thinking of the models of external interventions. Thus, there is a need  for new thinking and new approaches.
2. How can we create states that serve the collective, not the few? How can Africa escape escape the twin tragedy of deinstitutionalisation through “militiafication” and externally imposed templates? how can African societies recreate peaceful states?

Prof. Medhane Tadesse:

1. Those who have the instruments of war from the regions, turn against the region, often through predatory business by the various stakeholders. This in many ways is linked to the foreign policy. The foreign policy of various African states is often rented or subverted by external actors.
2. The most pressing issue in Sudan is how to end the war. But the exogenous and endogenous stakes make the situation complex.
3. The issue here is that most warring factions are not interested in ending the war in Sudan. They are interested in the political economy of the extractives in Sudan. The battle for Sudan is taking place within the coercive apparatus of the state. This has been a part of the long-term destruction of democratic processes within Sudan.

Lorna Merekaje:

1. It is important for us to think of where we want Africa to be. What kind of Africa we want? Where is Africa going?
2. …political discourse extends beyond the powerful elite and we must insist on repositioning and re-thinking the continent’s response to marginalisation in the global arena, by changing to our own perception, definition of interest, there are contradictions in popular discourse. 
3. Africa needs to be able to move as a bloc, because as individual pockets, neo-colonialism is still impacting the states of affairs on the continent.
4. Africa has never been at such an opportune moment. There is a tremendous shift, a very young population, youth – with technological and intellectual knowledge. The entrepreneurial growth in Africa/South Sudan is immense. But how do we harness these resources?
5. Think about unionisation, as a move to amplify the voices, a more befitting way, a discourse that applies broadly in Africa and in South Sudan. 

Ambassador Dr. Francis Deng:

1. Optimism is a challenge… in crisis, there are opportunities for optimism.
2. To understand the crisis of national identity from a historical perspective, it becomes clear that South Sudan/Sudanese were in denial in a contrasted class system whereby Arabs or those who could identify themselves with Arab origins were deemed superior thus, elevated with a status of respect and dignity. Meanwhile those born as Africans were deemed inferior and therefore, a legitimate target for slavery or enslavement.
3. … what is going on now in Sudan and South Sudan…as a continuation of the past states’ crises.
4. …[There is] need for African cultural values, African concepts and constitutionalism that recognises the African contexts and institutions in understanding how the state functions in Sudan/South Sudan.
5. What kind of institutional framework can accommodate the unity of such a diverse country as Sudan/South Sudan – one country with multiple systems. We have to dictate our own democracies that focuses on people; not on numbers, on elections. We lose the essence of the nation when we focus on numbers and elections.
6. ... globalisation has to involve localisation as to equally reflect fundamental African values in a way that Africa joins the international community on ‘who’ it is and what it wants to offer.
7. We can move toward building a nation that recognises diversity, building on the common values, and negotiating on a regional approach. 

Aluel Atem:

1. the case of South Sudan is one which deals with structural, systemic and institutional dysfunctionalities underpinned by self-interest…the dysfunctionality of South Sudan/Sudan is something that has been designed, it is not by mistake.
2. My generation is uniquely positioned to chart a course for South Sudan. We were born in active military resistance. There is a lot to learn from that; to witness a transition from that liberation.
3. Moving the focus from who we need to represent us and to asking ourselves if these structures and these institutions work for us, designed for the interest of South Sudanese people.

 

Donald Deya:

1. There is need to end the unending transition, because from the current happenings, one can conclude the intention has been never to end anything…given the scale of suffering that is occurring in Sudan/South Sudan at the moment. The sheer carnage, and the arrogance of thugs calling themselves generals.
2. ...the need of interconnectedness of communities and societies to challenge the self-centred interconnectedness of dictators since it is difficult to look at the issues and interests of African countries independently. 
3. Young people have innovated emergency response routes. The generals are just shooting themselves. These leaders do not care about intergenerational equity. There is need for more audacity and more determination to address the situation in Sudan.

Mdme Hanna Tetteh:

1. Sudan/South Sudan complex political transitions with focus on protecting the leadership group instead of bringing people together.
2. Elections should not be seen as an end to the transition process since elections in themselves do not confer legitimacy which can only be conferred by the people…events in Kenya, Ghana, and other parts of the continent show elections do not confer legitimacy. 
3. The challenges of Sudan and South Sudan teach that the first thing is an African integration in order to have the political settlement that will contribute to Africa’s development within and partnership without. 
4. In conflict spaces such as Sudan/South Sudan - there has always been a separation between the leaders and citizens. Once agreement is reached, and there has been consensus, citizens no longer have an active role to play in this process. The focus has been on protecting the leadership of groups, instead of bringing people together. Therefore, demonstrations of inclusive leadership by persons who want to lead are important to the peace process.

Barney Afako:

1. The situations in Sudan and South Sudan [are seen] as systematic marginalisation of groups, violation of citizen rights, and rights to mobilise. Stability is seen when socio-economic issues are discussed in shared spaces.

Catherine Vitaliano:

1. Sudan/ South Sudan needs progressive development that will liberate its people led by technocrats. 
2. Within Sudan, 52% of the national budget goes to military spending, but there is no human security. 

Ambassador Youssef Mahmoud:

1. It is important to have continental interconnections and intergenerational discussions.
2. Present-forward thinking comes with change and reform, we must prioritise this. We cannot predict the future, but we can disrupt the present.

Ambassador Manoah Esipisu:

1. The story of the present in our part of the world is that people move into office and forget themselves in the office. You are not necessarily supposed to stay there. We need collective mobilisation to develop countries where people, civil society organisations and international community effectively play their respective roles.

Yaw Nsarkoh:

1. Sudan can be summarised as an African problem, if we address its issues, we can address the wider issues on the continent.
2. Sudanese issues must involve a move away from elites and return to the people who themselves are at the centre of the conversation…they are the forces that drive change.

 

Dr. Dawit Toga:

1. Peacebuilding is about political bargaining thus, the need for rethinking of the approaches to address the challenges ahead. 

Dr Sonja Theron:

1. The Sudanese people should be made to decide how they will be governed as opposed to who will govern. 

Professor Eka Ikpe:

1. We have been challenged. What do we do with the spaces we occupy? We have a lot of power, and a lot has been done. We are gathered here today to launch the APS. It is an opportunity to look back and reflect.
2. It is important we recognise that an extractive and highly unequal global system is affecting the African continent, pay attention to systems and structures instead of individuals – and focus on the process of leadership.