Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects

Introduction

In our fifth publication of the overview of Agenda 2063 flagship projects we bring you the remaining four flagship projects which are Silencing the guns by 2020, implementation of the Grand Inga dam project, Africa outer space strategy and Cyber security.

These projects in many ways can be a way of highlighting the economic inequalities on our continent. The first two projects tackle issues like addressing energy poverty and conflict on the continent, two issues that affect hundreds of millions around the continent whose life will be immediately improved if there was less violence and more affordable energy supply.

To the African demographic described above, the last two projects might not hold much value simply because their basic needs are lacking. To them these last two projects are probably nice to haves considering that they have to do with addressing Africa’s current and future cyber security challenges and promoting an African space programme.

Silencing of the Guns and End Wars in Africa by the Year 2020

What a name for a flagship project on a continent such as ours. To us here at Panafreeka, “Silencing the guns” sounds kind of like “World Peace” (or in our case “African Peace”) something that has evaded mankind since the term has been coined. Now when you add the year “2020”, it does seem even more ambitious.

The Silence the Guns flagship initiative like others was birthed in 2013 when African leaders as they marked the 50^th year of the African Union swore to ensure lasting peace on the continent. They went on to solemnly vow “not to bequeath the burden of conflicts to the next generation of Africans” (Ref 19).

Given that the 2020 deadline is upon us, it’s obvious that the flagship project hasn’t exactly silenced the guns. The complex nature of conflicts and its root cause many of which are socio-economic contribute to the reasons conflicts happen. Africa is not only a continent that is abundant with natural resources, sadly it also abounds with conflict.

As at December 2020, of the 13 UN peacekeeping missions around the world, 7 are in Africa.

There are some positives though, considering that current efforts to silence the guns have placed emphasis on addressing several factors including the need to prioritise the prevention of conflict over the resolution of conflict, tackling the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons, promoting reconciliation and social cohesion, preventing illicit resource outflows from Africa and strengthening security and defence institutions (Ref-18).

The silencing the guns initiative is noble and given that it hasn’t achieved its intended objective by its intended calendar year does not necessarily mean it should be abandoned. One thing that we are unsure of is why this noble cause should be a flagship project. This is because in terms of the protocol relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council which was adopted in Durban South Africa in 2002, there is already in existence a Peace and Security Council as one of the institutions of the African Union Structure and Organs with an “African Peace” mandate. We hope that perhaps the “Silence the Guns in 2020” flagship project missed deadline can inject the momentum that is required for the Peace and Security council to better execute on its mandate that predates Agenda 2063 launch.

The Grand Inga Hydropower Project

The Grand Inga Hydropower Project is located on the Congo river located in Western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This project is a multi-phased hydro power station with the potential to generate approximately 40 000 MW of energy. The project also includes transmission lines to transmit power from the generators to the markets in the DRC as well as export markets as far out as South Africa, Nigeria and Angola (Ref-28).

The Grand Inga project is strategic to African and DRC development in that it contributes to the universal energy access agenda and alleviation of energy poverty on the continent. Furthermore it furthers global causes by its energy type in that it offers an opportunity for the consumers to reduce carbon footprint.

Africa Outer Space Programme

Some of these flagship projects come across as quite ambitious but if there is one flagship project that is literally out of this world, it has got to be the Africa outer space program.

This project aims to create a well-coordinated and integrated African space programme that is responsive to the social, economic, political and environmental needs of the continent as well as being globally competitive. The project will also look to create a regulatory framework that supports the space programme which will ensure that African states are a responsible and peaceful user of outer space (Ref-14).

An African Space Agency institution has been defined and established (Ref-16) and the agency will focus on earth observation, communication, astronomy and navigation and positioning (Ref-15). The AU has chosen the Arab Republic of Egypt as the host of the Agency and has proposed the year 2023 for the physical establishment of the Agency.

Cyber Security

With interconnection to the rest of the world and with each other comes the risk of cyber-crime. The objective of this flagship initiative is to address vulnerabilities of the continent’s information systems and digital infrastructures and to protect citizens, governments and businesses from cyber-crime.

Since including Cyber security as a flagship project, the AU commission in 2014 adopted the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and personal data protection (UL-9), a convention that establishes a framework for cyber security in Africa through organisation of electronic transactions, protection of personal data, promotion of cyber security, e-governance and cyber-crime (Ref-10).

To facilitate the implementation of the above convention, the AU commission collaborated with the Internet society (ISOC) and jointly developed the Privacy and Personal Data Protection Guidelines for Africa (Ref-11).

An African Union Cyber Security Expert Group (AUCSEG) has since been appointed and has been tasked with amongst other things providing advisory services, proposing solutions, best practices, areas of research etc. on cybersecurity issues and policies to the AU commission (Ref-12).

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Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects (Part 5 of 6) – Other