Rwanda’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General Emmanuel Ugirashebuja has cited a range of key factors he says drive extremism and insecurity in Africa and around the world, highlighting the need for stakeholders in the security sector on the continent to understand and help navigate the current and complex global dynamics and how they affect Africa.
The minister made the remarks Wednesday, June 5, at the opening of the annual Symposium on Peace, Security and Justice at the Rwanda National Police’s National Police College in the northern city of Musanze. Speaking to an audience that drew top security and policy experts and officials, academics, researchers and journalists from Rwanda and beyond, the minister urged "considerable attention” to such issues as ongoing geopolitical tensions, economic pressures, technological threats, and environmental challenges.
Below is an abridged version of Minister Ugirashebuja’s speech:
The current global landscape is marked by rapid and profound changes. Geopolitical shifts, economic uncertainties, technological advancements, and environmental challenges all converge to shape our reality. These dynamics have far-reaching implications for peace and security globally, regionally, and nationally and therefore influence our strategies, operations, and collaborations.
Global governance and multilateralism are at a crossroads. Across the globe, multilateralism appears to be in crisis. The very foundations or objectives of multilateralism—peace and security, human rights, and development— have been strongly shaken by individualistic, nationalism, and unilateralism tendencies. This causes or exacerbates the decline of the current global order while destroying the very foundation of peace, security, and justice.
Human rights and other global values and aspirations are in jeopardy because of unilateral wars, whether open armed conflicts, trade wars, or cyberwarfare. Further, global pandemics such as Covid-19 have acted as catalysts and magnifiers, exposing our weaknesses in many respects, including how ready, prepared, and willing we are as human beings to join efforts in countering a common threat.
The very basic human or societal values such as equality and equity, which have a positive bearing on the concepts of peace, security, and justice, are at stake.
‘Six out of seven people worldwide plagued by feelings of insecurity’
Madame Amina J. Mohammed, the Deputy UN Secretary-General, observed during the open debate of the security council on peacebuilding and sustaining peace in January 2023 that "peace – the United Nations’ raison d’être – is now under grave threat.
People’s sense of safety and security is at an all-time low in almost every country. Six out of seven people worldwide are plagued by feelings of insecurity. The world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since the Second World War, and 2 billion people – a quarter of humanity – live in places affected by such conflict.
Available data shows that approximately 180 conflicts are currently taking place across the globe. These include interstate, intrastate, extra-systemic, non-state conflicts, and one-sided violence. At least 150 conflicts have been recorded each year recently.
The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law is currently monitoring 110 armed conflicts across the globe. Forty-five of these conflicts are taking place in the Middle East and North Africa; more than 35 in Africa; 21 in Asia; seven in Europe; and six in Latin America.
Looking at Sub-Saharan Africa, there were at least 18 states (out of a total of 54) with active armed conflicts in 2021. High-intensity armed conflicts occurred in 12 states.
The situation in the East African region is no better than the rest of the other affected parts of the world. Nine of the 22 states or territories were involved in active armed conflict in 2021, with five experiencing ongoing or sharp escalations in large-scale armed violence.
Almost all the armed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa and East Africa were internationalised due to the involvement of external state actors and/or the transnational activities of armed groups and criminal networks.
‘Negative peace, positive peace’
The concept of peace and, to a large extent, of security is not defined within the limits of the absence of violence. It is much more than that. A Norwegian Professor, Johan Galtung, defined ‘peace’ by making a distinction between ‘negative peace’ and ‘positive peace.’
On the one hand, negative peace refers to the absence of direct violence or war. It is essentially a state where overt conflict and physical violence are not present. On the other hand, positive peace goes beyond the mere absence of violence. It involves the presence of conditions that foster a sustainable, just, and equitable society. It is characterised by the presence of social justice, equality, and harmony.
Understanding peace, as defined by Professor Johan, helps us to have a broader picture of the context in which our continent, Africa, is operating, the challenges it faces, and ultimately find durable solutions.
In this regard, key questions should be posed to understand current global dynamics and how they affect Africa. Thus, issues such as ongoing geopolitical tensions, economic pressures, technological threats, and environmental challenges should be given due consideration.
For instance: