 Good morning everyone. On behalf of the United States Institute of Peace, I am delighted to welcome you all here. It is a great honor to see all friends here and colleagues and friends of USIP and also welcoming you, those of you who are viewing us online. I am Dr Joseph Sani, Vice President of the US Institute of Peace and leading the Africa Center. I know most of you in this room already know about the United States Institute of Peace, but for those viewing online, I will try, allow me to briefly introduce the United States Institute of Peace. USIP was founded by Congress, almost, the US Congress, almost 40 years ago. We've demanded to prevent, resolve conflict around the world. And we do that by working with a variety of stakeholders, including government, security forces, civil society, religious leaders, the private sector. The Africa Center is deeply involved in peacebuilding in Africa. We believe that the Africa Center is well placed to bring this variety of stakeholders to discuss issues of peace and development on the continent. And so the Africa Center is pleased to be hosting today a conversation with Ambassador Martin Kimani, Kenyan's permanent representative to the United Nations. Ambassador Kimani has served as Kenyan's permanent representative at the UN for almost two years and previously served as the president's special envoy for counter-invivalence extremism, the director of Kenyan's National Counter Terrorism Center and in strategic initiatives in the president's executive office. Even before arriving in New York, Ambassador Kimani had a deep knowledge of the UN system from his service as permanent representative to the United Nations in Nairobi, as well as the UN Environment Programme and the UN Human Settlement Programme UN Habitat. He has worked on peace and security issues in the Horn of Africa and East Africa. Ambassador Kimani is also a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He holds a PhD in war studies from King's College London, the University of London. Kenyan is currently one of the three African states which holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council until December this year. In his role as Kenyan's permanent representative, he has distinguished himself as a strong voice for Kenyan and Africa in the Council. Ambassador Kimani's February 22nd Statement, we all remember, during the emergency session of the UN Security Council on the Situation in Ukraine was quite clear. He strongly, through the statement, condemned Russia's violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and underscored the importance of African voices on threat to global security. That speech and subsequent ones delivered by Ambassador Kimani shows the experience and the importance of African voices and approaches in multilateral fora and how important is Africa as a geo-strategic actor. With that, please join me in welcoming His Excellency Ambassador Martin Kimani. Thank you. So the first thing I wanted to talk about Ambassador Kimani is this narrative around Africa right now. Where are we in the narrative of what is Africa, what is Africa's trajectory, what is its future? The long-held narrative that we all know on Africa is Africa as a poor continent, high unemployment, destabilizing internal conflicts, expansion of violent terrorist threats and coups and counter coups. And that narrative has been a long-standing one. It basically speaks to an Africa that doesn't have any influence in multilateral fora, an Africa that is too poor and troubled to really be a global player. Then we turn to what is the reality on the ground. You look at the reality on the ground today. Very different narratives. You see African governments and African people setting their own agenda for politics and security and economics. You look at the African Union's historic African continental free trade agreement, game changer for the continent. You look at what's happening with the political affairs, peace and security commission, really struggling with some really difficult challenges on the continent. You look at the African Union condemning and sanctioning coup leaders. And most significantly for many of us, this dynamism of young people who are creative and entrepreneurial and who are driving technology on the continent. So then you have this narrative of unstoppable Africa. So between unstoppable Africa and troubled Africa that really can't be a global player and is almost outside of history in some people's image. Where do you see Africa falling today? Well, thank you. We've gone straight into it. Thank you. Good morning, Ambassador Makilla James. Thank you very much for the invitation and for having me for this conversation. I want to just quickly thank Liz Grant, the CEO and president of USIP. Dr Joseph Sani, who leads the Africa, the vice president for the Africa Center. And of course my elder, Ambassador Johnny Cochran, for his continuing extraordinary commitment to Africa and staying engaged throughout. Of course I have to give a shout out to my counterpart here in Washington, Ambassador Lazarus Amayo, who is my senior in diplomacy and his deputy David Gasharu, Ambassador David Gasharu. And thank you all. You know, we all know that Africa needs to tell its story more. We all know that there's so much more happening that is positive and even transformative on the continent. And the question, I think, is why is there a persistence, a persistence continuity of this narrative of helplessness. And I think that has some form of structural life now. It's not just ignorance. It's a way in which Africa is positioned in global affairs. And it's been centuries in the making. And it's going to be some time before we emerge fully from it. But in the process of emerging from it, I think we can embrace how dramatic a shift there has been in Africa. If you look at our demography, for instance, 100 years ago, there were just over 100 million Africans on the continent. In 20 years or so, in just under 30 years, in 2050, they're going to be 2.5 billion. This is a sea change in terms of demography. But it's not just numbers. It's the youthfulness of those numbers. And the youthfulness expressing such a diversity of cultural intelligence that is expressed in the arts, in the way people live, in the way they express themselves, in the way they practice religion. So this huge energy on the ground is going to make Africa a pivotal force in the 21st century. And our work as policymakers and this generation of policymakers is to ensure that that incredible energy is translated into an unstoppable Africa that is unstoppable to the extent of its economic development, in its projection and export of peace and security into the world, for it to be a major pole of global economic growth, for it to lead in the energy transition and climate change responsibility. I think we're headed in that direction, but we have some considerable challenges to take care of in the meantime. And because those challenges are significant and cannot be wished away, there will be some aspect of a continued negative narrative. But for those of us who are committed to Africa, as Africans who are committed friends of Africa, we have to look beyond that and see what could be. If we cannot see what could be and what is coming, we will not have the energy and the conviction to push forward. Ambassador, you spoke very eloquently to this issue of African youth demographic and what does it really mean for the continent. I'm glad to see some African youth in the audience today. Well, many of us consider ourselves African youth, but some real African youth in the audience. Do you get a sense from African young people that they feel this degree of optimism or do you pick up a greater sense of either resignation or pulling back and just operating outside of government and outside of politics because they don't see that changing fast enough or meeting their aspirations? Well, I don't want to make any blanket sort of assessment. I don't have the tools to answer that question comprehensively, but I do know there is impatience. There is impatience. There's impatience with economic bottles that are not inclusive enough. There's impatience because young people have, broadly speaking, carried out their end of the deal. And the deal as I was growing up was go to school, finish school, and we will have opportunity waiting for you. Well, in Kenya and in other countries, our young people have done that. They've gone to school, they've gotten educated, they've gotten skills, they have ambition and they want to work. Now, they're looking to us to say, okay, I did my part. And I think our last election, which I think was a great victory for Kenyan democracy, demonstrated that our political leadership is listening, and President Ruto was actually elected on the platform of listening to those young people who were saying, this model of trickle-down economics is not working for us. And I was very interested the other day, a few days ago, and I saw President Biden tweet that the trickle-down model has failed for the last 50 years, which then means that President Biden and President Ruto are solidly in the same camp in terms of an economics that is speaking to the people at the bottom and is built from the bottom upwards rather than from the top downwards. If we can do that, and that is something that each country needs to do but cannot do it alone, then we shall begin to address the impatience of young Africans. Well, since you brought President Biden to the conversation, let's have a conversation about the Biden administration's views on Africa. The administration seems to have been embracing recently the counter-narrative. The 2022 Africa strategy, the U.S. Africa strategy seeks to, as they say, reframe the region's importance to U.S. national security interests. And Secretary Blinken traveled to Nigeria last year, and he was quoted as saying Africa will shape the future, not just the future of African people but of the world. And then he traveled further to Pretoria, and he said Sub-Saharan Africa is a major geopolitical force, one that shaped our past, is shaping our present, and will shape our future. How do you see this reframing of the relationship that President Biden's administration is putting forward, and do you see that the statements are being matched by real partnership efforts on the ground? Well, you know, I think there's somebody in Washington listening, and there's somebody in Washington reaching out, and I think it is appreciated because understanding for Washington to understand the immensity of what Africa is in terms of the opportunity for the whole world, including for the United States, is key. But there's something very important to realize, which is you use the word unstoppable Africa. It's taken me a while to internalize what it means to have 2.5 billion people, to increase 1.5 billion people in the next 20-something years. It means that the velocity of change is such that the strategies that United States employs in any other country need to be deeply responsive to our own African strategies, because the velocity is beyond anyone country's ability to divert, to control, or to in any way manage. What is really required is the strength of partnership, and that's what I saw in the Biden strategy for Africa. It has an appetite for partnership, it has an appetite for listening, and I think that part about listening is something that the Biden administration has brought, I think very clearly, and I've seen Secretary Blinken in his engagements, and my counterpart in Washington, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, really internalizing that. Now the question is what are we Africans going to say? What are we going to put forward as our priorities? How convinced are we that those are the right priorities? So there's a lot of the challenge on our side of the fence as well, so that the Biden administration can have the credible partners that it needs to build a strong partnership. Thank you for that. Can I talk a little bit about this global power competition that we all know is out there? I've heard many African leaders say that we have lots of development partners. We don't want to get caught up in this global power competition. China was a good development partner for Africa in many ways. There's also the sense that there are alternative venues for Africa to organize and to find its aspirations. BRICS is one of them and there are others. And so this global competition issue, which is sort of in the strategy as well, it's spoken to in the strategy, comes out very clearly. How do you see the U.S. competing better in Africa so that it's not a choice of one development partner or the other, but that Africa can have many development partners and the U.S. can be a better competitor in their process? How do you see that developing? Well, I think we need to get out of frame of competition because competition inevitably leads to competitive feeling and competitive feeling inevitably leads to rivalry and rivalry inevitably leads to conflict. And I think Africa has experienced rivalry by superpowers. What was called a Cold War in Washington was experienced as a series of hot wars in Africa. We do not want that. We do not want to be forced into taking sides. We've taken our own side and that side is a side seeking development, peace and security. So we will work with the partners who help us achieve what our side needs. Now, why it's so important to get out of the framing of competition is because so much of enmity depends on you creating your own enemy and when I watch the engagements in the UN Security Council, it becomes clear that there is emerging not just competition but rivalry and that rivalry sometimes will seek to engage other countries as proxies to express itself, especially when one's rival is nuclear. So I think Africa's position has been no thanks, we have too much on our plate to get caught in major power rivalries. Now saying that and doing it is two different things and I think Markelai was to say to talk about the African Union peace and security architecture. It assumes in some implicit way that it's internal focus on settling crises in Africa, repudiating coups d'états, mediating peace. It assumes that the global environment is stable. I believe in the coming years, Africa will need to add a plank to its external engagements, to its external strategic conversations where Africa will need to insist on a stable global order. Africa will need to see that it has equities in the European security order because when the broken European security order is leading directly to suffering in Africa, it's leading to the growth of potential conflicts that could affect Africa. So it is for Africa to tell Europe, not in a negative way, your security order is broken, you need to fix it. Now that shouldn't be hard for them to take because they tell us that all the time. So I think we need to make this point and I think we need to make it in a positive way and we need to offer ourselves. I have come to understand that Africans are very talented listeners and in mediation and when I saw Chairman Musafaki and the president of Senegal, the chairperson of our union, fly to Moscow, I think they should continue. They should continue engaging because we have a stake in a stable global order. We have a stake in a rules-based multilateral system. I want to come to that issue but before we get there, I want to just go back a little bit more and talk about the U.S. African diaspora because clearly they have a role to play. Do you see the U.S. diaspora being one of the competitive edges that we have in dealing with African governments, dealing with African issues? I actually think that was the most brilliant part of the Biden-Africa strategy. I don't know any other country outside in the United States that has accomplished, has connected an African diaspora as a United States and I'm counting not just the Africans, Dr. Sani, who left Africa recently, I'm talking about African Americans and the fact that this diaspora has all the skills, has the capital and has the desire to connect with Africa. I think the strategy leveraging that and the actions it takes to leverage that will place the United States in a very strong position to add value to itself and to Africa. And one has to say that, one notices, I have to say a lot of our Nigerian brothers and sisters in the Biden administration and I think how much more powerful can your policy making be than to have a deep familial understanding of Africa while you're an American official? I think that is going to pay a great deal of dividends. I appreciate that you recognize the historic diaspora and the recent diaspora because you're right, they both lend a credence and a value to U.S. Africa engagement so I'm glad that you underscore that and I claim myself as part of that historic diaspora and when I serve in African work in Africa it's very much a real sense of I have a connectivity here as well so I appreciate that. The African Union constitutive act recognizes the African diaspora but we had not politicized this sufficiently we sort of thought of it as sort of reaching out but if you really see what has happened in the Security Council Saint Vincent and the Grenadines the smallest population to ever serve in the Security Council came on and the Prime Minister Gonzales said that they would take the position of the African Union so if the other three African members were united on an issue Saint Vincent would stand with them in the Security Council the difference between three and four is exponential it's a massive difference and what that meant is that the A3 plus 1 showed in real time in the most august diplomatic body in terms of peace and security what Africa and its diaspora can do at a geopolitical level now there's a growing appetite between Karakom and Africa to work together there's a new candidacy coming up by Guyana in June I would imagine they will get every single African vote and I think that they will come on to the council and they themselves may choose to also be part of an A3 plus 1 I think it is a significant development Ambassador Kimano, you are anticipating all of my areas of inquiry because I'm going right where you're going now let's talk about multilateralism in Africa we all know that when the UN the Bretton Woods institutions were created Africa was pretty much under colonial domination so there really wasn't a voice l'independence Africa got a bit of a voice but a voice in a non permanent role in the security council and a no veto role in the security council and that reality exists to this day and of course there's been a lot of call and a lot of discussion about changing that in security council reform then you look at what's happening with the P5 today you look at Russia being able to block security council actions and then that action moving from the security council to general assembly everybody has a say an equal say and Africa suddenly has an enormous voice in that body of the UN general assembly so the first question I want to ask you is what is the current state of discussion around security council reform as it involves Africa and I can't help but note that President Biden has called for a permanent seat for Africa Secretary General Gutierrez has called for a permanent seat the Japanese prime minister has called for it and of course Africans have long been very clear on this position that Africa must have a permanent seat where is that discussion now if it's happening at all well we have to without making this a history sort of a lecture of any kind the security council exists as both an expression of the charter the UN charter and as a political settlement between the victors of a great war and the members who have permanent status permanent membership in the security council in 1945 were were at the top and had defeated the Nazis and their allies and had suffered a great deal doing so the Soviet Union for instance I think paid an exceptional price in defeating Nazism so the security council was born from crisis and I think there's a very good chance that it will change because of crisis and the question is the crisis that we are in now and the crisis that we have gone through are they sufficient I would like to think yes they are and that the permanent five will find it in their interest to expand the body because it needs more balance let me give you an example of what I mean by that the two years or so that we've been in the security council have convinced me that whoever made non permanent membership two years was very clever they were very clever in seeking to limit the leverage and the influence of the elected members because just as you understand it it's time to go so one of the reasons Africa needs to sit on the council with a permanent seat is because of continuity of effort Africa has a lot to protect Africa may not be part of great power war we wouldn't be in the council so as to prevent us fighting someone else right now the P5 it's designed that way to supposedly stop the third world war between the great powers but Africa would be there to protect itself and others who have a weaker voice in global governance it means to have sovereignty of our natural resources to have the ability to resist being utilized as proxies to have hostile and malign actors turning against us against one another in search of our natural and human resources we need to sit there every single day and understand what is going on every single day with the same institutional memory and political leverage as the most powerful we move now from the age of noblesse oblige what is the responsibility of the most powerful to an age where we understand that that is not sufficient we need inclusion because we need to be in the room to protect our interests and our ability to protect our interests as Africa is actually of benefit to global peace and security and I think the argument has been made I think it needs to be made more strongly and I for one and I think all my African colleagues in New York very much appreciated President Biden's announcement and Minister Lavrov's repost to that announcement but also saying that the Russian Federation everyone says they're open to that membership everyone supports Africa but somehow it doesn't it hasn't yet happened so I think we're going to need to push further and I hope it's not going to take a more profound crisis for that to happen When I worked in the State Department one of the jobs I had was serving in the office that covers Africa and the Security Council and I thought it'll be once a week I'll have something to do every day Africa's in the Security Council every day on some matter of the others but I think that permanency would respect the demand of the work and the demand of the issues that are attended to there Can I ask you though about the Security Council Sorry Marquilla the reforms that would change the world the most are reforms within Africa itself If the Peace and Security Council and the African Union Commission and the regional organizations continue in the trend that they're in now I think the UN Security Council will become a very sleepy place because the conflicts will be solved in Africa and right there 60% or 70% of what the Security Council does will be taken off the table they'll meet once a week Can we talk a little bit about what's happening this new dynamic we see where things that aren't being addressed in the Security Council are moving to the General Assembly I think the Ukraine crisis has been possible but there may be others Can you tell me what is happening with this notion that maybe when there's a veto in the Security Council the General Assembly is going to take it up I've seen indication that's where things are going Is that really the new reality Yes, you're describing the veto initiative which is resolution 262 It's a resolution that passed a few months ago and Kenya was one of the countries that championed that resolution What it basically says that when there's a veto when there's a negative vote a no vote which is a veto by a permanent member then the President of the General Assembly within 10 days will schedule a debate of the General Assembly and that has happened several times and what that does is that it gives the membership a chance to speak to the veto and it raises the difficulty of using the veto because after you use it you have to come to the General Assembly Now 262 is right at the beginning of its application I think it's going to over time become a very powerful vehicle for the General Assembly because the General Assembly never gave away all its powers to engage on peace and security issues it retained that ability but the Security Council has been mandated to lead in that direction but if the Security Council is unable to deliver on its mandate then the General Assembly over time may begin to assert itself in ways that I cannot anticipate right now so that resolution which was drafted and pushed initially by Lichtenstein I think it's going to be a historic reform to the United Nations Well if you're in a venue where numbers is the game it's definitely going to be a historic change for Africa which has a large number in the General Assembly so we will stay tuned and keep an eye on that You can imagine for instance a General Assembly sending back voting to send a resolution back to Security Council and saying we think that whatever you did with this resolution was not effective please re-look at it that sets up a degree of legal complication but then it really shines a torch on the veto the veto is a critical is an important tool but it has become a tool rather than pursuing the responsibility that members of the P5 has become an expression of their national interest far too much so You mentioned another interesting dynamic this has been a long standing process but coming to the fore now and that's the A3 the three members of the African three African states on the Security Council and working with the Caribbean you mentioned Saint Vincent and the Grenadines I'm also interested in Haiti because Haiti has of course been in the Council in discussions with happening in Haiti but the security crisis is of great concern to so many How is Africa coordinating in the Security Council with other regions particularly to address questions like peace and security in Haiti Thank you Kenya when we got on the Council global level with a conviction that African lives wherever they are matter to Kenya and that the African diaspora must be part of Kenya's attention and so on engaging on the files in the in the Security Council one of them is Haiti and the other one is Colombia in Colombia Kenya has pushed hard to foreground the issue of how Afro-Colombians are treated in the peace process and that the economic and political condition of Afro-Colombians is a good indicator of the inclusiveness and the effectiveness of the implementation of the peace process and in Haiti our conviction from the start is that Haiti is a special country but we all know the history but for Haiti to have overcome overthrown slavery defeated the great powers of the day in defense of their freedom means that Haiti stood as a shining beacon of African freedom and independence and any Pan-Africanist in the world embraces Haiti so the crisis going on in Haiti now is a painful one for Kenya and for the A3 in general last year during our presidency of the Security Council we pledged a few thousand positions in our training institutions for Haitians and we are still looking forward to fulfilling that pledge now this situation is extremely negative in terms of extreme food insecurity the violence the gangs which in some way should be properly thought of as malicious as opposed to just gangs has led the Security Council to pay attention and we recently passed a resolution on sanctions now that resolution passed 15-0 unanimously meaning that it brought the Security Council to unite on this issue is something notable in the environment we are in the A3 was quite instrumental in that because there was we wanted there to be a review mechanism to make sure that these sanctions do not end up settling with Haiti with years of sanctions even as they try and improve their governance sanctions are easy to put on very difficult to take off and so we put in a review mechanism had we not insisted on that review mechanism a number of countries would have abstained on the vote and overall it would have been a less legitimate exercise of Security Council power and that is important because from my listening the people of Haiti are extremely worry and cautious about external intervention they want to know this latest act from outside is it for us or is it the expression of experiences we've had in the past that we don't want anymore of and so it was very important for it to pass with that kind of unanimity and we continue to hope that we can do as much as we can to support Haiti during this time and again as you say on the numbers 3 is not as powerful as 4 as a great number for Africa and the regions of the Caribbean and Latin America to be working together on so you just need to hear that on this reform question though you didn't give me a full answer on what the things are really going to be moving in the short term do you see things happening in the short term on the reform issue because if not Security Council seems like it's becoming more and more irrelevant to bringing about peace and security is it happening in the short term well it should be in the short term in the next 2 months so we can just stay on but that's with a light touch you know I think Security Council reform is going to happen slowly and then very quickly what I mean by that is that when I speak to veterans of Security Council reform they are almost all uniformly pessimistic I am a recent convert I think they are far too pessimistic I think right now if the war in Ukraine continues if the trends we are seeing continue I think the appetite for reform is going to grow and I think few of the P5 members will want to be seen globally as being opposed to change because they don't really have an argument about how effective the body is being and I think they will begin to understand that the Security Council is sliding towards irrelevance the more this continues so I am optimistic that it will happen but I don't know if it's going to happen within a 3 year time frame or a 5 year time frame I would think so but my chief worry is that the pain by the P5 is so much that it would have to be a much greater crisis for them to truly embrace rapid change I really hope that they are responsible enough to not need that to happen Well let's talk about one of the crises that you are at the Security Council that is Ukraine we've seen that there have been about 3 votes taken in the UN General Assembly there were a couple, there were two there was one in October in all of those votes the clear indications that Africa is very split I think it was like 40, 40 and then there were some abstentions and people who didn't vote at all and so you see that Africa is clearly split on this question then you see countries like the US and France encouraging trying to get African countries to be standing in solidarity with Ukraine you see the Ukrainian foreign minister going to Africa for the first time ever the Ukrainian president reaching out to the African Union clearly they are the strong push to get Africa to support Ukraine in the General Assembly and the UN Security Council but that's one side of the coin the other side is that many African states have long term historical relationships with Russia and most recently security and economic relationships and for those countries I think they take the approach of our vote is based on the fact that we have is in our national interest to not necessarily with Russia so the question I'd like to ask is for the countries in Africa who feel this is a new cold war why should we get joined into this what do you say, what is your response you spoke eloquently in February but watching the continuing development where do you see this issue going for Africa well Kenya's statement in February and subsequent statements have been statements that reflect our adherence to the UN Charter to the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity we were not taking that position to side against anyone or with we were taking that position to side with multilateralism and with our principles and with the UN Charter and of course we felt deeply for the people in a country of Ukraine where the breach of the Charter has led to a devastating war and their great suffering and the solution needs to be in accord with the UN Charter having said that we're also very clear as Kenya that the war needs to end at some point there's going to be a negotiating table whether now or later whether immediately or after many more die and much more destruction is created there is going to be that negotiating table and the question is what is going to be discussed of that negotiating table the war in Ukraine will be addressed the broader ramifications and causes of that war will have to be addressed and the European security order will be set and stabilized with a series of guarantees and agreements this is very clear the continuation of the war is endangering us in terms of its escalation including the use of weapons of mass destruction continuing economic turmoil that is affecting the whole world and most importantly the continuing gross suffering of Ukrainian people so I think the African countries and I don't want to speak for Africa on this one because I think each African state has assessed the situation from its own perspective and everybody I know every diplomat I know when they explain what they're doing they start by asking what do our people need right now you see once a political leader you know their answer now you can only try and massage their answer because they've put where they stand there are those like Kenya that have made a position for the UN Charter there are those who have abstained and there are those who have opposed the condemnation of the invasion and all of those are informed by their interests but the one common interest is in the end of this war there is no military solution there really isn't and I think that is slowly going to be understood more and the African position on that needs to be clarified in terms of the pressures by different major powers on African voting I have to say that I am pleased by that African countries have been given their space to make up their mind not that long ago there was a policy that if you vote against if you're in New York and you vote against a very powerful country that you will pay it was expressed openly and was expressed actually as a policy that didn't work well and I think the present approach of yes we know that the United States would rather every African country strongly condemn the Russian Federation but I think to go back to where you started what President Biden has said what Secretary Blinken has been talking about means that they are listening and I think understanding when African countries abstain it's not against Ukraine it's really an attempt to serve your own people in one way or another this war for instance is leading to blockages in fertilizer supplies there are no sanctions against fertilizers but different countries because of their relationship to Russia are choosing to use transport routes transit routes to apply sort of pressures in official and unofficial ways non tariff barriers those ones that are there but they're not there officially we need those to move because for us fertilizer is not because we want to fund the war we want to to put any more pressure on Ukraine it is because if we do not plant with fertilizer in quarter one and quarter two next year we're going to have starvation in several countries we cannot afford that so there are real issues on the ground that need to solve it and I think there are people in Washington trying to solve those but they need to drill down deeper and get those bottlenecks to food fertilizer out of the way you're making a very clear and compelling case for why this war has to end food security on fertilizer the other issue that people see that the war is doing is taking attention away from African crises on the continent is the council paying enough attention to African security threats at the moment are they as they say sufficiently seized of the matter to look at what's happening in Africa Africa has quite a lot of security challenges that have been long standing that haven't gone away before the Ukraine war and will be there most likely after the Ukraine war I'm not completely opposed to some degree of lower attention towards us because intense attention towards Africa has often reduced African policy space and in some way pushed in the opposite direction to African agency it's our continent these are our countries we have to solve these problems primarily the security council yes has been deeply affected by the war in Ukraine and that has become the primary driver of the dynamics in the security council I think this offers the African union peace and security council regional organizations whether it's ECOAS, whether it's the African community an opportunity to show our responsibility and our competence there's a lot but if you look at the African union mediated process in Ethiopia that was an African solution to an African challenge with the support of others but it took a while but Africa yesterday or the day before was able to deliver a cessation of hostilities which gives us an opportunity to build on that opportunity to come back and stabilize itself and stop the carnage if you look at the East African community's initiatives initiative for stabilizing Eastern Congo along with the Angola process and you look at ECOAS's positions on unconstitutional changes of government I think Africa is standing up and being counted when it comes to aging on very complexe and difficult issues where the security council I think should pay more attention is on how Africa on how to combat and minimize the threat of al-Qaeda groups in the Sahel in the Horn of Africa in Southern Africa that is a matter of high priority not just in terms of the military aspect of it but the economic and political package that needs to accompany that And I would note that this month Ghana has the presidency and I understand that Ghana is actually put on the agenda that very topic of looking at violent extremist groups and looking at peace and security broadly in Africa so it will get its attention this month at least so I'm glad to hear that that's going to be happening Can I turn in the last few minutes that I have because I'm eager to give you over to this audience Africa summit that's coming up in December it's been announced by the Biden administration there's great expectation, there are high hopes the strategy is out now we've talked about the strategy tell me what do you think would be one of the most meaningful outcomes of the summit how can the administration deliver on the promises of the strategy what do you see about that around that whole constellation this is Africa's moment right now in Washington Well many African countries are going trying to navigate very very challenging times there's squeezed fiscal space the flow of investments globally in emerging markets, not just in Africa is reversing itself and investors are looking for safety because of the volatility of the global environment the raising of US interest rates the raising of interest rates in the major economies all means that there's more money leaving emerging markets heading back to developed markets the extreme weather patterns whether it's the Horn of Africa suffering its greatest drought in 40 years to biblical floods all over the world means that it is increasingly difficult to drive development now you're trying to ensure survival recovery, rebuilding not even development, growth so in a country like Kenya we have to simultaneously deliver on food security while we're delivering on getting Google to set up offices in the same country we have to do two things at the same time or actually several things so I think the meeting in December whatever its normative conversation I'm sure we will talk about democracy I'm sure we will talk about human rights and rule of law these are critical but I think for it to truly emerge as a significant success the leaders need to go back home with something that they can say our conversation with the United States is going to lead to us being able to do more to deal with the emergencies and the need for opportunity I'm not sure where the debate is amongst the African group in Washington but I would imagine that they are pushing for tangible agreements tangible in the lives of people and I think the Biden administration is in a great position I think to show leadership delivering in that we've got some representatives of the administration here I think they're taking notes the last question I have for you sir it's about the climate change conference that's going on right now in Egypt it started this week COP 27 the Africa climate change summit we know that one of the big issues for Africa has been the need for financing from rich countries major polluters to address loss and damage to poor countries that's been a demand the discussion point and I just don't know really where it's going how do you see that conversation do you think that's something that's going to come out of this conference are you hopeful about that where do you see that oh man, this one is a difficult one I have to say Glasgow last year was quite disappointing to say the least we heard a lot about the need to transition to renewables there was pressure put by the richest countries to slow or stop new investments in fossil fuel developments in Africa and in developing countries and now all that has changed the richest countries are busy expanding fossil fuel use because of their energy crisis so it's one more illustration of the strange too late double standard multilateralism we live with the truth is that Africa is energy poor and the truth is that energy is not just a component of development energy is the driver of human flourishing and if you do not have energy security if you do not have sufficient affordable energy you cannot but live in grinding poverty it's that simple and Africa will need energy will need it to overcome poverty to give real food security and to transition to a green economy and so in Egypt I think the African position is going to be strong and insistent on energy justice and I have to say that because we are talking about the Biden administration strategy that phrase energy justice in that strategy is very welcome now let's act on it how do we have to understand that Africans will have to exploit fossil fuel to a certain extent where Kenya is concerned we have pledged to move our electricity supply to 100% renewable by 2030 the total energy will need going forward we will need very heavy investments to sustain that if we are going to industrialize right so I think the ball is in the court of the most developed countries we have to decide whether to meet their Paris obligations that they themselves signed up to they are going to need on a unilateral level to decide what they are going to do with technology transfer to enable investment not just aid but investment in our transition and Kenya is waiting Kenya is right now renewables use of renewables one of the highest in the world I think it's over 90% and we are being able to provide over 80% of our citizens with electricity and we are doing that with renewables so we are ready to take off and drive this process but we need the United States to partner with us and to show tangibly that our commitment to getting there by 2030 will be met by investment and technology transfer Ambassador Kimani, thank you so much for that those were the easy questions now I'm going to turn you over to the audience that have a few more questions for you if you would please acknowledge who you are when you ask your question and try to make them rather brief we have about 15 minutes we'd like to get some questions from the floor I can't believe you've answered all the questions we have a mic here we have ambassador thank you very much good morning ambassador my name is Kappambu I'm the ambassador of Zambia here and I just wanted to pick up on one point which you've made about the need to listen and hoping that in the strategy of the United States being able to listen is one of the most important things that they can do and it reminds me of what we say in my country especially when you talk about security council reform in my country there is a saying that wisdom moves from an uphill into the mountain the presence of Africa in the security council in the permanent category will infuse some of this wisdom for example when we talk about conflict resolution you have just cited the Ethiopian case there are many others that happen and the security council doesn't even know about it because we settle a lot more conflicts on the continent outside the view of the United Nations security council so it is important for us to have a place there one of the ideas that the United Nations security council and the UN in general has not picked up on but which was initiated by Africa in 2000 is the issue of un constitutional changes of government which is now in the constitutive act the idea of Africa was that that principle be made a global principle that it be incorporated by the United Nations and if it had many of the conflicts many of the cool details that we are talking about around the world would not be permitted by the United Nations and that would act as a sufficient deterrent when in 2000 this principle was incorporated by the African Union we saw a big drop in fact to zero un constitutional changes of government in Africa but when the United Nations resisted up to now the big powers have not come out in support of that principle which means in the meantime people realized that yes you can be ostracized in the African Union but you will still be embraced by the United Nations and so they saw no appetite and now we are seeing an increase in un constitutional changes of governments in Africa itself because they know they can do it and even if the African Union ostracizes them for one year they will still be at the United Nations and the major resistors of incorporating that principle are the members of the P5 I do hope that the United States can come out strongly in support of incorporating that principle within the United Nations because once that is done it will be a sufficient deterrent to un constitutional changes of government across not only Africa but across the world thank you thank you ambassador Kappambwe and you are the namesake of my colleague Lazarus et congratulations on Sambia's election and it's very dynamic government and it speaks for all of us in the pursuit of development and investment on wisdom moves from an anthill into a mountain this say makes me to the four of my mind that Africa's practices of mediation and peace building are actually forms of very powerful cultural technology and since we are in the building for peace I think there is so much to be researched on practices of peace in Africa because I think they are unique the role of peers the power of ostracism in many of our cultures being banished is possibly the worst thing it's a form of social death and cultural death so when the African union says you cannot sit with us it is a far more painful thing than many people realize we are sitting here you have to stay outside and even if you can come to New York you still will feel it but you are right ambassador Kappambwe the constitutive act's ambition is not just within Africa but I think that has been forgotten more than it should for Kenya in the security council we condemned the coup d'etat the un constitutional change of government in Myanmar on the basis of our constitutive act our reasoning was if this is a standard we hold for ourselves well then we hold it for you too we can help it if I am at the center of my own universe then the way I live I want to see not to impose but it sets my expectations I do think that un constitutional change of government can be threats to international peace and security what is happening now is potentially risky one is that Africa creates a strong position against un constitutional change of government then that is brought to the security council and the security council is asked to condemn the un constitutional change of government now the a3 need to navigate this very carefully because you do not want the security council to have different principles for Africans and for non Africans we cannot be party to our own creation of double standards so a3 and Africa needs to either push for this to be a norm of the united nations for everybody or our actions stop in the African Union it's very there's a difference because what the security council would do is willingly create an instrument for Africa and not for others and then in the politics of the security council that instrument will not always be used in the defense of African constitutionalism so we have in the security council Africans do two things which is to advance our interest and to defend our independence now that is not a sufficient answer it's only a holding position the true answer we need to work for is to make un constitutional changes of government be something that the united nations rejects it happens it's condemned and action is taken and we have now learnt that it can happen anywhere there are no constitutional institutions or processes that cannot be undermined or destroyed by political actors with the power and the will to do so can we try to get another question before our time is out sir thank you so much my name is Francis Boglan from the Ghana Embassy I have something to talk about which relates to food insecurity on the continent Ambassador Kimani can you share with us your ideas on suggestions as to how Africa can address this issue in a sustainable manner if you consider the fact that the continent is a continent that should be feeding itself and yet we still have issues of food insecurity this is a very major issue and what are we doing as a continent to be self sustaining when it comes to food thank you so much thank you Francis I am not an expert on agricultural issues and your question is very focused let me perhaps expand it just slightly and that is the relationship between the security council and the food insecurity what is happening is that the security council is spending more and more of its time debating and engaging on humanitarian issues and that's partly a reflection of the fact that it's having a much harder time moving on the political issues it's much harder to reach political settlements than it is to navigate humanitarian access and in terms of food security especially in situations of conflict and so this is an opportunity I think one is that there seems to be a humanitarian exception within conflict areas determined conflict parties who are fighting each other appear to only be able at this point to appreciate humanitarian engagement as the most legitimate as the only thing they are willing to accept from the outside world that is what delivered the Black Sea Green Initiative the two times when the United Nations has succeeded in the Ukraine conflict in bringing the two sides together was the evacuation of civilians from Maripole for humanitarian reasons and the Black Sea Green Initiative and that was because both Ukraine and the Russian Federation were willing to say that the movement of grain and fertilizer from Ukraine and from Russia was a global good in terms of humanitarian outcomes what can we do further with this I think we need to link humanitarian initiatives with peace building better the humanitarians open an opportunity peace builders and mediators need to work with that opportunity better I also believe that development agencies and humanitarian agencies need to work more closely together because we're in situations of prolonged humanitarian crisis so the food insecurity in Africa is not going to be solved tomorrow so we're going to need to have better linkages Francis, at the end we're going to need to raise our productivity Africa has the largest amount of arable land that is not presently under agriculture we have a population in the rural areas we have people who need food all the elements are there you can create offtake agreements for wheat imports and invest technologically in wheat growing areas in Africa farmers in Africa grow wheat from southern Africa wheat growing it's wheat growing potential can feed the world so this coming summit can we create a linkage that brings together the wheat importers in Africa with the wheat producers scale wheat production to get that offtake agreement in Africa the rice that West Africans are growing Nigerians Kenyans are here importing rice can we do the same can we do bulk purchases of fertilizer together can we build fertilizer production plants like Dangote has done but several of them across Africa so that Africa is getting cheap fertilizer and green fertilizer for itself so Francis to answer your question the answer to your question is the answer to bring development and jobs to Africa and we have to see it and you didn't ask it this way I don't want to put words in your mouth it's not just a question of get the food aid to the people but rather to answer it by making smart for African markets now if that's the kind of thing that can emerge in December or closely following on December then it will have the most tangible impact on African people's lives and I have to take advantage of a question to remember that the single most impactful American policy that I can remember was PEPFAR that once all the geopolitiques are done and said what really moves the ball is touching as many African lives as you can through policy and I think that's in the area of food security is the area today that is most most important and a lot of and that will also speak to the geopolitical situation and some of the weaponization of food and fertilizer that has happened Ambassador Kimani this is not a conversation for just one day Africa on the global stage is an ongoing conversation we've left a few things on the table for follow up but we just want to say today to thank you very much for coming down to be with us it's been an honor, you have been very poignant very strategic, very impressive very inspiring in your comments you've given us a lot to think about even here at the Africa center so we just want to say thank you very much we hope we can have a follow up conversation coming out today to be with us at the US Institute of Peace Africa center it's been a great conversation I couldn't have asked for a better interlocutor this morning to start our conversation on Africa and the global stage so please Ambassador we say come back and see us and let's give them a thank you