Ambassador Ahmed Kattan's appointment as Saudi minister of state for African affairs was a sign of his country's growing interest in Africa, also manifested in the role Saudi diplomacy played in brokering the Ethiopian-Eritrean peace and in its involvement in other issues related to the Horn of Africa. Saudi Arabia is not alone in this. The UAE has been politically and economically active in the Horn of Africa. Kuwait has long been a source of investment and humanitarian relief for the continent. For Egypt, Africa has historically been one of its three primary foreign policy spheres alongside the Arab region and Islamic world. This interest waned considerably following the assassination attempt against former president Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa and it was not until President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi came to power that Egypt injected a large dose of fresh vitality into Egyptian-African relations. It is worth noting, in this context, that the maritime boundary agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia has turned the Red Sea, together with the Bab Al-Mandeb to the south and the Suez Canal to the north, into an important bridge for Arab-African relations in general, and strategic and economic relations in particular. Saudi Arabia has incorporated this into its political and diplomatic outlook and plans while Egypt's becoming chair of the African Union this year offers an excellent opportunity to bolster the Arab-African relationship. Historically, this relationship centred around the battle for liberation from colonialism and opposition to the expansion of Israeli influence in Africa. In the second half of the 20th century a major process unfolded in the continent enabling Africa to regain its independence and begin to come into its own. For centuries, colonial powers had plundered this continent's natural resources, abducted its human wealth as slaves, and reshaped its political entities not according to ethnic identities or other social and organic affiliations, but according to lines drawn in agreements struck between European powers. After Egypt, along with most of the Arab world, freed itself from foreign occupation, it strove to recover its African and Arab roots. At the outset of the 1960s, it became a hub for African liberation movements and their leaders who chose Cairo as their meeting place and a platform for their struggle. Egypt worked with them to create the Organisation of African Unity, which would eventually become the African Union. Over the next couple of decades, African nations won their independence and their collective voice was heard in international organisations, along with those of Asia, Latin America and the countries referred to as the “South” in a world that was torn by the Cold War and the divide between socialist and capitalist ideologies. The process of independence turned out to be no less difficult than the fight to win it. Despite a gruelling struggle for development and progress, African nations remained the least fortunate countries in the world due, primarily, to the legacy of colonialism, inexperience and ethnic divides. The last quarter of the 20th century was not kind to Africa, amid ethnic strife, international conspiracies and the proliferation of genocide, as well as epidemics such as AIDS and Ebola. As a consequence, African nations ranked at the bottom of the scales in most global development indexes and it seemed as though the rest of the world was prepared to turn its back on the harsh conditions of the African peoples. However, the turn of the 21st century brought a new beginning for the continent. The countries that were victim of white racist rule brought an end to apartheid and empowered the African majority. Gradually civil warfare receded and an array of political settlements enabled the continent to begin to recover its wellbeing. Increasingly, too, it became possible to drive back the epidemics and forestall the spread of famine. Today, Africa is the convalescence stage after the ordeals of both the distant and recent past. But the 21st century presents its challenges to the continent that has lagged so far behind the rest of the world. It missed the first and second industrial revolutions due to colonialism and then to the burdens of liberation and independence. Today, together with the rest of the world, it is experiencing the third technological revolution and it is about to greet the fourth revolution, which combines infotech and biotech. Africa does not have the luxury not to keep pace with the rest of the world today, if it is to protect its people and their independence. It cannot afford to drag its feet or preoccupy itself with the past at the expense of moving into the future. The second and related challenge involves the pursuit of an economic, social and cultural development commensurate to the 21st century. As we all know, Africa is teeming with resources and during the past two decades it has accumulated a wealth of successful experiences that have elevated many of its countries to the ranks of international competitors. African regional cooperation in energy, water management, tourism, health, education and other fields can bolster the competitive capacities of African nations. Changes in the global order present the third challenge. The world has left the Cold War and bipolar rivalry long behind it and it is no longer governed by a “globalisation” process led by a single country: the US. Today, multiple powers have created and are continuing to create areas for cooperation, consensus and competition, even if countries such as the US, Russia and China carry special weight. These three powers, as well as European powers, Japan and emergent powers in Asia and South America, are competing over this continent. African nations must turn this competition in favour of Africa and humanity as a whole. If Africa is to rise to the challenges of this age, it must contend with the fourth challenge which is to end all the conflicts and eliminate the sources of the disputes that held the continent back during previous decades. Hopefully, the African Union can contribute effectively towards these ends through its dispute resolution mechanisms as well as by promoting the joint development of resources and capacities. The Arab world, inclusive of its countries in North Africa and the Red Sea region in particular, is an essential partner in meeting these challenges in view of its historical and geographic position at the gateway to Asia, via the Sinai, and the gateway to Europe across the Mediterranean. Just as, in the past, the Arabs were an integral part of the African national liberation movement, today they are an integral part of the social and economic reform processes in the continent and they are eager assume their share of the burden as full partners in these processes. But in order for them to do so effectively, the Arab region must be better prepared by learning as much as possible about Africa, studying its major concerns and keeping track of African developments. Although we have a number of educational institutions concerned with Africa, such as the Institute for African Studies in Cairo, there are no Arab research centres focused on Africa. Perhaps this should be the Arabs' next undertaking, whether pursued in the framework of the Arab League, or in other frameworks such as Egyptian-Saudi cooperation, the Arab Quartet (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain), the Red Sea bloc or, perhaps, all these frameworks together, since the tasks at hand are many and urgent. 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The writer is chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.
