Africa at the UN: Voice or Leverage?

Oge Onubogo (0:00)

This week, the world's attention turns to New York, where leaders, diplomats, business executives, and civil society voices are gathering for the United Nations General Assembly. As always, there will be big speeches, high-level meetings, and plenty of ambitious announcements. But beyond the headlines, there is a bigger conversation taking place about the future of global governance and Africa's role in shaping it. At a moment of growing geopolitical competition, persistent conflict, economic uncertainty, and rapid technological change, many of the questions facing the international system are also questions about Africa's future. How much influence does the continent really have in shaping global decisions? Are calls for reform finally gaining real traction? And as this year's UNGA unfolds, what should we actually be watching?

Welcome to Into Africa, a podcast where we explore Africa's geopolitical landscape, its evolving global role, and the challenges and opportunities shaping the continent's future. I'm your host, Oge Onubogo, Senior Fellow and Director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

To help us unpack these questions, I'm joined by Bitania Tadesse, Policy Specialist for Africa at the International Peace Institute and a close observer of the UN and of African Multilateral Affairs. Bitania, welcome to Into Africa.

Bitania Tadesse (1:42)

Thank you very much, Oge. Thank you very much for having me.

Oge Onubogo (1:45)

Oh, it's our pleasure. I am here in your town this week for UNGA.

Every year, leaders arrive in New York, declaring that the world is at a turning point. So from an African perspective and from where you sit, what feels genuinely different about this UNGA?

Bitania Tadesse (2:03)

Well, this UNGA, I think, is taking place against the background of quite a turbulent year because of what's happening in the world, but also what's happening within the United Nations. In addition to existing conflicts, this year we've witnessed a new war, the war in Iran, and that had immense effects on African states that have been severely affected by the economic fallout. The effects were on trade, energy, food security, which has been particularly significant.

On the other hand, beyond of what's happening in the world, what's taking place within the UN as well is quite concerning. The UN at the moment is not only sidelined for mediating conflicts, including this one, but it also this year has been a year where the UN is undergoing through significant changes due to funding cuts affecting the different parts of the system. And this has of course affected various frameworks, various tools across the continents, peacekeeping operations, which there are a number of peacekeeping operations within the African continent.

And on top of this, I think, beyond the changes that we are seeing in the world within the UN, I think this is also an important time for the UN. Because of the leadership transition discussions, which we can also touch in much more detail later, but the ongoing process of the selection of the next SG, I think that's also one of the contributing factors in making this UNGA quite important for the continent and beyond.

Oge Onubogo (3:47)

Yeah. So, you know, with both of us here in New York, watching all these different meetings and side events unfold, people who are situated in other African capitals, be it in Kinshasa, in Lagos, in Accra, in Addis, what should people watching UNGA this week be paying attention to beyond the elaborate speeches and official statements that might come out this week?

Bitania Tadesse (4:12)

I mean, of course, the statements and the speeches are quite, they receive a lot of attention. Different statements from different heads of states and governments receive a lot of attention.

But I think quite a number of conversations taking place at the margins of the UNGA, the bilateral engagements that this platform also offers for many member states, for many actors to have a certain level of access to various leaders, to various stakeholders within the multilateral system. Those conversations that are happening at the margins of the formal opening and the statements and the speeches are quite important. The number of side events that are organized by member states, by civil society organizations, the kind of informal discussions that takes place in the corridors, but also outside the UN, I think those will also be quite important to follow. And that's also, I mean, the advantage of having that the UNGA, besides the formal statements and official statements and speeches.

Oge Onubogo (5:15)

So I think if we drill down on this little further, you know, the African continent has won many of the arguments about reforming the international system. Yet the system itself seems slow to change. So is Africa's challenge today a lack of voice or a lack of of leverage? So I think for me, in other words, what are some of the biggest obstacles that you see preventing African countries from translating influence into outcomes?