How an African leader can make the Commonwealth relevant again

 

How an African leader can make the Commonwealth relevant again

The Commonwealth is to appoint its next secretary-general in October 2024 who will most probably be from an African country given its practice of regional rotation. This will be the first time in more than 20 years that an African has served in the post, the last one being Nigeria’s Emeka Anaoku. 

Much more than its symbolism, Africa’s turn at the helm of the Commonwealth will be an opportunity to bring the continent’s collective agency and its peace and development agenda to bear on the world stage – not least the United Nations and G20. 

It is also a chance to invigorate Commonwealth members and enhance the organization’s standing. But to find relevance in a changing global landscape it will need to do things it has never attempted. There have been few moments of effective collective action by the Commonwealth in the past four decades. Leaders agreed sanctions against South Africa in 1986, galvanizing international action against the apartheid regime but it has had little visibility since. 

The Commonwealth has appeared content to act as a symbol of the Britain’s influence in the world – a facet of Britain’s colonial legacy.

 

Nor is it seen to act in concert as a diplomatic counterweight to world powers on critical issues affecting the Global South, where most of its members live. Instead, it has appeared content to act as a symbol of Britain’s influence in the world – a facet of Britain’s colonial legacy.

Turbulent times

Yet in these new times, the very existence of the Commonwealth is a real opportunity to influence change in the global arena. Twenty-one of its 56 members are in Africa. Some of their priority concerns are global in nature. A proactive African secretary-general can use this as an opportunity to re-energize the organization. 

The new secretary-general will take up office at a turbulent time in global affairs. The multilateral system is under increasing pressure exemplified by the Russia–Ukraine and Israel–Gaza wars. At the same time, Africa’s international relations are on the back foot. Some of the African Union’s historic pledges – on rejecting unconstitutional government and the right to intervene in a member state in circumstances such as genocide or war crimes – now look unredeemable.

Like the United Nations, inconsistencies and failures by Africa’s regional organizations to defend established norms when challenged have severely weakened the capacity to manage major conflicts. 

We are seeing the effect of this failure in the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) where, following military coups, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have sought to leave Ecowas and have announced a new bloc, the Alliance of Sahel States. 

We have also seen how some middle power countries in the Gulf have been asserting influence in conflicts in the Horn at times undermining the African Union, even if in unintended ways. 

A new secretary-general could guide the UN away from templated liberal peacebuilding approaches that have not worked in Sudan and DRC

An African secretary-general will have a real shot at convening key actors and shaping their response to some of the most pressing issues affecting Africa. By doing this the Commonwealth can be repositioned in a global order that is in flux. The organization has not always leveraged its convening potential, but four opportunities now present themselves. 

First, a post-Brexit UK is an important voice for the Commonwealth, particularly on issues of mutual concern to African members. Second, the Commonwealth’s membership or access to other multilateral spaces such as the UN Peacebuilding Commission is an advantage. Third, some members – such as Canada, India, Nigeria and South Africa – can serve as champions on specific issues. Fourth, and significantly, a strong African agenda offers plenty for a new secretary-general to tackle.

Three issues of concern to Africa are worth highlighting. 

First is the continued impact of armed conflict and the instability it brings, as seen recently in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sahel. African regional institutions have met little success in managing these situations, and templated peacebuilding approaches by the UN have proved incapable of addressing such conflicts. 

Chances to reboot multilateralism

But the Commonwealth is a member of the UN Peacebuilding Commission and during its General Assembly this month the UN will try to reboot multilateralism at its Summit of the Future with a view to resetting the global agenda. Given these opportunities, an active Commonwealth secretary-general can energize the organization and do more to help shift the peacebuilding landscape in Africa. 

One way in which the UN can be guided away from templated liberal peacebuilding approaches is by bringing greater meaning to the idea of democratic peace by refocusing the use of diplomacy and elections. 

Peace agreements and elections that reinforce the status of wartime protagonists do more harm than good. Instead, plebiscites that rally the whole of society towards collective priority setting offer a better chance of stability. 

Such referendums are rarely attempted, partly through lack of political imagination and concerns about their expense. Yet, if properly designed, they can be effective conflict-resolution tools. 

Kenya’s 2010 constitutional referendum is one example. It was partly intended to prevent post-election violence. Working with the UN’s Peacebuilding Commission and African Union to convene a cross-section of state and non-governmental actors to alter the focus of peace interventions in Africa can provide fertile ground for active Commonwealth engagement and leadership.

Second is the need to give global visibility to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), while promoting its support base among African regional organizations. AfCFTA, which officially commenced in 2021, is potentially the world’s largest free trade area since the World Trade Organization was established in 1994. 

Championing better climate finance for vulnerable countries, many of them Commonwealth members, is an opportunity.

It is not only touted as the key to Africa’s economic transformation – offering a 

solution to Africa’s export woes, poverty and unemployment – but also seen as offering attractive access to other regions’ goods and services. An African Commonwealth secretary-general can promote AfCFTA’s potential by encouraging multilateral agreements through AfCFTA.

The third area concerns the climate emergency, in which Africa has been increasingly active. Africa’s contribution to global carbon emissions is less than 4 per cent but its people are some of the most vulnerable to climate change. 

Despite this, the continent has attracted little more than 2 per cent of the world’s clean energy investment. COP28 offered a way forward with the initiation of the Loss and Damage Fund to support countries bearing the burden of climate change.

A voice for the Global South

An African Commonwealth secretary-general would do well to align with the African agenda, championing the Loss and Damage Fund and promoting access to finance for the most vulnerable countries, many of them Commonwealth members. This is uncharted territory for the Commonwealth, but it is an opportunity to enhance its visibility and offer leadership across the developing world. 

Combined, these three issues, if actively and simultaneously engaged, have the

potential to address the exclusion of African youth, who are unemployed on a vast scale, affected by violent conflict and climate change and excluded from mainstream socio-economic life. 

By seizing the initiative on these issues, a new secretary-general would provide a genuine opportunity to transform the Commonwealth into an alternative voice and trusted interlocutor on behalf of the Global South – speaking back robustly to established ideas that fail to create positive change. Nothing less than the transformation of the Commonwealth’s engagement on behalf of Africa and the Global South will be required to realize this.