President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana used the closing remarks of his Accra Reset side event in Addis Ababa to synthesise wide-ranging proposals for African economic sovereignty, from conflict-free mineral certification to pan-African payment systems, and called for the urgent implementation of frameworks that have languished in discussion for too long.
The high-level gathering, titled “Accra Reset’s Addis Reckoning,” brought together government officials, private sector leaders, international partners and civil society representatives on the sidelines of the 39th African Union Assembly of Heads of State to chart an action-oriented path toward African prosperity.
“DRC is at the epicentre of the resource curse, and so when we talk about the Accra Reset and natural resource sovereignty, then DRC is right at the core of what we’re talking about,” President Mahama stated.
He highlighted the call by DR Congo’s Minister for Foreign Trade, Julien Paluku Kahongya, for certification mechanisms to distinguish between minerals extracted for the benefit of the Congolese people and those that fuel ongoing conflicts.
