Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called on African leaders to undertake an honest introspection into the real causes of conflict on the continent.
He made the call on Friday, August 29, 2026, when he addressed the African Union Executive Council’s 26th Extraordinary Session on Conflict Resolution and Prevention in Angola.
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Mr. Ablakwa called for an immediate end to what he described as the normalisation of conflict, terrorism, violent extremism and humanitarian crises in Africa, stressing the urgency of creating a new and transformed continent.
“We need to take a new path,” he stated, warning that Africa could not continue on a trajectory where conflict and extremism had become normalised.
The Foreign Minister urged African leaders to focus on the real drivers of conflict, including injustice, lack of opportunities for young people, underdevelopment, corruption, resource exploitation, intolerance, insincerity and the use of African countries as pawns for proxy forces.
He reminded his fellow African Foreign Ministers of recent images showing more than 72,000 young Africans attempting to breach fences to enter Ceuta, Spain, saying the situation should bring home the urgency of silencing the guns across the continent.
Mr. Ablakwa said African leaders must recognise the need to redirect resources from funding conflicts towards creating jobs and opportunities for young people.
According to him, addressing the underlying causes of conflict and investing in development would be critical to building a peaceful and transformed Africa.
