The Crisis of African Agency and the Rising Role of External Actors in African Conflict Mediation

African international relations posits that Africa‘s peripheral status necessitates a more proactive approach to global issues, a concept known as African agency, summarised under the slogan “African solutions to African problems”. However, operational and institutional weaknesses, funding constraints, and limited enforcement capacity have created a gap that has been filled by external actors – e.g. Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.

The crisis of multilateralism, marked by a decline in global cooperation and shifting power dynamics, has led middle powers to fill the vacuum left by the retreat of Western engagement. Nicodemus Minde emphasizes that to reclaim African agency, it is important to strengthen the African Union and Regional Economic Communities and enhance coordination mechanisms to avoid duplication of peace efforts. Africa must reassert control of its peace agenda by engaging external partners on equal terms.