African heads of state at the just concluded extraordinary summits in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea agreed that insecurity and coup are a part cause of humanitarian challenges in the continent.

The summit which ended on Saturday, with leaders pointing out at terrorism, bad governance, and coups d’état could have connections with the humanitarian challenges bedeviling the continent.

One of the leaders, João Lourenço, President of Angola, said “the current conflict in Europe teaches us that security issues are always at the center of international cooperation, in the first place, each continent must have its own common defense strategy. This conflict also confirms the deep inequalities in the treatment of countries and peoples in the face of wars, pandemics, and natural disasters,”

President Lourenço’s position agrees with that of the AU commission president Moussa Faki Mahamat’s calls for reorganization and regrouping of the African military. He also called upon the inclusion of African countries as permanent members of the United Nation security council.

“This unjust and shameful situation once again raises the need for a reformulation of the United Nations Security Council that does not only circumscribe the victorious great powers of the Second World War, but that considers the entry of representatives of countries from Africa and Latin America, the Indian subcontinent of the Middle East as permanent members with full powers,” Lourenço, President of Angola.

West Africa has been rocked by two coups in Mali, one in Guinea and one in Burkina Faso since August 2020. Representatives from the three countries were excluded from the summit.

Beyond the recent wave of coups in Africa, countries like Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea amongst others are facing lingering insurgency-related challenges for about a decade now while others like Ethiopia and Sudan are challenged with serious political instability and separatist threats.