On Thursday 29 June Socires within the FoodFIRST programme a dialogue session with the theme Africa beyond its post-traumatic stress: Na new Dutch and European link "with the growing self-confidence of Africans".

Against the background of a new Dutch Africa Strategy 2023-2032 have Socires and foodFIRST invited to a dialogue session:

Koert Lindijer NRC and NIS correspondent in Africa

Dorette Corbey Member of the International Affairs Advisory Council (AIV), co-author of AIV Briefing opinion 36: Urgency of a new Africa strategy, and former MEP.

The meeting will take place from 15:30-17:00, followed by a drink, at the Socires/foodFIRST offices, Grote Marktstraat 45The Hague. Login can be done via foodfirst@socires.nl. The session will take place in Dutch.

In his recent book A skyscraper on the savannah notes Koert Lindijer: "A new Africa has risen during my forty years of correspondentship. The continent is leaving behind its post-traumatic stress, such as the trauma suffered by the transatlantic slave trade, the arbitrary division of the continent by European powers, the colonial domination, the poor political and economic governance after the independence and hard economic medicine imposed by the IMF in the 1980s. With falling and getting up, it escapes Western dominance and self-conscious and autonomous makes the claim to a place on the world stage."

The AIV letter opinion, co-written by Dorette Corbey, Urgency of a new Dutch Africa strategy Add to this "that Western ideals are far from echoing everywhere in Africa, that the West has lost a lot of sympathy in Africa and that this is certainly a loss for Europe itself. Recognise that Europe has not played a positive role in Africa, not only through colonialism, but also through EU agricultural policy and trade protection, for example." The AIV consequently considers it critical that every new policy strategy should be linked to African needs. Only in this way can European and African countries jointly formulate common interests that enable them to cope with the shocks of an increasingly grim reality. "The Netherlands can use bilateral activities, provided the African interests are (partly) the starting point."

And the AIV concludes: "All this calls for a careful (re) consideration of geographical and sectoral activity focus and a careful choice of state and non-state, national and international partners, both on our and African sides."

For the short term, the AIV makes a very concrete recommendation: "It is urgently desirable to not only set out a strategy, but also to demonstrate in the short term that we are ready to take immediate joint action on one of the most acute problems: the food situation. European and African countries will need to take rapid steps to cope with the food crisis, in the short term by providing emergency aid and optimising food supply, in the medium term on the basis of complementary and shared interests. The Netherlands and Europe will need to pay more attention to the situation of food producers in Africa and at least to change policies that are detrimental to Africa."

At the Vijverberg session on 29 June, we would like to raise the question of whether and to what extent the new Africa Strategy 2023-2032 of the Cabinet is in line with these analyses and wants to implement them. This, also in view of the debate in the TK Committee on Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation on 4 July with Ministers Schreinemacher and Hoekstra.

The note does mention 56 times the word "equivalence" but how does it implement that? What about the (geo) political economy of this relationship? Isn't postulating equivalence from what Lindijer calls "totally unequal economic situations" an illusion? In the new relationship with Africa, the Cabinet focuses on 25 short, medium and long-term action points and 59 short-term action points (see Annex 1 to Africa Strategy 2023-2032). Can you still talk about strategic choices here?

Note on geopolitics

Over the past period, attention has been paid to global geopolitical changes in relation to Africa and food supply in various Vijverberg sessions. Below some of the insights gained, as far as relevant to today's theme.

The relationship between Europe and Africa has changed fundamentally. Of ugly duckling, Africa has become the star of the ball. All powers, with gifts and pledges under the arm, run their doors flat, seeking access to raw materials (i.e. gold and rare earth materials), for access to markets, to vote and support in international fora and conflicts, commitment and alliances in geopolitical and geostrategic military positions. The world is being reorganised.

1. The sudden switch from world as a global market to the world as a geopolitical arena and the associated geopoliticisation of goods and assets (e. g. weaponization (b) The Commission's proposal for a directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the permissible sound power level of motor vehicles and their trailers and their trailers and their trailers
2. In many African countries, food plays the leading role. In the previous world, their dependence on foreign food has grown unbridled. Restoring national food production and achieving some degree of self-sufficiency (food sovereignty) are therefore high on the agenda.
3. After previously in particular China, India and Russia have been popping the continent (China with Belt and Road investments and cheap loans, Russia with weapons, Wagner, free grain and fertilizer) the EU and the US have now also been looking for a friendly welcome. The EU does so with a comprehensive investment programme, Global gateway, comprising 70 major infrastructure projects. But that is far from self-evident, due to the active memory of the colonial past (EU countries) and the open wounds of American action in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq.
4. Europe has now become Africa's "demandeur" in the field of migration. Europe is asking African countries to help to combat economic migration flows, and African leaders and political elite are receiving generous rewards.

This new reality requires a new policy discourse. The framework overall frame, is no longer that of the old International Cooperation, let alone that of OS. The old binding post-colonial frameworks, such as the EU-ACP Convention, have become sluts. Although the AU is based on EU institutional structure, there is little cooperation: At the last inter-ministerial session, almost the whole of the European Commission came but hardly any more heads of state came from Africa. Until recently, what sounded very progressive, like the narrative about "an equal partnership," now sounds dated and stark. That does not mean that the new equation On the contrary, these resources will become part of a much wider programme. This broader programme will be the result of an exchange of interests between the two parties and, hopefully, of the signing of new agreements. Joint The Commission is also aware of the importance of this issue.