COMMANDER ABEBE MULUNEH
On behalf of Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, IGAD Executive Secretary
IGAD Executive Secretary and Chair of the Coordination and Collaboration
Platform of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) of the African Union
3rd Horn of Africa-China Peace Conference Four Points by Sheraton, Kampala, Uganda
29th July 202
- Honourable John Mulimba, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uganda,
- Your Excellency Mr. Bagiire Vincent Waiswa, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
- Your Excellency Mr. Xue Bing, Special Envoy of China for the Horn of Africa Affairs,
- Distinguished colleagues from the African Union Commission,
- Esteemed delegates from across our beloved IGAD region,
- Ladies and Gentlemen,
- All protocols observed.
- Allow me to introduce myself. I am Commander Abebe Muluneh, Director of Peace and Security at IGAD, delivering this statement on behalf of His Excellency, our Executive Secretary, Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, who regrettably cannot be with us in person, but his spirit is very much with us now, and his unwavering commitment to our shared vision permeates every word I shall speak going forward.
- In the darkest hours of human history, when the storm clouds of discord gathered over nations and peoples, it was said that we shall never surrender.
- Today, as we witness the dawn of unprecedented cooperation between the ancient civilizations of Africa and China, I declare to you that we shall never surrender our pursuit of lasting peace, shared prosperity, and dignified development for the peoples of the Horn of Africa.
- We gather here in Kampala, the pearl of Africa, at a moment when history beckons us forward. I gratefully thank the people and government of Uganda for your amazing hospitality that is renown across our region.
- The threads of our regional destiny are being woven not in isolation, but in partnership with friends who understand that the strength of nations lies not in dominion over others, but in the elevation of all humanity.
- China’s Belt and Road Initiative represents more than infrastructure; it embodies the recognition that roads built together lead to futures shared together.
- Yet let us speak plainly about the challenges that test our resolve. The spectre of conflict continues to cast its shadow across parts of our region. Climate change threatens the very foundation of our agricultural societies. Youth unemployment challenges the promise we made to future generations.
- But I say to you today, with the same indomitable spirit that has seen our peoples survive drought, overcome colonialism, and build nations from the ashes of oppression, these challenges shall not define us. They shall refine us.
- The agenda before us speaks to the breadth of our ambition and the depth of our partnership with China. When we discuss connectivity and infrastructure, we are not merely talking about roads and railways. I say to you that we are constructing the arteries through which the lifeblood of regional integration shall flow.
- When we address climate resilience and food security, we are not simply managing resources; indeed, we are securing the inheritance of generations yet unborn. IGAD, as your regional organisation, stands ready to marshal every instrument of diplomacy, every mechanism of cooperation, and every ounce of collective will toward the realisation of these noble objectives. We have witnessed the power of dialogue in bringing parties to the table when guns would have spoken louder.
- We have seen the triumph of patient negotiation over the temptation of hasty action. This is our way, the way of ubuntu, the way of harambee, the way of collective responsibility.
- To our Chinese partners, I extend the gratitude of 270 million people across the Horn of Africa. Your commitment to South-South cooperation, your respect for our sovereignty, and your investment in our shared future demonstrate that true partnership is built not on what one can extract from another, but on what together we can build for all.
- We shall leave this conference not as we came only as individual voices crying in the wilderness, but as a chorus of nations, harmonized in purpose, synchronized in action, and determined in our march toward the sunlit uplands of peace and prosperity.
- The road ahead may be long, the challenges may be formidable, but we have faced worse and prevailed. We have crossed deserts when others saw only sand. We have found water where others saw only drought. We have built hope where others planted despair.
- Let history record that when the call came for leadership, when the moment demanded vision, when the future required courage; the peoples of the Horn of Africa, standing shoulder to shoulder with our friends from the People’s Republic of China also known as the MIDDLE KINGDOM, answered with one resounding voice:
- “We shall not falter, we shall not fail, and we shall not give up until every child in our region sleeps safely, every farmer harvests abundantly, and every mother knows that tomorrow holds more promise than today.”
Our work begins now.
Our future beckons.
I call upon all of us to march toward it together.
