HIBAPRESS
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi El Alami, confirmed today in Rabat that Africa is called upon to transition from crisis management to their resolution and prevention.
During the opening of the third session of the General Assembly of the Conference of Speakers of African Legislative Institutions, El Alami stressed that the continent needs to transform its potential into wealth, and to make up for years of wasted development, considering that achieving this goal requires the availability of collective political will, severing ties with separation mentalities and strategies, preventing interference in the internal affairs of countries, and respecting the rules of sovereignty and territorial unity, which constitute the cornerstone of the international system and relations.
In this context, he noted that "Africa is the continent that today bears the burden of the largest number of conflicts and crises, where a number of countries on the continent are facing blind terrorism that takes on more hideous aspects in the African context," warning that "terrorism becomes more dangerous when it allies with separatism, in order to dismantle countries, undermine their territorial unity, and make instability a sustainable and accepted situation."
The Speaker of the House of Representatives pointed out that the African continent, despite its enormous and diverse potential in the fields of agriculture and energy sources, still faces dilemmas related to ensuring food security, access to electricity, and providing social services such as education, health, and social care, and basic infrastructure of roads, railways, and means of transport, in addition to being the first victim of the repercussions of climatic imbalances such as desertification, deforestation, and devastating floods.
He considered that in the face of all these challenges and manifestations of scarcity, the question is raised about the roots of these dilemmas, and the outlets that national parliaments and elites can formulate to transform these challenges into opportunities for success, stressing that Africa does not lack projects, concepts and initiatives, as much as it needs practical implementation.
In this context, he pointed out that the African Continental Free Trade Area is a continental contractual legal framework that, if activated as required, will launch major dynamics in the economy and services on the continent.
El Alami highlighted that "the noble and promising initiatives launched by King Mohammed VI, such as the Atlantic African Countries series, the Atlantic Initiative, which aims to facilitate access for the Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Atlantic gas pipeline, are sufficient to change the face of Africa and equip it with strategic infrastructure and facilitate its connection with the outside world, and make its countries continue on the path of the common African prosperity hoped for."
He added that the African continent, in a world characterized by fragmentation, a volatile multi-polar international system, and a confused globalization, has an opportunity for ascension and development, provided that it is united and invests the continent's wealth for the benefit of its countries and peoples, and continues to consolidate democracy and the state of institutions, while recalling history, institutional traditions and African culture.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives concluded that parliaments have greater margins for movement and advocacy in this perspective, calling for building during the work of this General Assembly on what was previously adopted from documents in similar meetings, and moving from diagnosis and consensus on ideas to implementing them on the ground from the position and from the jurisdiction of legislative institutions.
The discussions during this session, which is attended by Speakers of Parliaments and parliamentary delegations from various African countries, will address a number of urgent strategic issues of concern to the continent, foremost of which is the position of Africa in the international system, and ways to build strong legislative institutions capable of achieving sustainable development.
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