Charumbira calls for reboot of Afro-Arab relations. 

George Maponga in Masvingo

Pan African Parliament (PAP) president Chief Fortune Charumbira has called for the rebooting of relations between Africa and the Arab world to solve common problems between peoples in the two regions with the issue of engendering food security top on the priority list.

Chief Charumbira, in a historic address to the Arab Parliament in the Egyptian capital Cairo, exhorted regional parliaments, economic communities and continental bodies from the Arab world and Africa to closely work together rekindling a relationship that dates back to time immemorial and mutually benefited peoples of the two regions.

He underscored the need for the Arab world to invest in food security in Africa, a continent with vast yet underutilised arable land and water bodies, saying the Russia-Ukraine conflict and food security after shocks it caused had brought to the fore for Africa and the Arab world to closely work together to ensure food self sufficiency.

“The issue of food security has become even more pronounced and imperative for the Arab and African States in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict given the huge dependence of Africa and the Arab world on wheat and fertiliser imports from Russia and Ukraine,” he said.

“Egypt usually receives a combined 85% of its wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine while a large number of African countries face the bleak prospect of reduced yields without fertiliser from Russia and Belarus due to sanctions imposed by USA and the EU. While sanctions have become the go-to political tool, the looming threat of hunger in Africa and the Arab world demonstrates that sanctions only hurt the ordinary person and result in untold suffering.”

PAP is already taking the initiative to stymie hunger across the African continent by ramping up pressure on African governments to allocate more budgetary resources towards ensuring food security and investing in climate-proof agriculture in the wake of the ravages of climate change that is spawning recurrent droughts.

A model law on food security is already in the offing showing PAP’s determination to jettison the ghost of hunger from a continent so rich in agricultural potential yet faring so badly with its people still relying on food imports from other regions of the world.

According to Chief Charumbira, PAP and the Arab Parliament are supposed to play a key role in rebooting relations between Africa and the Arab world while diluting the divisive influence from some external players.

He singled out the apathetic response of the international community in rendering humanitarian assistance in Syria in the wake of a devastating earthquake as evidence of the need for Africa and the Arab world to closely collaborate for the benefit of citizens of the two regions.

The fact that almost half of the Arab population was domiciled in Africa, said Chief Charumbira accentuated the need for Africa and the Arab world to work even more closely together to ensure mutually beneficial socioeconomic transformation.

The PAP president prefaced his address by leading a minute of silence in remembrance of more than 33 000 who lost their lives after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria recently with relied efforts currently in full swing.