On the floor of the United Nations General Assembly’s 80th session, one truth has rung louder than the echo of any applause: Africa is no longer at the periphery of the world’s debates — it is the debate. Nearly 70 percent of the Security Council’s deliberations touch African conflicts, yet the continent still sits without a permanent seat at the table. As Secretary-General António Guterres put it at the Unstoppable Africa 2025 forum, “Africa’s rise is undeniable, inevitable, and unstoppable.”
For the continent, this Assembly is not a ceremony — it is a crucible. The global energy transition, mineral sovereignty, climate justice, and the demand for institutional reform are converging into a defining moment for Africa. And unlike previous decades, this time the continent’s leaders are not pleading for recognition; they are demanding it.
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The trilateral communiqué issued during UNGA 80 has placed Africa’s conflicts squarely at the centre of global attention. Sudan, now three years into war, faces displacement and hunger that call for an urgent ceasefire and inclusive dialogue. The Sahel remains wracked by extremist violence and governance collapse, while Libya’s frozen political process threatens wider Mediterranean security. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, instability continues to spill across the Great Lakes, and Somalia’s fragile progress risks unraveling without stable financing for AU-led peace operations.
Yet herein lies the contradiction: Africa dominates the Security Council’s workload but lacks both predictable funding and permanent representation. The African Union’s Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government has insisted that reform is “not aspirational but urgent.” With 30 percent of UN membership, the world’s fastest-growing population, and a resource base critical for the energy transition, Africa’s absence from permanent Security Council membership is no longer tenable.
Minerals, Sovereignty, and the Next Industrial Frontier
If peace and security define Africa’s global relevance today, minerals will shape its leverage tomorrow. The continent holds more than half of the world’s cobalt, manganese, and platinum, alongside growing lithium and graphite reserves. These are the metals powering electric vehicles, renewable energy storage, and the digital economy.
Yet less than 2 percent of Africa’s transition minerals are processed locally. The pattern is painfully familiar: raw extraction in Africa, refining abroad, and costly re-imports. This colonial-era cycle is draining billions in lost revenue and millions of jobs.
That is why the African Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS), adopted in 2024, is being hailed as a turning point. Export bans, beneficiation policies, and regional collaboration are emerging as tools of sovereignty. Zimbabwe’s ban on raw lithium exports lifted revenues nearly tenfold in a single year, from $70 million in 2022 to $600 million in 2023. Gabon has pledged to end raw manganese exports by 2029, and Kenya is curbing unrefined gold exports.
President Bola Tinubu, represented at UNGA by Vice President Kashim Shettima, captured the urgency:
“We must take the bull by the horns in financing our future. Never again shall we wait for capital to trickle in. With sovereign funds, blended vehicles, and innovation tools like the Africa Mineral Token, Africa shall finance Africa. To safeguard this sovereignty, we must guard our cobalt, lithium, graphite, gold, and rare earths not as fragmented states but as one continental bloc, wielding collective power in global supply chains.”
This is more than rhetoric. Tinubu laid out four imperatives: climb the value chain by ending raw exports; own Africa’s geological data through frameworks like AMREC and PARC; accelerate government-led exploration; and finance the mineral future with sovereign instruments.
Global Scramble, African Leverage
The urgency of this push is not lost on Africa’s external partners. The United States is securing supply chains with reciprocal tariffs, the EU has launched its Critical Raw Materials Act, and China continues to dominate processing capacity through infrastructure-for-minerals agreements. As Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Assistant Secretary-General, warned, “There is a scramble and a lot of interest in Africa’s minerals. People are coming to partner. Africa can shape the quantum of that partnership and determine what works.”
But without collective bargaining, Africa risks repeating the mistakes of the past — exporting raw resources only to import finished goods at punishing premiums. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and regional blocs must therefore function not just as trade facilitators but as leverage points against unequal global arrangements.
The Sovereignty Question
Mineral sovereignty is inseparable from Africa’s other vulnerabilities. The continent with 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land still imports more than $40 billion in food annually. Financing for climate-resilient agriculture is now as central to sovereignty as cobalt or lithium.
Here, too, international financial reform becomes critical. Africa’s debt servicing burdens are crowding out development investments. Without restructuring and fairer access to finance, Agenda 2063 and the UN’s 2030 Agenda risk stalling. As Tinubu emphasised, “Never again shall we wait for capital to trickle in.”
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security. Africa’s record is rich here: Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, and countless grassroots women leaders have demonstrated the transformative impact of women in governance and peacebuilding. Elevating women’s leadership is no longer symbolic — it is a developmental necessity.
From Prominence to Power
UNGA 80 is more than a gathering; it is a reckoning. Africa stands today at the centre of global peace, minerals, demographics, and climate debates. The continent is no longer marginal to the global order — it is indispensable to its future.
As Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, reminded delegates, “With determined focus and a reinvigorated sense of partnership and transparency in the minerals sector, Africa will harness the total benefits of a sustained, harmonised mineral sector. These resources are indispensable for global sustainable development and remain a catalyst for Africa’s rapid industrialisation.”
The task now is to ensure that prominence translates into power. By uniting behind common strategies, owning its resources, and pushing for institutional reforms, Africa has the opportunity not just to influence global governance but to reshape it.
The world may have taken 80 years to reach this point, but Africa’s message at UNGA 80 is unmistakable: the next 80 years will not be written without it.
