Africa needs a transformation rooted in the Gospel values of care for creation, solidarity with the poor, and the pursuit of peace
ACCRA, Ghana, May 21, 2025/APO Group/ --
As shepherds of the Catholic Church in Africa and in Europe, we, the bishops of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) (www.SECAM.org) and of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), speak today with a voice formed by the lived realities of our people – farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, women and youth – whose lives are shaped by the land, and whose hope depends on justice, peace, and dignity. We welcome the convening of the joint African Union–European Union Foreign Ministers’ Meeting as an opportunity to examine not only shared ambitions but the very nature of our partnership. As SECAM and COMECE have already stated five years ago, “we are firmly convinced that Africa and Europe could become the engines for a reinvigoration of multilateral cooperation by reinforcing their longstanding ties marked by our common roots and geographical proximity […] towards an equitable and responsible partnership that puts the people at its centre”.
We are, however, deeply concerned about certain developments in this partnership over recent years. We have witnessed a profound shift in European priorities – away from solidarity with the most fragile regions and communities, and from development cooperation aimed at eradicating poverty and hunger, towards a more narrowly defined set of geopolitical and economic interests. Notwithstanding the commendable intention behind some projects promoting human development at the grassroots, certain initiatives supported under the EU’s Global Gateway - while presented as mutually beneficial - too often seem to replicate extractive patterns of the past: privileging European corporate and strategic aims over the real needs and aspirations of African people.
Land, water, seeds, and minerals – the very foundations of life – seem to be once again treated as commodities for foreign profit rather than as common goods to be stewarded with care. Africa is being asked to sacrifice its ecosystems and communities to help Europe meet its decarbonisation goals – whether through massive land deals for so-called “green” energy projects, the expansion of carbon offset plantations, or the outsourcing of industrial agriculture’s toxic inputs and waste. This is not partnership. This is not justice.
“The earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor” (Laudato Si’, §2)
The Catholic Church, inspired by late Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, shares the understanding that we must hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. These cries are loud and clear across Africa. Climate change is wreaking havoc on those who depend on the land, even as our continent has contributed least to the crisis. Soil degradation, poisoned water, and the loss of biodiversity are destroying the foundation of rural life. Hunger in Africa is growing, not because we lack food, but because we have allowed systems to dominate that put profit above people and that treat agriculture as an industrial process, not a way of life.
We urge the ministers gathered in Brussels to place the dignity of African peoples at the heart of the AU-EU partnership. This means supporting a transformation of agriculture that breaks free from dependency on imported fertilisers, chemical inputs, and genetically modified seeds. It means protecting and promoting farmer-managed seed systems, which are the repositories of Africa’s agricultural biodiversity and the key to food sovereignty. These systems are not backward or inefficient – they are resilient, rooted in tradition, and adapted to local ecologies. Criminalising farmers for saving seeds or imposing rigid intellectual property regimes aligned with UPOV or corporate agendas violates both their rights and the planet’s needs.
We call for an immediate ban on the export and use of Highly Hazardous Pesticides in Africa. It is a grave injustice that chemicals banned in Europe for their risks to health and ecosystems are still manufactured there and marketed to African farmers. This double standard must end. Instead, we must invest in agroecology – a science, a practice, and a social movement that nourishes the land, respects cultural traditions, and empowers women and youth. Agroecology offers a truly African path to climate adaptation and rural regeneration. It is rooted in the wisdom of our communities and validated by science. It is our future.
Moreover, we remind our political leaders that land is sacred. For most Africans, land is not merely a factor of production or a tradable asset. It is a gift from God, entrusted to us by our ancestors and held in common for future generations. Large-scale land acquisitions by foreign investors or development finance institutions, carried out without free, prior, and informed consent, are an affront to this sacred trust. They displace communities, erode customary rights, and contribute to conflict and forced migration. Ministers must act decisively to end land grabbing and ensure legal protection for communal and customary tenure systems.
We are particularly disturbed by growing use of African territory as a site for Europe’s resource needs and climate ambitions. Decarbonisation must not come at the cost of African ecosystems or the rights of African communities. It is ethically untenable to demand that Africa become the dumping ground for Europe's “green transition” – whether through extractive mining for critical minerals or vast land projects that reduce our continent to a carbon sink.
Let us be clear: Africa does not need charity, nor does it need to be a battleground for external interests. What it needs is justice. What it needs is a partnership grounded in mutual respect, environmental stewardship, and the centrality of human dignity. We believe such a partnership is possible – but only if the structures and priorities of AU-EU cooperation are fundamentally reoriented towards these objectives.
We therefore urge ministers to listen more closely to African civil society, Indigenous peoples, and faith communities – not as token participants, but as equal co-creators of policy. Real dialogue means making space for the voices of those who live on and with the land.
We conclude by echoing the spirit of Laudato Si’, which calls for an “integral ecology” – one that recognises the profound interconnection between people, planet, and purpose.
We pray that this meeting may mark a turning point – not only in diplomatic relations but in the moral and spiritual compass guiding our shared future.
Africa needs a transformation rooted in the Gospel values of care for creation, solidarity with the poor, and the pursuit of peace. As Laudato Si’ teaches us, “everything is interconnected” (§117) – and so our response must be holistic and courageous.
We invite the AU and EU Foreign Ministers to rise to this moment. Let this be the partnership that listens to the cries of the earth and the cries of the poor. Let this be the moment when Africa’s future is shaped not by external interests, but by the aspirations of its people – especially those who till the land, feed the nation, and protect the environment.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
if we do not educate our youngsters about this disease then i am afraid we will be heading to a danger, that can't be reversed. As we know, Prevention is better than curing. so why not educate people about this disease. Otherwise we will be like keynya and ethiopia, and our people will die. AQOON LA'AANI WAA INFIIN LA'AAN.
DO NOT DIE OF IGNORANCE.
Layla
I believe we have to teach our young people awareness of this illness. Education is only tool to fight health issues. Also its little bit weird to me using victim blaming terminologies, such immorality, illegal sex and so on. Remember we may be Muslim and there are codes of rule we have to follow, however everybody does not do that and it much better instead saying to the people do not do it, which is not going to work as some of them will do it anyway. Telling them to use prevention method if you are doing it is simple message to give someone.
ABSINENCE is the best prevention strategy. Manshallah, our religion, the path allah has laid out for us, has protected us from many of these ills. However sex workers need to stopped, policed, punished – it is haram, immoral, dangerous and just down right disgusting. All these ethiopians who live in Somalia and Somaliland are bring their filthy diseases, including HIV. They need to be discouraged from even entering the borders of Somalia.
I am glad to hear that an organization like SOHASCO exists in Somaliland, because people especially children need to know about HIV/AIDS and
it must be taught in schools.
But I would go one step further, by having some adult education, too.
How many parents are at ease and comfortable to discuss these things
with their children, or would even listen to them when they come back
from school, the attempt would prove to be fruitless, if the parents
themselves are shy or ashamed of discussing the subject. How would
they respond to questions raised by the kids?
Mind you, even, in homes of some Western-oriented families, parents find
it difficult to explain or talk about the real stuff, with their teenage kids.
Children are only apt to discuss it only with classmates or age-group
friends.
Yes, the age of seven is a bit too young to understand grown-up stuff,
especially if they are not doing biology, as yet, but then again evil does
strike in so many different ways and we have to protect the young!!!
Also SOHASCO could ease the tension for those who are unfortunately
sick because they could be stigmatised, those people really need all the
understanding they can get from their loved ones and not be banished, for
bringing shame on the family. They could show videos from other countries, (Muslim), showing how other families are coping with their sick relatives.