Africa: An essential wake-up call in the face of divisions in multilateralism
While foreseen by astute observers of Trumpian realism, the shockwave nonetheless remains a diplomatic earthquake. Through a memorandum dated January 7, 2026, Washington has formalized its divorce from sixty-six international bodies.
This radical disengagement, presented under the veneer of protecting national interests, strikes at the heart of multilateral cooperation mechanisms and particularly affects UN organs dedicated to the African continent.
From the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, an entire scaffolding of institutional diplomacy is shaking, revealing the fragility of an international system centered on power rather than justice.
For the United States, this rupture illustrates the triumph of a transactional worldview, where the value of an alliance is measured by the yardstick of immediate sovereign profit.
For Africa, the impact is twofold: on one hand, the weakening of financial flows and technical expertise in critical sectors such as climate (IPCC), energy (IRENA), and demography (UNFPA); on the other hand, the revelation of an erosion of “multilateral paternalism” that, under the guise of development aid, kept the continent in a waiting room for decision-making power.
The American withdrawal, brutal and symbolic, forces recognition of the precariousness of a system where cooperation depends on the constancy of foreign interests.
Sovereignty: The Imperative of the African awakening
This disengagement is not an irremediable tragedy, but a mirror held up to our own failings. It is a reminder that external aid remains a compass oriented by the donor.
Africa can no longer afford to be a spectator to its own destiny, suspended on the moods of an Oval Office distant from its realities.
Sovereignty; the sole guarantee against interference and abandonment—must become the center of the political and economic action of the continent.
The time has come to sound the hour of awakening, of consciousness, and of a Pan-African renewal.
Investing in our own institutions, strengthening the African Union, building an endogenous financing architecture, and promoting robust intra-African alliances are no longer options but strategic imperatives.
Every nation must learn to develop by itself, finance itself through its own resources, and protect itself through its own unity; a reality understood early on by the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
This American decision, in its brutality and symbolic scope, forcefully reminds us that Africa will never secure its future without freedom of action or collective consciousness.
The awakening of the continent and the mastery of its resources are the only bulwarks against external disruptions.
Faced with the defection of former powers, Africa must cease waiting for salvation from elsewhere and finally become the chief architect of its own greatness.
Stan OKAFOR
