Growing regional tensions and renewed xenophobic sentiments risk undermining decades of integration progress in Africa, a policy analyst has warned, urging greater investment in youth-led exchanges and people-to-people engagement.
Emmanuel Kwezi Tabaro, a policy analyst and former deputy director at the LEO Africa Institute, said while a generation of Africans has benefited from relative stability and regional cooperation, recent developments signal emerging fractures.
“We’ve had what I would consider a 25 to 30-year peace dividend… but it has begun to show signs of fracturing,” Tabaro said during an African Union Day webinar hosted by the Africa Prosperity Network on Monday (25 May).
He pointed to troubling trends in East Africa, including border closures among member states and rising hostility such as “Rwandophobia” in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“These are really concerning,” he said, noting that such tensions threaten the gains made since the revival of the East African Community and broader continental integration efforts.
Despite the challenges, Tabaro said there are strong signs of progress driven by young Africans collaborating across borders through education, leadership programmes and informal networks.
Drawing on his experience at the LEO Africa Institute, he highlighted initiatives such as the Young and Emerging Leaders Project, which brought together fellows from across East Africa.
“We had fellows from across eight countries… and built a network of over 120 emerging leaders,” he said, describing youth collaboration as a source of optimism for the continent’s future.
However, he argued that institutional frameworks alone are insufficient to sustain integration, stressing the importance of civil society and grassroots engagement.
“The solution lies not just in integration at the institutional level… but in people-to-people diplomacy,” he said.
Tabaro noted that organisations across the continent are helping to bridge gaps left by formal structures, but require greater support and financing to scale their impact.
“The journey towards integration becomes easier if we go beyond pronouncements by leaders… to having young people actually following through with these exchanges,” he said.
He also called for better coordination of existing African Union funding frameworks to support such initiatives, warning that progress could stall without sustained investment.
“We tend to speak as if the African Union is a non-profit… but we must also focus on what is within our power to do,” he said.
Tabaro added that global geopolitical shifts present an opportunity for African institutions to act more decisively in advancing integration.
“We are living in a world that is in the midst of a rupture… and we can now go forward with what we really want to achieve,” he said.
Asaase 99.5 Accra, Asaase 98.5 Kumasi, Asaase 100.3 Cape Coast, AsaasePa 107.3 (Accra)
Affiliates: Bawku FM 101.5, Bead FM 99.9 (Bimbilla), Mining City Radio 89.5 (Tarkwa), Nandom FM 101.9, Nyatefe Radio 94.5 (Dzodze), Sissala Radio 96.3 (Tumu), Somuaa FM 89.9 (Gushegu), Stone City 90.7 (Ho) and Wale FM 106.9 (Walewale)
Listen online: atlanticafricanews.com/, Sound Garden and TuneIn
Follow us:
X: @asaaseradio995, @Asaase985ksi, @asaase1003, asaasepa1073
Instagram: asaaseradio99.5, asaase985ksi, asaase100.3, asaasepa107.3
LinkedIn: company/asaaseradio995. TikTok: @asaaseradio99.5
Facebook: asaase99.5, asaase985ksi, Asaase100.3, AsaasePa107.3
YouTube: AsaaseRadioXtra
Join the conversation. Accra: call 020 000 9951/050 009 0121, WhatsApp 020 000 0995. Kumasi: call 059 415 7985 or call/WhatsApp 020 631 5260. Cape Coast: call/WhatsApp 059 388 2652.
#AsaaseRadio
#AsaasePa
#TheVoiceofOurLand
