The war in Ukraine risks accentuating the impact of the environmental crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), which has stalled in 2021, according to the semi-annual report published on Tuesday.
Despite having registered a slight advance of 1.1 points in the last decade, between 2012 and 2021, the period covered by this study, the growth curve that the IIAG had been registering since 2014 stagnated as of 2019.
The slowdown is mainly due to the increase in armed conflicts, repression against the civilian population and democratic setbacks in general, which caused deterioration in terms of security, respect for the rule of law, participation and civil rights.
These setbacks offset the gains made in Africa with more economic opportunities and human developmentparticularly access to health care.
The stagnation, says the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, responsible for the work, threatens the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN) and the Agenda 2063 of the African Union, which seek to put the continent on the path of economic development inclusive and sustainable.
Our continent is exceptionally exposed to the converging impacts of climate change, most recently Covid-19, and now the indirect impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine,” lamented Sudanese businessman and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim, president of the foundation.
Mo Ibrahim fears that the decline will continue and urges African leaders to act to address food insecurity, lack of access to energy, youth unemployment and social and political instability.
“These are hard times. More than ever, the commitment to strengthen governance must be renewed, or we will lose all the progress made”, he warned.
The Ibrahim African Governance Index annually measures the quality of governance in 54 African countries by compiling statistical data from the previous year.
The IIAG 2022 finds that 35 countries have seen improvements, while 19 have seen a decline in the decade between 2012 and 2021. However, progress has slowed in the last five years, part of which coincides with the Covid pandemic. -19.
The impact of the war in Ukraine, which began in 2022not yet covered by this study.
Source: Observadora
