UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attends a media briefing at the G20 summit venue in Johannesburg, South Africa. Reuters
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that Africa and much of the developing world are being squeezed by a “perfect storm” of shrinking fiscal space, mounting debt and a global financial system that leaves them on the sidelines.
“Africa has been a double victim of colonialism,” Mr Guterres told the G20 summit. “First through centuries of exploitation and plunder, and then again when international institutions were created – when most African countries were still under colonial rule and their voices were absent from the table.”
Leaders from the G20, which accounts for about 85 per cent of global gross domestic product and roughly two thirds of the world’s population, are meeting this weekend in South Africa.
South Africa is the only African member.
Speaking to reporters, the UN chief said African nations remain “woefully underrepresented” across global financial and governance bodies, including the UN Security Council.
“This must change,” he said, urging the G20 to help “repair this historic injustice” by driving reforms that give developing countries, and Africa in particular, a meaningful voice in setting global rules.
Mr Guterres called for a more inclusive and equitable global governance system, saying the decisions of a handful of powerful states continue to disproportionately shape international institutions.
“Africa must have a fair seat in every forum where decisions are made,” he said.
He also urged the G20 leaders to “supercharge the just transition to renewable energy”, noting that 90 per cent of new power capacity added last year came from renewables and that global clean-energy investment hit $2 trillion – $800 billion more than fossil fuels.
But “only a negligible proportion went to Africa”, he noted, arguing the continent “should be at the heart of this clean-energy revolution” given its vast solar and wind potential.
A just transition, he added, must include “entirely electrifying Africa” to power homes, schools, clinics and industries, and to create jobs for its youth.
Delegations from 18 of the world’s major economies are set to attend this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg, with the US the only absence after President Donald Trump ordered a boycott, calling South Africa’s hosting a “disgrace” and accusing the nation of persecuting its white Afrikaner minority.
Mr Trump’s move makes the US, the world’s largest economy and a founding G20 member, the only country in the group not represented at the talks.
Several other leaders will also skip the summit, although country representatives will attend. China’s Xi Jinping is staying away amid a reduction in international travel, while Russian President Vladimir Putin will also not travel to South Africa.
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