Obstructing Goal 16 ... and the outright challenge to building peaceful societies

Aqeel from New York: Support by foreign countries for terrorism and extremism will remain the biggest challenge to sustainable development

Hajar Abdel-Monsef: African countries must take a unified stand against external interference

The Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights released an analytical paper on the challenges of building peaceful societies in Africa, with the end of its participation in the high-level political forum at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The paper deals with the extent to which the goals of Goal 16 have been achieved, and the challenges facing peace and security in the African continent, in particular the impact of external interventions on the decline of sustainable development indicators.

The paper referred to a number of examples of interventions such as Iran, Qatar and Israel, which support terrorist and extremist movements, use the economy as a front for illegal trade, and crudely interfere in internal affairs. This leads, in one way or another, to destabilization, which in particular hinders the achievement of the sixteenth goal and its targets.

Ayman Aqeel stated; The head of the Maat Foundation, that the competition of major and regional powers over Africa has become widespread beyond being a mere aid until it became an explicit interference in internal affairs.

Hajar Abdel-Monsef, head of the African Affairs and Sustainable Development Unit of its founder, Maat, recommended the need to follow a unified African position, to oppose or reduce relations with foreign countries that interfere in the internal affairs of the countries of the continent, or countries that support terrorism in a way that aims to destabilize.

It is worth noting that the Maat Foundation for Peace participates in the meetings of the high-level political forum at the United Nations, as a representative of the North African region in the group of non-governmental organizations in Africa, and also participates in the meetings of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union in Cairo.