Kampala, Uganda — Africa’s place in an increasingly contested global order will come under scrutiny at a two-day geopolitics conference set for April 15-16 at Makerere University, as policymakers and analysts debate whether the continent is shaping or being shaped by intensifying external interest.
The conference to be held under the theme “Africa and External Powers: Shaping the Terms of Engagement,” is framed against a backdrop of renewed strategic competition, with actors such as the United States, China, Russia and Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar expanding their footprint across African economies and political systems.
This expanding engagement spanning infrastructure finance, trade, security cooperation and energy partnerships has opened new channels for capital and technology. But it has also sharpened longstanding concerns around debt sustainability, the export of raw commodities with limited local value addition, and the asymmetry in how partnerships are negotiated.
The conference’s analytical thrust is less about the presence of external actors, now an established feature of Africa’s political economy and more about agency: to what extent African states are defining priorities, setting conditions, and extracting strategic value from these relationships.
Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn
One panel turns to the Horn of Africa, where Ethiopia’s renewed push for maritime access has reconfigured regional diplomacy. Addis Ababa’s pursuit of ports and corridors has drawn sharp reactions from Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti, raising broader questions about sovereignty, balance of power, and the resilience of regional governance frameworks. The discussion will test whether the Horn is edging toward cooperative integration or a more fragmented, competitive order.
A second strand interrogates the future of development assistance at a time of contraction and recalibration. With funding cuts and institutional shifts including the dismantling of USAID programmes traditional aid models are under pressure. The emphasis is shifting toward blended finance, public-private partnerships and approaches that prioritise national ownership and long-term sustainability over donor-driven programming.
Demography adds another layer of complexity. With more than 60% of Africa’s population under 25 and projections suggesting the continent will account for a third of the world’s youth by 2050 the conference will examine the disconnect between population structure and political representation. The question is no longer whether youth are central to Africa’s future, but why they remain peripheral to formal decision-making, and what institutional reforms could alter that balance.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
At a structural level, discussions will revisit the global financial architecture forged at the Bretton Woods Conference, and the enduring influence of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Despite its resource endowment and growth potential, Africa continues to borrow at high cost, wield limited influence in multilateral decision-making, and export commodities into value chains it does not control. Whether this system is reformable or fundamentally misaligned with Africa’s development trajectory forms a central line of inquiry.
The case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo anchors the security dimension of the debate. Competing peace frameworks linked to Doha and Washington have raised difficult questions about sovereignty, particularly where resource-backed arrangements intersect with military and diplomatic pressure. The broader concern is whether such models can deliver durable peace or entrench new forms of dependency.
Taken together, the conference reflects a continent at an inflection point.