“In times of geopolitical crises, the answer cannot be to withdraw from the international order and seek to replace its central institutions,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said after talks with Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union Commission, in Addis Ababa.
“We all know that the international order is being disrupted, that creates a sense of uncertainty and unpredictability for the future,” Youssouf said.
“It’s certainly not helpful, nor can we properly plan the full execution of our peace and development agenda in these circumstances. Let us hope that reason and wisdom will prevail over reckless and disrupting decisions that have global impacts.”
Wadephul, who did not refer to Trump’s so-called Board of Peace directly, said that Germany was seeking to expand its global partnerships, “with the clear aim of defending the rules-based world order.”
Trump signed the founding charter of the Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
The US president himself chairs the board, which he bills as a new international organization to spearhead peace-building initiatives.
Trump originally conceived of the board as a body to oversee the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip following the two-year war between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
He has since suggested the body’s ambitions could be stepped up to handle conflicts and crises worldwide and said at the ceremony that the board “can spread out to other things” beyond Gaza.
Many analysts see such a suggestion as an attack on the UN, which Trump says he values but has repeatedly criticized for failing to resolve conflicts.
Wadephul, who arrived in Ethiopia on the heels of a one-day visit to Kenya, highlighted the importance of strengthening ties with the African Union, an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Addis Abeba and made up of 55 member states.
“At a time when the fundamental principles of the world order are being openly questioned, we need partnerships to defend these very principles,” the German minister said.
“We are united by the conviction that integration and rule-based cooperation make us strong.”
Germany and the African Union are looking to launch a strategic dialogue for jointly developing solutions to major global challenges, with Wadephul mentioning peace and security, energy and climate, and migration and mobility as possible areas of cooperation.
