Shortly after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a Zeitenwende (historic turning point) in European and global cooperation. Immediately before its start, Kenya’s UN Ambassador Martin Kimani gave a historic speech at the UN Security Council. He stressed that many, if not most of today’s borders are the result of violence and oppression, but cannot be changed back by those means. After their independence, African countries had accepted the borders drawn by colonial powers, which ignored deep historical, cultural and linguistic ties, for the sake of peace and had agreed on the principles of state sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful conflict resolution. In this way, H.E. Martin Kimani also summed up the essential line of conflict between supporters and opponents of international law and a rules-based international order.

With his appeal for diplomacy and peaceful conflict resolution, H.E. Martin Kimani contributed to the understanding between African and European positions in this difficult geopolitical situation and thus extended his hand to deepen the African-European and African-German exchange. In recognition of this, the German Africa Foundation decided to confer the Honorary Award of the German Africa Foundation 2022 to Ambassador Martin Kimani. The ceremony was followed by a discussion, during which guests had the opportunity to discuss the future of multilateralism and African-European relations against the backdrop of the Zeitenwende with Ambassador Kimani.

Programme

Welcoming remarks:

Dr Uschi Eid, President of the German Africa Foundation

Laudatory speech:

Katja Keul MP, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office

Acceptance speech:

H.E. Martin Kimani, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations

Followed by a discussion

Moderated by:

Sabine Odhiambo, Secretary General of the German Africa Foundation