The 2024 global summits season begins in Kampala, Uganda in January 2024 with a
global south agenda. President Yoweri Museveni will host the nineteenth Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) Heads of State summit from 15 to 20 January[i]. This will be followed
by the Third South Summit of the G77+China between 21 to 23 January[ii]. It will be the
first time that two developing-nation groupings are held back-to-back in Africa.

How do we make sense of these summits from an African agency viewpoint?

The starting point is to note a rise in high-level summits over the last couple of years.
2023 was particularly the year of global summits in which Africa was part or co-opted.
The Russia-Africa summit was held in late July 2023 in St Petersburg, Russia[iii]. It
allowed Russia to boost international credentials amid the condemnation and isolation
wrought by its invasion of Ukraine. It also gave an international platform to African
leaders with either difficult relations with the West or those sympathetic to Russia’s
stance towards the West. Top on Africa’s agenda at St. Petersburg was Africa’s plea to
Russia to ease the restrictions placed on the transport of grain and fuel in the Black Sea
owing to the Russia-Ukraine war. Although the summit did not achieve many tangible
outcomes, Russia pledged food support to several African countries.

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