On 9 July 2022, the African Union, founded in Durban in 2002 as the successor to the Organization of African Unity to advance Africa’s social, societal and economic development in self-reliance and self-determination, celebrated its twentieth anniversary. In Germany, this anniversary received little attention.

Due to the profound crises in which Europe and other regions of the world currently find themselves, the view of this event was unfortunately obscured. The serious consequences of the Corona pandemic had not yet been overcome when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of international law, overturned the previous peace order in Europe. Since then, war and sanctions have hindered trade, supply chains and production and endangered both jobs and the supply of people, especially in African grain importing countries.

Despite all the difficulties, the German Africa Foundation (DAS) has tried to fulfill its mission and has been able to take up a wide variety of topics in digital dialog events and to conduct meetings between German and African guests, also in the presence of African guests. This Yearbook takes up these topics that are currently occupying us and that have accompanied us over the past twelve months. I would particularly like to emphasise here that the presentation of the German Africa Foundation’s Honorary Award to the Namibian journalist Gwen Lister, which has been postponed several times since 2020 due to the pandemic, could finally take place in June 2022.

Germany and the European Union are forced to readjust their foreign policy at the latest due to the changed geopolitical situation. The vote in the UN General Assembly last March on the Russian war in Ukraine should be understood as a wake-up call. It has long been apparent that African states are no longer dependent on cooperation with Europe. But it must be clear to all of us that global problems can only be solved in cooperation with African partners, who account for around 30 percent of the votes at the UN.

– Dr. Uschi Eid, President of the German Africa Foundation

Please note: The yearbook is only available in German. We apologise for the inconvenience.