A new book titled Revamping African Policies in the 21st century has been launched.

The book was co-authored by the African Union Representative to South Sudan, Prof. Joram M. Biswaro, the Dean of School of Social and Economic Studies Dr Abraham K. Nyuon, and late former Vice-Chancellor of University of Bhar el Ghazal Prof. Samson S. Wassara.

The launch—which was conducted in Juba on Saturday— attracted several persons from academia, diplomats and some senior government officials among them the Minister of Presidential Affairs Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin.

Speaking during the official launch, Dr Marial said it was high time that African scholars start to think of restoring the African foreign policies for a better future.

“It is a really good move by our writers and it is what other scholars should do especially on our African foreign policies. We have the best policies in Africa but because of colonialism, [we] depend on what was actually borrowed from us,” Dr Marial said.

Make potential count

The Presidential Affairs Minister urged Africans in academia to work hard to revamp African foreign policies. He encouraged young people to read a lot of books.

Speaking on behalf of the authors Dr Abraham K. Nyuon said the idea of the book began five years ago when the three of them (writers) found it difficult to get an academic book to provide guidelines on African foreign policies.

He said that although some books already talk about African foreign policies, the authors deemed it necessary to present another line of thinking. 

According to Dr Nyuon, the book covers six different African countries’ foreign policies.

“The book covered the foreign policy of South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria,” he revealed.

Dr Nyuon said African foreign policy is not a new thing but the “dilemma has been there because African histories and African ways of doing things have always been dominated by other people which makes it difficult to understand’’.   

Brief about the three authors 

Joram M. Biswaro

He is the current Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Head of African Union in South Sudan. He played a pivotal role in the peace negotiation between the government and the opposition that culminated in the revitalised agreement in 2018.

According to a brief note circulated during the event, Amb. Biswaro is a veteran journalist, diplomat and academic. He was the first Tanzanian ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Latin America, residing in Brasilia, Brazil.

He served in the same capacity in Ethiopia and as Permanent Representative to AU and UNECA. 

Biswaro successfully negotiated to include Kiswahili into the Constitutive Act of the African Union as one of the working languages and persuaded his peers to secure the headquarters of the African Court, African Bureau on Corruption and the African Institute of International Law to be in Arusha, Tanzania. 

Prof. Biswaro has lectured in different universities around the world such as Pan African University Yaounde, Cameroon, University of Juba, South Sudan, Federal University of Paraiba, Brazil as well as Institute of Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University.

He has also written extensively on regional integration Pan-Africanism. Diplomacy, mediation, negotiation, peace and security in Africa, Dr Biswaro has co-authored several books and journals. 

Abraham K. Nyuon 

Abraham Nyuon is also described in the note as an assistant professor of Political Science and currently the Dean School of Social and Economic Studies of the University of Juba. He earned a BA (Hons) in Christian Education from Kabarak University Kenya. 

MA in International Relations from Catholic University of East Africa Kenya. MA in War Studies from King‘s College London the UK and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Political Science (International Relations) from University of Juba, South Sudan. 

Dr Nyuon is a renowned political, peace and security analyst at the former Head of Department of Political Science and Director for Strategic Research and analysis at Ministry of Defense. 

Dr Nyuon, a former child soldier turned academic and SUSI Scholar on US Foreign policy, has over two decades of experience spanning teaching, developing and reviewing curriculum for primary, secondary and university taught programs at the University of Juba, Dr John Garang University of Science and Technology and the Catholic University of South Sudan. 

His areas of research interest include international politics, foreign policy, political economy, strategic planning, peace and Security. 

Late Samson S. Wassara 

He was a Professor of Political Science at the University of Juba. 

He held a BSc. Hons in Political Science from the University of Khartoum, Sudan. Diploma in International Relations and PhD in Political Science from University of Paris XI (Orsay). 

He was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Baht el-Ghazal. While at the University of Juba, Prof. Wassara served twice s the Dean of the School of Social and Economic Studies. He taught political science subjects, international relations and peace studies. His research interests were governance, regional politics, peace, security, and hydro-politics. Professor Wassara had published on Africa, Sudan and South Sudan.