The Africa Group, at the ongoing Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space – Scientific and Technical Subcommittee meeting for 2024, shared some salient and pivotal suggestions to improve international space collaborations and partnerships between African countries and other members of the global space community and further deepen Africa’s participation in global space matters.

This year, the group comprised delegates from Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Sudan. Individually and as a joint entity, their major suggestions include:

Increased cooperation: The group called for closer cooperation between the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the African Union Commission (AUC). In addition, COPOUS plays a critical role in promoting international cooperation in the peaceful use of space and space technologies for socioeconomic development, especially in the global south. Thus, African countries call for a stronger legal framework to enhance international cooperation. Developed UNCOPUOS member states are encouraged to extend the benefits derived from their space activities to other countries through capacity building, technical assistance, and technology transfer in line with their needs and priorities.

Outreach programmes: Of Africa’s 54 states, only 21 countries are members of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS). Though this number has increased over the years, the group encourages UNOOSA to heighten its outreach efforts to draw more African countries into the group.

Inclusivity: Following a commendation and felicitation message regarding Dr Driss El-Hadani‘s appointment as a Senior Adviser at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the group further emphasised the need to recruit and engage more Africans at the UNOOSA secretariat for greater inclusivity and geographical representation.

To other African countries, the group stressed the need for African governments to integrate space activities into their national developmental agendas and work with the African Union to strengthen space technology coordination on the continent. They further commended the various developments happening in the African space industry, including the promotion and implementation of the African space programme, the establishment of the African Space Agency, the increasing number of African countries in the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems, and the upcoming NewSpace Africa Conference 2024 in Luanda – an opportunity for African space stakeholders to address the role of space technologies in socio-economic development.

The group further raised concerns regarding the increasing amount of space debris due to the escalation of satellite constellations and urged major contributors to space debris to undertake the responsibility of mitigation and removal and underscored the need for all UNOOSA member states to adhere to the principle of peaceful use of outer space.