{"id":98014,"date":"2025-05-28T16:28:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=98014"},"modified":"2025-05-28T16:28:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:28:41","slug":"media-lens-africas-rising-challenges-a-continent-at-a-crossroads-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/media-lens-africas-rising-challenges-a-continent-at-a-crossroads-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Lens | Africa\u2019s Rising Challenges: A Continent at a Crossroads in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read
\n28 May 2025 | 11:45 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

Africa at a Crossroads: From Rising Youth Unemployment to Continental Unity \u2013 Can AfCFTA and Pan-African Voices Reshape the Future?<\/p><\/div>\n

As Africa enters 2025, it faces a complex confluence of crises \u2014 political instability, socio-economic fragility, and rising youth unemployment \u2014 all unfolding against the backdrop of a global shift in power dynamics.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Media Lens<\/em><\/a>, African affairs analyst and Researcher Ibrahim Deen provided a sobering yet hopeful overview of the continent\u2019s current trajectory. He highlighted that Africa is grappling with broad structural challenges, from fragile governance systems and deep economic dependency to persistent conflict hotspots like Sudan and South Sudan, where violence continues to displace and endanger civilians.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica hasn\u2019t been at peace,\u201d said Deen, noting the worsening humanitarian conditions and increasing number of internally displaced persons. At the core of the crisis is youth unemployment, a challenge intensified by economic stagnation and limited industrial growth. \u201cThe socio-economic instability is feeding conflict, and conflict is worsening economic prospects,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Despite the grim outlook, Deen pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) as a beacon of potential. The agreement, aimed at unifying Africa\u2019s market and boosting intra-continental trade, could serve as a vehicle for transformation \u2014 if implemented with intent and supported by strong regional cooperation.<\/p>\n

By 2030, Africa is projected to house 42% of the world\u2019s youth population, a demographic advantage in a world where aging populations are the norm. Deen emphasised the importance of turning this potential into actionable policy, warning that failing to do so would only exacerbate existing inequalities.<\/p>\n

On the issue of media narratives, Deen criticised both global and African media for their failure to adequately cover the continent\u2019s stories. \u201cThere is a genocide in Sudan that barely registers globally,\u201d he stated. The underrepresentation of African conflicts, he argued, contributes to international apathy and local disempowerment. Even within Africa, the tendency to focus on global crises at the expense of regional issues undermines solidarity and interconnectedness among African states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing ourselves a disservice,\u201d Deen lamented, \u201cbecause when African issues are treated as isolated country problems, it becomes harder to form the coalitions necessary to challenge global hierarchies and resist neo-colonial tendencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, he proposed a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen Africa\u2019s position, from fostering continental unity and pushing for technology transfers to amplifying African voices in global platforms.<\/p>\n

Quoting a resonant line, Deen concluded: \u201cAfrica is not a problem to be solved, but a voice to be heard, and a continent to be empowered.\u201d<\/em> For him, the task is urgent but clear: Africans must be the architects of their own narratives and futures.<\/p>\n

Listen t<\/strong>o the Media Lens<\/a> on Sabahul Muslim with Muallimah Shakirah Hunter and Ibrahim Deen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 28 May 2025 | 11:45 CAT As Africa enters 2025, it faces a complex confluence of crises \u2014 political instability, socio-economic fragility, and rising youth unemployment \u2014 all unfolding against the backdrop of a global shift in power dynamics. Speaking on Media Lens, African affairs analyst and Researcher Ibrahim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":98015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4996,28,132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-latest-news","category-opinion-and-analysis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Media-Lens-1.jpg?fit=375%2C376&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-puS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 13:54:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}