"Africa is Poised to Rule the World" African Leaders Push Back on Western World Order

African leaders used the 2026 World Governments Summit in Dubai to press a coordinated message: the continent no longer intends to orbit a Western-centered global system, and it will pursue its interests on its own terms as international norms fracture.

The high-level forum in the United Arab Emirates brought together global decision-makers alongside African leaders from countries like Botswana, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Ghana and others, their collective presence signaling a bid to elevate Africa’s role in shaping governance debates amid accelerating geopolitical change. Speakers framed the moment as one of strategic realignment, arguing that traditional power centers no longer define the limits of African diplomacy or development.

Strategic Autonomy Over Alignment

In a session moderated by American political commentator Tucker Carlson, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa distilled that posture in blunt terms, saying: “We don’t need to please the West or please the East; we please ourselves.”

The remark captured a broader theme running through the summit: African governments increasingly reject a binary choice between rival blocs, instead emphasizing sovereignty, diversified partnerships, and self-directed growth.

Africa’s Future

Botswana’s President Duma Boko advanced a more expansive vision, declaring, “Africa is poised to rule the world.” In response to Tucker Carlson’s questiona about what the plan is when Africa gets the leadership, Boko replied that the aim would be “to make it fairer, to make it more equitable,” adding that Africa seeks to ensure intellectual property is internalized across the continent and that innovation serves humanity rather than “a predatory elite,” so that “everybody can partake equitably and benefit from the fruits of the economy.”

Boko’s emphasis on innovation and intellectual property framed Africa not only as a recipient of global systems but as a future architect of them. Leaders described a continent seeking deeper integration into value chains and greater control over how technology and capital circulate, arguing that existing arrangements have concentrated gains in too few hands.

Equity, Innovation, and Global Rules

The summit also surfaced how global instability is shaping African perspectives on international order. Carlson asked Mnangagwa, “What do you think about Venezuela?” The Zimbabwean leader replied laughing, “Venezuela is very far from Zimbabwe,” before later addressing the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, saying “from what we read (about the incident) We are interested to know why is it happening.”

The exchange underscored a cautious approach to distant crises, paired with concern over precedents being set in global politics.

“State of Flux” Across the System

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio framed the moment in starker terms. Reflecting on Maduro’s capture, he said: “I’m still stunned. But I still have to understand: is society still existing? And if not, what becomes of the world?”

He added that governments now operate “in as a state of flux, because everything that we have understood as the basis for international order is fragmenting or being destroyed right in front of our faces.”

Taken together, the interventions from Dubai point to a shared assessment among African leaders: the post-Cold War framework is eroding, and the continent intends to be an active participant in whatever replaces it. By stressing autonomy over alignment, equity over extraction, and innovation over dependency, officials from African countries used the 2026 summit to articulate a coordinated challenge to inherited power structures, positioning Africa as both stakeholder and shaper in a rapidly changing global system.