Adriano Moreira warns of the risks of a new bet on war after the pandemic – Observer

University professor Adriano Moreira warned this Thursday of the risks of a bet on the war after the Covid-19 pandemic, as was the case with the 100-year war that followed the black plague in the Middle Ages.

The former president of CDS participated in the 20th Digital Conference of the Energy and Climate Forum, entitled “Vision of the Future”, which also included the participation of the former Prime Minister of Cape Verde José Maria Neves, the former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano and the former head of the Government of Guinea-Bissau Domingos Simões Pereira.

Adriano Moreira, for whom “The international order is absolutely violated”, he was apprehensive with the post-Covid-19, referring to the pandemic as “an attack on the health of humanity”.

“As with the black plague in the Middle Ages, it is better not to go back to war,” he said, in an allusion to the 100-year war (1337-1453, between France and England), which followed the most devastating pandemic in human history.

The scholar, who has repeatedly criticized the stance of Donald Trump, whom he called the leader of the world’s greatest power, raised a question: “Is it reasonable that the Mediterranean is being transformed into a cemetery?”.

I know there are security issues, but nobody can turn the Mediterranean into a cemetery, ”he said.

Among the current threats, Adriano Moreira listed “the special charm that the President of the United States has for creating walls”, but also the state of the Oceans and the African continent, far from the rainbow dreamed by Mandela.

In his speech, the former president of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano listed the various weaknesses of this country, due to its location and the extreme phenomena that plague it, such as cyclones, earthquakes or locust pests.

These phenomena, he said, have been such and leave such a trail of destruction that they have even inspired poems and songs by the Mozambican people.

For his part, the former Prime Minister of Cape Verde José Maria Neves recalled how the archipelago, since the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century, has suffered the effects of drought, water scarcity and desertification.

Throughout our history we have had very difficult periods, such as drought, famines, deaths, and there was a need for forced emigration for Cape Verdeans to seek better living conditions in the world, ”he said.

A situation that changed “thanks to the international order emerging from the second world war” that forced the Portuguese state to take measures so that Cape Verde would not continue to starve. But the difficulties persist, mainly due to the vulnerability “from an ecological and economic point of view”, common to island countries like Cape Verde, he said.

José Maria Neves defended the construction of “a vision for the future of Africa”.

Whoever leads countries like ours, at the stage of development they are in, needs a vision of the future, but also strategies that catalyze the process for sustainable development, ”he said.

And he added: “Africa can take an extraordinary leap in this 21st century, if it has mobilizing leaders”.

Domingos Simões Pereira, former Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, recognized the importance of aid from more developed countries, but he stressed: “We are more focused on values ​​than on the need to establish priorities for what is most important for our populations”.

We cannot continue to look at the impact of the new strategy for Africa, on the assumption that the most developed countries will allocate some of their income, ”he added.

For Domingos Simões Pereira, “Africa needs to learn that a prosperous Africa is not only good for Africans. We have to stop being burdens, to be a destination of opportunities, of investments ”.

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