ENVOY KAPAMBWE LIGHTS UP A POSTIVE TRUMP LIGHT “TIMELY WAKE-UP CALL” AS AFRICAN ENVOYS LAUNCH CONTINENT-WIDE LEAGUE

ENVOY KAPAMBWE LIGHTS UP A POSTIVE TRUMP LIGHT “TIMELY WAKE-UP CALL” AS AFRICAN ENVOYS LAUNCH CONTINENT-WIDE LEAGUE

Amb. Anthony Mukwita wrote-

Lusaka, 20 July 2025 – Veteran Zambian diplomat Amb. Lazarus Kapambwe has stirred the foreign-policy waters with a blunt assessment of Washington’s 45th President: “Donald Trump is good for Africa.”

Addressing a glittering pre-inaugural dinner of the League of African Ambassadors at the Hyatt Regency (the former Taj Pamodzi), the Special Envoy Kapambwe told colleagues that Mr Trump’s decision to tighten USAID purse-strings “was the jolt our resource-rich continent needed. We do not need a hand-out; we need a hand-in.”

Among the guests, Amb. Anthony Mukwita, who served in Stockholm and Berlin as Ambassador, urged African governments to tap ex Ambassadors due to their accumulated know-how for various national assignments.

“In Western capitals former envoys remain on call for mediation and trade missions. Africa must flip that script—our institutional memory is too valuable to park in the rear mirror.”

Five ways ex-envoys can power mediation & economic diplomacy

1. Quiet back-channel mediators – seasoned Ambassadors already know the principal actors and can broker ceasefires long before formal talks begin.
2. Deal facilitators – their Rolodex of investors shortens the distance between African industrial projects and global capital.

3. Policy mentors – training young foreign-service officers sustains institutional memory and professional standards.
4. Multilateral bridge-builders – leveraging prior postings to secure favourable votes or financing in the AU, UN and international financial institutions.
5. Narrative shapers – using their credibility in global media to re-brand Africa as a value-adding hub, not a raw-material quarry.

What the new Charter says

The League’s 42-page Charter—formally adopted last October—plants its headquarters in Lusaka and opens membership to serving and retired ambassadors and high commissioners from every African state. Key provisions include:

• Mission & voice: champion a single, louder African message abroad; issue public statements only after Executive-Committee clearance and in line with AU positions.
• Economic renaissance: campaign to end the “export-of-ore” model by promoting value-addition chains in minerals, agriculture, energy, telecoms and the blue economy.

• Peace architecture: offer a standing panel of envoys for preventive diplomacy, conflict-resolution studies and on-the-ground shuttle mediation.
• Capacity building: create a mentorship academy so young diplomats inherit hard-won negotiating skills and continental history.
• Self-reliance: finance the League primarily through member dues, African philanthropy and home-grown endowments—foreign funding is rejected unless it meets tough anti-money-laundering rules.

Governance is entrusted to a ten-member Executive Committee rotating among Africa’s five regions, overseen by a Board of Trustees charged with safeguarding assets “in perpetual succession.” Annual General Sessions each January will approve budgets, elect officers and amend by-laws by two-thirds vote.

“Diplomacy is king”

Immediate former Ambassador of Nigeria to Zambia, Amb. Nwanne Ominyi, interim president of the League, set the bar high: seeking rapid accreditation to the AU, RECs and the UN “so Africa’s unified voice becomes unignorable.”

Congratulatory cables have already arrived from Addis Ababa and several regional blocs, welcoming what they call “a cadre of proven diplomatic trouble-shooters.”

Kapambwe closed the evening on a pragmatic note: “If Trump’s America First nudged Africa towards Africa First, history may judge the moment kindly, Africa First.”

His Excellency Didier Serge Tepupileka Bapaga, the Botshafter of the DRC to Zambia was also around to back his interim President from Nigeria, bravo Balozi.

With peace, unity and economic self-determination on the agenda, the League of African Ambassadors appears poised to turn accumulated protocol into active profit and peace dividends for the continent it once merely represented.
In diplomacy, everyone wins.

BELOW THE LIST OF THE BALOZIS THAT ATTENDED THE FIRST MEETING WITH MORE TO COME

Ambassador Joyce C. Musenge

Amb. Bobby Mbunji Samakai

Amb. Anthony Mukwita

Amb. Lazarus Kapambwe

Amb. Anderson Chibwa

Amb. Dr. Solomon S. Jere

Amb. Lucy Mungoma
Amb. Mundanda

Note: If anyone is missed its not a deliberate omission please contact me for additions. This list will grow. For further joining, please contact Amb. Mundanda.