Violence on the African continent is no longer only a security story; it is quietly dismantling the foundations of everyday life for millions of citizens. That was the warning delivered by Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye at the Alamein Africa Forum in Egypt, where heads of state and business leaders from across the continent gathered under African Union auspices.
For ordinary people, the consequences are stark and immediate. “Amid insecurity, no farmer goes to the fields anymore. No child goes to school anymore. No institution plans development for its country,” Ndayishimiye told the summit. He added: “We deplore that violence persists on our continent. In DRC, in Sudan, it is an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
The Burundian leader’s remarks placed the burden of conflict squarely where citizens feel it first: in empty classrooms, untended fields and development plans that never leave the drawing board. When farmers cannot reach their land and children cannot attend school, the damage extends far beyond any single community. Food supplies, education and long-term national progress all suffer together.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi used the same platform to press a related message about how states treat one another, urging African countries to respect each other’s rights. His appeal carried particular weight given Egypt’s long-running dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo views as a threat to its share of Nile waters, a resource on which Egyptian households and agriculture depend.
“There is no doubt that every state has the right to development and to benefit from its natural resources, however, at the same time, this right must be exercised in a responsible manner that does not cause harm to other states,” al-Sisi told the summit. “Our common interests are greater than our differences.”
For citizens across the continent, the stakes in such disputes are tangible: access to water, energy and the resources that sustain daily life. The Egyptian president’s framing suggested that cooperation, not confrontation, offers the surest path to protecting those shared interests.
Meanwhile, the Alamein forum itself is set to become a recurring fixture in the continent’s calendar. Under an African Union mandate, it will be held biennially, with a focus on infrastructure, trade, agriculture, healthcare, mining, technology and renewable energy, all sectors that touch directly on public wellbeing and access to essential services.
Taken together, the messages from Burundi and Egypt underscored a common theme: development, security and good neighbourliness are inseparable. As reported by africanews.com (https://www.africanews.com/2026/10/04/persistent-violence-stalling-african-development-burundis-ndayishimiye-tells-summit/), the summit’s leaders acknowledged that without peace, the services people rely on, from schools to farms to healthcare, cannot function, and the continent’s broader development ambitions will remain out of reach. Whether the biennial forum can translate that recognition into calmer borders and fuller classrooms will be watched closely by the citizens who stand to gain or lose the most.