Africa: Chinese President XI Outlines Four Principles for Resolving African Conflicts

What the report says

Chinese President Xi Jinping set out four broad principles for resolving conflicts in Africa during a meeting in China with Togo’s President of the Council of Ministers, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, according to Capital FM and the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The message, reported on 15 October 2026, stressed African-led solutions, respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, an end to hostilities, and efforts to confront the deeper causes of insecurity.

Xi said people in Africa should remain at the center of decisions affecting the continent, and he urged parties involved in peace efforts to rely on dialogue, consultation and compromise rather than force or unilateral sanctions. He also tied security efforts to longer-term development planning, arguing that lasting stability requires attention to both immediate threats and the conditions that allow conflict to persist.

The discussion took place as China and Togo announced plans to upgrade their ties to a “community with a shared future” in the new era. Alongside the conflict message, Xi called for stronger political ties and wider cooperation with Togo in trade, infrastructure, renewable energy, digital technology and industrial development. Gnassingbé, for his part, endorsed Xi’s principles and said Togo wanted deeper cooperation with China and other multilateral partners.

The article places Xi’s comments in the wider context of conflict and mediation efforts in Sudan, the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa. More broadly, the principles echo positions often advanced by the African Union and the United Nations on African ownership of peace processes, though that general context is background information rather than a specific new development in the report.