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Let us contribute everything to
the success of the African Renaissance
Earlier this
week, the NEPAD Implementation Committee (NIC) of Heads of State
and Government held its second meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. It considered
and decided on a number of issues that have to do with the implementation
of the programme of NEPAD as agreed at the July 2001 Lusaka Summit Meeting
of the OAU.
The decisions taken at this important meeting have taken
us closer to the launching of the initiatives that are intended to accelerate
the progress of our Continent along the road of democracy, peace, stability
and prosperity.
The matters considered by the meeting fell into two
broad categories. The first of these related to issues of democracy, peace,
stability and good governance. The second focused on socio-economic questions.
The founding document of NEPAD stated clearly that for
our Continent to achieve the growth and development desired by the millions
of our people, it was necessary that stable conditions of democracy, peace
and good governance should be created. Accordingly, when they met in Lusaka
last year, the African Heads of State and Government charged the Implementation
Committee with the task to translate these commitments into a practical
and implementable programme.
It is however necessary to bear in mind that NEPAD is
an integral part of the African Union (AU). Side by side with the work
being done on NEPAD, work is also proceeding to prepare for the launch
of the AU in July. Some of the work being done in the context of the AU
coincides with the areas covered by NEPAD. To avoid duplication, the NEPAD
Steering Committee and the OAU Secretariat are therefore working together.
It was in this context that the NIC considered the issue
of Peace and Security. It confirmed the need to create strong mechanisms
to address this issue. It supported the work being done by the OAU in
this regard.
It welcomed the proposals to strengthen and enhance
the capacity of the Continent for conflict prevention, management and
resolution. Among others, these include the establishment of a Peace and
Security Council, a Council of the Wise and units of a peacekeeping force.
It agreed to give specific support with regard to such
matters as early warning systems, post-conflict reconstruction, democracy
and good governance and mobilisation of resources for the Peace Fund of
the African Union.
The NIC adopted a Report on Democracy and Political Governance. Essentially,
the proposals adopted seek to ensure the implementation of objectives
contained in such documents as the Constitutive Act of the African Union,
the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, the Protocol on the
Establishment of an African Court on Human and People's Rights and the
Framework for an OAU Response to Unconstitutional Changes of Government.
Of great importance, it also agreed to the establishment
of an African Peer Review Mechanism. This would enable the Continent to
make the necessary interventions in any situation considered to be at
variance with the principles contained in these agreed documents. It agreed
that more work would be done further to refine this mechanism.
Consistent both with the Treaty Establishing the African
Economic Community, the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the
founding document of NEPAD, which, among others, visualise harmonisation
of economic policies among the African countries, the NIC also adopted
a Report of Good Economic and Corporate Governance.
This document states: "Good economic governance
would attempt to evolve well-defined structures; harmonious and complementary
fiscal, monetary, and trade policies; coherent development strategies
and programmes; promotion of a dynamic domestic private sector and establishment
of monitoring and regulatory authorities for promotion and co-ordination
of different economic activities."
In this regard, the NIC agreed to 8 Draft Codes covering
such areas as monetary, financial and fiscal policies; budget and debt
management and transparency, corporate governance, auditing and bank supervision.
It also agreed to the establishment of a Peer Review
Mechanism, which should be a competent, independent and credible African
institution, separate from the political process and structures.
With regard to socio-economic issues, the NIC adopted
Action Plans covering:
- agriculture and market access;
- infrastructure, including water and sanitation, transport and energy;
- information and communication technology;
- capital flows; and,
- human development, including health and education.
The NIC also agreed that further work would
be done on these Action Plans, to ensure that they are translated into
actual programmes and projects that are capable of implementation. It
also decided to work on additional Action Plans covering such areas as:
- capacity building;
- poverty alleviation;
- mainstreaming gender issues; and,
- disaster management.
All these Action Plans will be finalised at
the next meeting of the NIC scheduled for the beginning of June.
With regard to agriculture, the NIC recognised the critical
importance of this sector with regard to such matters as economic growth
and development, food security, nutrition and health, employment and the
emancipation of women, the environment and the integration of Africa in
the world economy.
Accordingly, this raises sharply the issue of the access
of agricultural products into the markets of the developed countries.
It is now universally recognised that the $1 billion-a-day spent by the
OECD countries on agricultural subsidies constitutes an unacceptable obstacle
to the development of the developing countries, a waste of resources and
a barrier to free trade.
The growth of intra-African trade and other economic
relations and Africa's proper integration in the global economy requires
that we radically improve our infrastructure throughout our Continent.
It was for this reason that the NIC adopted an Action Plan on infrastructure,
including the all-important issue of information and communication technology
(ICT).
The development programmes visualised in NEPAD will
require large volumes of investment. For this reason, the NIC agreed to
yet another Action Plan dealing with the issue of capital flows. This
includes the important question of debt relief and forgiveness.
Further to expose the African and international private
sector to the development goals of NEPAD and to encourage this sector
to invest in Africa, a public-private sector conference will be held in
Dakar, Senegal from the 15th of April.
The World Economic Forum regional conference to be held
in Durban later this year will also focus on this matter.
Health and education are critical both to the improvement
of the quality of life of the millions of Africans and meeting our human
resource development challenges. The success of the NEPAD development
programme depends to a significant extent on the availability of people
with the necessary skills and expertise. The Action Plan covering this
area will present a detailed programme aimed at the steady improvement
in the health and education of the millions of African people.
The NIC agreed that the emancipation of women is central
to the objectives of NEPAD. It agreed that African governments needed
assistance to improve their capacity to contribute to the realisation
of our development programmes.
It also resolved that poverty alleviation is one of
the urgent matters that NEPAD must address. It further recognised that
natural disasters that hit countries that are already poor, like all our
countries, make a qualitatively negative impact on all prospects of development.
Given the importance of all these issues, the NIC decided
that there should be specific programmes focused on all these areas.
As we have already indicated, all the Actions Plans
to which we have referred, including those relating to the issues of peace
and good political and economic governance, will be finalised at the June
meeting of the NIC. The NIC will then rely on its member Heads of State
and Government to consult with the governments in each of the 5 OAU regions
to secure their agreement and support.
These matters will then be tabled at the July Summit
of the OAU/AU for final ratification. After this, the stage will have
been set to begin in earnest to implement the detailed NEPAD programmes.
Earlier than this, at the end of June, the NIC will
attend the G8 Summit in Canada to discuss the details of these Action
Plans with a view to reaching agreement to act together in partnership
for their implementation. The European Community, the World Bank, the
IMF and the UN will also participate in this meeting.
The decisions taken at this meeting will help further
to advance the Global Development Goals agreed at the 2000 UN Millennium
Summit, build on the recent Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development
and open the door for the success of the Johannesburg World Summit for
Sustainable Development.
For our Continent, they will mark a historic and positive
start on the path towards Africa's renewal and renaissance. The next few
months are therefore critical to the future of a Continent whose peoples
have known little else than suffering, humiliation and dehumanisation
for many centuries.
Our Continent is confronted by many problems. Even as
we work for the implementation of the programmes detailed above, we will
suffer reverses, some of them occasioned by wrong actions by ourselves
as Africans.
When he addressed our parliament earlier this month,
President Ciampi of Italy said: "Africa's renaissance is contingent
on your endeavours. The countries of the African Union have shown their
awareness of that…The West, Europe and Italy have also acknowledged that:
they gave their support to the New Partnership, committing themselves
to its success. You - we - must not fail…The 21st century must belong
to Africa."
At the State Banquet later, President Ciampi said that
this requires that the Continent should not be punished for reverses it
might suffer in one or another of the 54 countries of our Continent. Reflecting
the view of the majority of our people, our Leader of the Official Opposition,
Mr Tony Leon, has joined President Ciampi in making this call.
The task ahead of all of us is to contribute everything
we can to the success of the African Renaissance. We must not fail.
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