|
Africa redefines its relations
with the world
Just over 115
years ago, in 1885, the European powers met in Berlin to decide the future
of the African continent. At that conference they decided that they would
share Africa among themselves, transforming ours into a dependent people
on a permanent basis.
Those who were the subject of discussions in Berlin
were not there to present their own point of view about themselves and
their lands. Nevertheless, they were to feel the full weight of the decisions
of the Berlin Conference.
Thus they became a colonised people. Their lands and
their wealth became freely available for exploitation by the colonisers,
for the exclusive benefit of the colonisers.
The sole task the foreign owner delegated to the indigenous
people was loyally and totally to serve the foreign owner. The Berlin
Conference decreed a particular partnership between Europe and Africa,
a partnership of masters and servants.
This week an important meeting took place in Kananaskis
in Canada. It was attended by the European powers, the United States,
Japan, the United Nations and other international organisations, to discuss
the future of Africa.
But unlike the Berlin Conference, the Africans themselves
also attended the Kananaskis Conference. This time, it would not be possible
for anybody to decide for the Africans. Any decisions would be taken with
the Africans.
The Kananaskis Conference met to discuss the implementation
of a programme conceived and elaborated by the Africans themselves. It
met to agree on what needed to be done practically to mobilise Africa'
resources to serve the interests of the peoples of Africa.
It convened to agree on the specific measures needed
to eradicate the legacy bestowed on Africa as a result of the decisions
of the Berlin Conference. It convened to decide on the things that had
to be done to give birth to a new partnership of equals between Africa
and the developed world, based on the concept of human solidarity.
For these reasons, the Kananaskis Conference will go
down in history as a defining moment in the process both of the evolution
of Africa and the birth of a more equitable system of international relations.
In historical terms, it signified the end of the epoch of colonialism
and neo-colonialism. This is underlined by the fact that at the Kananaskis
Conference, the decision of the developed world to enter into a new partnership
with Africa was expressed in concrete form with the identification of
over 100 specific projects or actions in an Africa Action Plan, described
as the initial response of the developed world to Africa' own plan, NEPAD.
These cover the priority areas identified in NEPAD,
including:
- peace and security;
- governance and institutional capacity;
- trade, investment, economic growth and sustainable development;
- infrastructure;
- agriculture;
- water;
- debt relief;
- education and human resource development;
- health; and,
- information and communication technology.
Explaining their own positions, the G8 and
the EU made the following important statement: "We welcome the initiative
taken by African States in adopting the New Partnership for Africa' Development
(NEPAD), a bold and clear-sighted vision of Africa' development. We accept
the invitation from African Leaders, extended first at Genoa last July
and reaffirmed in the NEPAD, to build a new partnership between the countries
of Africa and our own, based on mutual responsibility and respect. The
NEPAD provides an historic opportunity to overcome obstacles to development
in Africa. Our Africa Action Plan is the G8' initial response. The case
for action is compelling."
The historic importance of the Kananaskis Conference
derives not only from the redefinition of the relations between Africa
and the developed world. It also consists in the fact that Africa was
able to enter into this new partnership because her peoples had, in the
first instance, decided to enter into a new partnership among themselves.
In drawing up NEPAD, the peoples of Africa decided to
rely on their combined resources to overcome the scourges of poverty and
underdevelopment. Without the partnership among the Africans, the partnership
between Africa and the rest of the world would have been impossible. Thus,
at Kananaskis, the peoples of Africa reaffirmed their commitment to take
their destiny into their own hands, practically.
In their Africa Action Plan, the developed countries
make the following correct observation: "(NEPAD) is first and foremost,
a pledge by African Leaders to the people of Africa to consolidate democracy
and sound economic management, and to promote peace, security and people-centred
development. They have formally undertaken to hold each other accountable
for its achievement. They have emphasised good governance and human rights
as necessary preconditions for Africa' recovery. They focus on investment-driven
economic growth and economic governance as the engine for poverty reduction,
and on the importance of regional and sub-regional partnerships within
Africa."
It is in the implementation of these commitments that
our Continent will demonstrate that it has indeed taken the decision to
determine its own future. It will show in practice, that it is no longer
willing to tolerate the perpetuation of a neo-colonial order, which has
continued to deny many of our peoples the possibility truly to exercise
their right to self-determination.
The NEPAD document adopted at the 2001 Lusaka OAU Summit
Meeting of Heads of State and Government said: "Across the continent,
Africans declare that we will no longer allow ourselves to be conditioned
by circumstance. We will determine our own destiny and call on the rest
of the world to complement our efforts. There are already signs of progress
and hope.
"Democratic regimes that are committed to the protection
of human rights, people-centred development and market-oriented economies
are on the increase. African peoples have begun to demonstrate their refusal
to accept poor economic and political leadership. These developments are
however uneven and inadequate and need to be further expedited.
"The New Partnership for Africa' Development is
about consolidating and accelerating these gains. It is a call for a new
relationship of partnership between Africa and the international community,
especially the highly industrialised countries, to overcome the development
chasm that has widened over centuries of unequal relations."
Kananaskis represents what one of the G8 leaders correctly
characterised as "a new departure that puts the relationship between
Africa and the developed world on the right footing and provides the route
map that should inform our future national and international engagements."
With regard to our engagement with the G8 and the EU,
as well as the Nordic countries, the next step we must now take is to
work together, as a matter of urgency, to translate the Africa Action
Plan into specific, implementable projects covering all the areas mentioned
in the Plan.
This will require the active and detailed involvement
of the African regional organisations, such as ECOWAS, COMESA and SADC.
This will also involve such institutions as the African Development Bank
(ADB) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
On all of these will fall the responsibility to engage
all our countries in an inclusive process that ensures that the specific
projects we elaborate address agreed development objectives, within agreed
time frames. This must include commitment of our own resources for the
success of these projects, as we cannot depend merely on resources provided
by our development partners.
It is also important that we approach this work with
the necessary urgency. It must be our aim that we do not allow for any
situation that in any way suggests that we can postpone to another day
our response to the challenge of defeating poverty and underdevelopment
on our continent.
Where we face the constraint of capacity with regard
to the discharge of this task, we will have to move speedily to identify
such constraints and to address them. However, we cannot avoid the reality
that we will have to allocate the necessary human resources to ensure
that we translate the Africa Action Plan into reality.
We must also make the point that the G8 Africa Action
Plan does not replace the overall development programme we had ourselves
decided upon. What it does is to identify those priority areas on which
the G8 is ready to act, as part of its initial response. We welcomed this
initial response as the beginning of a new departure.
Accordingly, as we work to translate this new departure
into reality, we must also work to implement all other elements of our
programme that may not necessarily be contained in the Africa Action Plan.
Again, this will add to the pressure on us to devote the necessary resources
to ensure that we move forward with regard to all the NEPAD priority areas
that have already been agreed.
Soon after the conclusion of the G8 Summit, the Government
of Canada issued a statement entitled "Canada helps build new partnerships
with Africa". Among other things, this statement said: "Prime
Minister Jean Chretien today announced initiatives that Canada will take
to support Africa' development. Today' announcements represent a commitment
of $6 billion in new and existing resources over five years to Africa'
development."
This was a concrete statement by one member of the G8
of the meaning of the Africa Action Plan to which we must respond positively.
The time to act firmly to secure a better life for the millions on our
continent who suffer from poverty and underdevelopment is now.
|
