Marking the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), representatives to the sixty-first General Assembly session met this morning and reasserted their commitment to the programme. The joint debate focused on three issues central to the region today: efforts to roll back malaria and other diseases, the need for international partnerships in Africa's future, and the root causes of conflict in promoting peace and development. Reports by the Secretary-General's Advisory Panel on each of these distinct issues were discussed.

"Although major progress has been made, major interventions are still needed", said the representative of South Africa, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. He praised NEPAD, saying that one of its most important effects has been to shift ownership of African development to African leaders themselves--an important first step, if not a fully-achieved goal. Through the African Union and the Pan-African Parliament, nations on the continent have been able to improve regional infrastructure and create a more "comprehensive, holistic approach" to development. Like other speakers at today's meeting, South Africa called for an urgent mobilization of resources, asking industrialized countries to promptly fulfil their official development assistance (ODA) commitments.

Increased direct aid will improve many of Africa's current problems, representatives said, by sustaining health, education and employment programmes. But many noted that an international structural partnership is needed as well. Malaria and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, for example, can benefit from adhering to internationally agreed treatment guidelines, such as the World Health Organization's Global Malaria Programme, created this year, and from wider access to insecticides and drug treatments. Noting that the HIV virus is still rampant and that some 3,000 children die daily from malaria, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, representatives stressed that committed global partnerships must go beyond funding. Structural support from the world community will also be needed.

On conflict resolution and security, too, representatives to the debate called for a combination of financial assistance and cooperative action. They praised the creation in December, 2005 of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PCB), now active in several African nations. Some countries, like India, whose representative announced his intention to send the world's first all-female peacekeeping force to Liberia by the end of 2006, pledged to increase their peacekeeping forces on the African continent. Others, such as the Russian Federation, pledged to continue to invest in the training of local peacekeepers. Peace and security result from a multitude of factors and a multifaceted approach is needed, noted General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa at the opening of the debate. "Lasting peace agreements must be transnational in nature, and must incorporate factors of good governance and economics", she said.

Issues of governance, accountability and assessment resounded through the debate. Highly encouraged by many nations was the African Peer Review Mechanism, a voluntary component of NEPAD that submits countries' self-written progress reports to a reviewing committee. The representative of Rwanda said that his was one of only a handful of nations to have submitted to the review to date. The process, many said, encourages transparency and good governance, avoids corruption and shows a strong commitment to NEPAD.

Perhaps the most pronounced theme of the meeting, however, was that of trade support and debt reduction. Apart from ODA, the elimination of barriers to stronger trade is one of the most essential needs of the African community, representatives said. India's called for the urgent return to the trade talks begun this summer in Geneva, which failed to result in an agreed plan for the elimination of export subsidies. Agriculture exports are imperative to developing nations in Africa, its representative said. Even more pointedly, the representative of Tunisia asked Africa's international partners to dismantle cotton subsidies "that have been a source of suffering for African countries". Delegates gave a nod to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) - a 1996 initiative intended to reduce the national debts of the world's poorest countries - as another well-intentioned programme that must not be forgotten.

Also requested was better coordination between the African Union and civil society partners. Within the United Nations itself, South Africa said, NEPAD has increased efficiency by grouping agencies into "clusters" according to how they can help achieve Africa's targets. This could be a model for structuring outside partners, as well.

Five years into the NEPAD programme, assessment and further implementation is a must. Representatives agreed that both structurally and economically the global community must go beyond minimum requirements to eradicate problems in Africa. As Tunisia suggested, a "more robust and better-targeted" international support is needed. "Partners need to put flesh on the bone of their basic commitments."

For more information on the 61st Session of the General Assembly:

http://www.un.org/ga/61/