Conflict prevention and resolution dominated the agenda of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria on 30-31 October. The meeting culminated in an accord to end the five-month conflict in Guinea-Bissau, signed by President João Bernardo Vieira and rebel leader General Ansumane Mane.
The 16 member countries of ECOWAS decided to establish a new department within the ECOWAS secretariat, to replace ad-hoc committees in preventing, managing and resolving regional conflicts.
The October summit also launched regional travellers cheques, aimed at boosting trade and facilitating travel. Marking an important step towards a single currency and monetary union, the launch of the cheques was largely overshadowed by the summit's peace-brokering achievement.
Four international agencies -- World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UN Development Programme (UNDP) -- united to launch the Roll Back Malaria campaign on 30 October at the UN in New York. Distinguishing itself from previous efforts to fight malaria, the RBM campaign is a global partnership with bilateral development agencies, development banks, governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. By strengthening the health services available to affected populations and stimulating research and development of new methods for controlling the disease, the RBM campaign aims to cut the number of deaths from malaria by 50 per cent by 2010 and by 75 per cent by 2015. "We need a sustained effort this time. We need to reach a child with fever within hours with simple and inexpensive medication," said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General, speaking at the RBM campaign launch.
Focusing first on Africa, the site of 90 per cent of all malaria cases, the RBM campaign's aims include upgrading health delivery systems, intensifying use of insecticide-coated bednetting, mapping malaria regions, and coordinating the development of new drugs and vaccines.
The vast majority of malaria victims are sub-Saharan African children who lack access to health services. In trials involving the use of bednets treated with biodegradable pyrethroid insecticide in The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Ghana, deaths among children under 5 declined dramatically.
Recalling that insecticides introduced 30 years ago generated great hope at that time for the imminent eradication of malaria, Dr. Brundtland cautioned that the disease is "coming back in countries where it had gone and it's increasing in countries where it's been endemic all the time." Calling on the private sector to join in the campaign against malaria, Dr. Brundtland declared, "We don't say 'eradicate' anymore. We know we cannot eradicate malaria in the next 10 to 15 years. Meanwhile, we must make a greater effort to look for the vaccine that could make the difference."
General Assembly debates progress on UN New AgendaAfrican ambassadors at the UN recently argued that economic and political reforms carried out by many African countries -- often in spite of the adverse external environment -- outweighed the efforts of the international community in carrying out the contract of partnership under the UN New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF). These were among the main views expressed during a late October General Assembly debate on progress in implementing the New Agenda since its mid-term review in 1996. Debate participants acknowledged that some progress had been made by the UN system in implementing measures and recommendations agreed at the mid-term review. However, African ambassadors urged the international community to provide more development aid, debt relief and improved market access for African products. Many participants echoed the point made by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his recent progress report on the New Agenda that the inadequacy of financial resource flows to Africa poses a major constraint to the New Agenda's implementation. Mr. Annan noted that "Africa's share in total resource flows to developing countries not only halved, from 15.4 per cent in 1992 to 7.4 per cent in 1996, but also fluctuated from year to year." Several representatives of non-African states were among those making the most vocal calls for increased financial flows to Africa -- particularly in the form of increased foreign direct investment. While not discounting the importance of development assistance, Mr. Hasmy Agam, Malaysia's Ambassador to the UN, referred to foreign direct investment and the associated acquisition of skills and technologies as the "way forward" for the development of Africa. "Our deep concern is with the problems encountered from the external environment which often frustrate delivery and undermine constructive efforts in the implementation of the New Agenda," remarked Mr. Khiphusizi J. Jele, South Africa's Ambassador to the UN. Along with declining financial resource flows, Mr. Jele cited the "negative impacts of globalization on the fragile economies of Africa" as particular constraints in this context. Ms. Regina Montoya, representative of the United States, added that the international financial crisis and adverse weather conditions threatened to derail the substantial economic gains of some African countries. |
The UN Security Council in early November urged African leaders to consider lifting or suspending the economic sanctions on Burundi. The sanctions were imposed mainly by East and Central African countries days after Major Pierre Buyoya, a former military ruler of Burundi, took power on 25 July 1996.
Stressing that the sanctions were worsening conditions for the ordinary people and damaging the peace process, Mr. Buyoya's regime had called on the international community to press for the sanctions' removal.
The economic blockade aimed to restore constitutional order and force Mr. Buyoya into peace talks with the Hutu rebels. Mr. Buyoya did begin peace talks and has launched a "political partnership" with some Hutu representatives.
However, the military branch of the main rebel movement, the National Committee for the Defence of Democracy's Armed Forces (CNDD-FDD), announced its objection to any removal of the sanctions. According to the CNDD-FDD, several "essential conditions" for ending the sanctions have not been met, notably the release of thousands of political prisoners, the reinstatement of the March 1992 Constitution and the implementation of democratic procedures and institutions.
With little fanfare, the European Union (EU) and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states opened negotiations in late September on the successor agreement to the present Lomé IV Convention, due to expire in February 2000. The Lomé Conventions have governed trade relations between EU and ACP states since 1975.
Many ACP states fear the talks could result in a significant scaling back of trade benefits for nearly a third of the 70 ACP states that are party to the convention. (South Africa, with partial Lomé membership status, is not covered by Lomé trade provisions and is not participating in the renegotiations.) The "better off" ACP states feel that the EU is pressuring them unfairly to accept free-trade accords. The poorest ACP countries are expected to continue to receive the benefits granted under the current convention.
Since mid-1995, South Africa and the EU have been holding a separate set of trade negotiations, long stalled due to disagreements on a number of issues including South Africa's use of the terms "port" and "sherry." Portugal and Spain have argued that a deal cannot be concluded until South Africa ends the practice of labeling its fortified wines as "port" and "sherry" -- terms which the two EU members consider associated with geographic regions in their countries.
By late October, however, South Africa's Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom reportedly was considering offering the EU concessions on the port/sherry issue in order to revive the talks.
Several African countries have overtaken industrial countries in adopting new telecommunications technologies, observes the World Bank's 1998/99 World Development Report. Published under the title, "Knowledge for Development", the report cites at least two dozen developing countries including Botswana, Djibouti, The Gambia and Mauritius which already have fully digital telephone networks. Many of these countries' telephone networks have completely bypassed the intermediate stages of copper wires and analog technology.
Nevertheless, much of the developing world is unable to access even basic communications technology, due to lengthy waiting lists for telephone installation as well as lower incomes, the World Bank report points out. On average, sub-Saharan Africa has just 1.5 phone lines per 100 people as compared to 64 lines per 100 in the United States.
The report focuses on two types of knowledge -- technical knowledge and "knowledge about attributes" (such as the quality of a product or the credibility of a borrower). World Bank President James Wolfensohn warns in the report's foreword that a further widening of the "knowledge gap" between rich and poor will cause "capital and other resources [to] flow to those countries with the stronger knowledge bases, reinforcing inequality."
"Three key means of facilitating the acquisition of knowledge from abroad are an open trading regime, foreign investment and technology licensing," says Mr. Wolfensohn.
Mr Ali, seen above presenting a boxing glove to Mr. Annan in mid-September, is expected to travel soon to Africa on behalf of the UN. Photo: UN /Eskinder Debebe |
Fifty-one African countries have ratified the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), and another "is on its way" to ratifying the convention, reported Mr. Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the UN CCD, during an informal briefing on 21 October at the UN in New York.
Commending progress at the national level in rallying the political will to combat desertification, Mr. Diallo noted that 143 countries have now ratified or acceded to the convention, with Rwanda most recently added to the list.
Mr. Diallo emphasized that even those countries which have not completed CCD ratification or accession processes are welcome to attend the second Conference of the Parties (COP-2), in Dakar, Senegal, from 30 November-11 December 1998.
At COP-2, developing countries will discuss their experiences in implementing the CCD and those countries that have established national action programmes will report on their progress. Developed countries will report on their activities to help combat desertification in developing countries.
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In the more intensely competitive environment for foreign capital flows, "African governments must give increased emphasis to policies that foster the private sector," stated
Mr. J.B. Zulu, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Representative to the UN, during an informal briefing at the UN in New York on reform of the international monetary system. This is because "a strong domestic private sector attracts the foreign private sector," he explained.
This recommendation elicited a strong response from African ambassadors, who asked Mr. Zulu to clarify how these policies could be applied in the short run in cases where countries lack the middle class to sustain private-sector development and are unlikely to develop a sizable private sector for a long time. Responding that the appropriate policy prescription would be the same, Mr. Zulu rested his argument on the fact that the natural business incentive is strong throughout Africa, but often remains untapped in countries "where resources have shifted to the so-called government sector." Even for countries with a negligible private sector, Mr. Zulu stated, "good policies attract private-sector investment from domestic and foreign sources. Short-term, medium-term and long-term are words that no longer exist because economic interdependence is intensifying every day."
Former three-time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali has been designated
by Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a UN Messenger of Peace, a role played
by renowned artists, writers and sportsmen to promote the work of the UN.