Journalists in Sierra Leone honoured
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In 1998, Ghana was selling a tonne of cocoa for $1,600 and buying a barrel of oil for $10. By 2000, a tonne of cocoa was earning Ghana just $800, half the price two years earlier, while the cost of importing a barrel of oil in September had more than tripled, to $35. Although the sharp rise in world oil prices has been a boon to Africa's oil exporting countries, Ghana's predicament has been a familiar one for most of the continent's poorer oil importers.
Based on preliminary data and an oil price of $26.53 per barrel, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that increased oil costs will reduce the current account balance of more than a dozen African countries by around 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. Another six -- Burundi, Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania and Swaziland -- will suffer a decline of more than 1 per cent, estimates the IMF's semi-annual Global Economic Outlook, released in early September. At the same time as oil import costs have risen, notes the report, many non-oil-producing countries in Africa "have faced substantial terms-of-trade losses as export prices of nonfuel commodities and other primary goods remain generally depressed, particularly in real terms." Nevertheless, the IMF projects that the African continent's overall GDP still will grow by around 3.4 per cent in 2000 and 4.4 per cent the following year.
The impact of higher oil prices on the growth of developed economies has so far been negligible, notes the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its latest Trade and Development Report, also released in September. If Northern growth were significantly reduced, this would have had the effect of further depressing world market prices for developing countries' nonfuel commodity exports, as happened during the "oil shocks" of the 1970s. UNCTAD recognizes, however, that since a majority of African countries are oil importers, their economic performance may be seriously affected. This is despite the fact that overall African demand for oil, 2.4 mn barrels a day in 1999, is only a fraction of North American usage (22.8 mn barrels) and is small compared even to Latin American demand (4.6 mn barrels).
Those African countries that export significant quantities of oil -- including Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Cameroon and several others -- are expected to benefit from the higher oil prices. Both the IMF and UNCTAD reports caution, however, that they should make careful use of the extra income. Domestic critics in these countries have frequently questioned how oil revenues currently are used, seeking greater transparency and expanded allocations for health, education, capacity building and other development purposes.
Democracy advocates and practitioners from across Africa recommended the curbing of executive power and greater equity among the different branches of government at a conference in Kampala, Uganda, in September. Representatives from 17 countries came for the fourth Africa Governance Forum organized by the UN Development Programme and the UN Economic Commission for Africa since 1997. Ugandan Deputy Speaker of Parliament Edward Kiwanuka Sekandi said poor governance had dashed Africans' high hopes after independence.
Participants identified greater parliamentary control of the budget as essential to limiting executive domination and improving governance overall. They urged some form of proportional representation in elections, to give a direct voice in parliament to more sectors
of the population, help build a culture of tolerance and permit the drafting of consensus legislation on national issues. The delegates also proposed measures to effectively free the media from control by a dominant ruling party or executive authority, so that minority parties and alternative opinions are not silenced. In addition, members of parliament must win the trust of their constituents by developing greater accountability.
Coming out of nearly a decade of statelessness and perpetual civil war among a multitude of rival militias and warlords, Somalia now has at least a semblance of a central government. In August, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recognized this progress in a message to Mr. Abdikassim Salad Hassan on the occasion of his inauguration as president of Somalia. Mr. Annan also paid tribute to the role played by Djibouti President Omar Guelleh in facilitating the consultative process that led to the formation of the government, while noting the formidable difficulties that lie ahead.
The following month, President Hassan took up Somalia's old seat at the UN when he addressed the Millennium Summit of the General Assembly in New York. He expressed gratification at bringing Somalia back into the international community and described the peace process that brought together in Djibouti more than 2,500 individuals from many segments of Somali civil society, including traditional elders, businessmen and intellectuals. They "found a reservoir of wisdom and the willingness to forgive," he said. After four months of painstaking negotiations, the participants in the Djibouti consultations selected 650 official delegates, who chose the drafters of a national charter and ultimately selected 245 members of a new Transitional National Assembly. The assembly, in turn, elected Mr. Hassan as president of the republic.
Major obstacles still lie ahead, note African observers. Most of the warlords, as well as political leaders in two northern regions of Somalia, did not take part in the Djibouti consultations and may not recognize the new government. In October, militiamen in Mogadishu attacked legislators returning to the Somali capital.
The European Union and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations announced in mid-September the inauguration of a 2.2 bn euros ($2.04 bn) investment fund to strengthen private sector activities in ACP countries and attract greater foreign direct investment (FDI). The investment facility will operate as a revolving loan fund, providing both concessional and commercial-rate loans and loan guarantees. Unlike similar bilateral programmes, the facility will not require ACP businesses to have a European partner; nor will the fund restrict its lending only to the private sector. Public sector projects intended to strengthen private enterprise, such as telecommunications and other infrastructure, also will be eligible. EU officials say they hope to leverage as many as 8 euros in new FDI for every euro provided through the scheme.
The investment facility was established under the Cotonou accord, a trade and development cooperation agreement between the EU and the ACP member states, signed earlier this year to replace the Lomé IV pact, which had expired (see Africa Recovery, July 2000). The facility is part of an EU development assistance package expected to be worth 13.5 bn euros over the first five years of the Cotonou pact. The fund is still a year or two away from making its first loans, however, because it must first be ratified by all the parliaments of the EU and ACP member states. The European Investment Bank will administer the programme.
The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa rose by 28 per cent in 1999, reaching $10 bn, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates in its World Investment Report, released in October. On a global scale, however, this "remained quite modest," representing 5 per cent of total FDI into all developing countries and lagging far behind the $106 bn reported for developing countries in Asia.
Further limiting the impact of this investment was its narrow concentration, with some 70 per cent going to five countries: Angola ($1.8 bn), Egypt ($1.5 bn), Nigeria ($1.4 bn), South Africa ($1.38 bn) and Morocco ($847 mn). Deregulation and privatization drew some funds into telecommunications, but transnational corporations were still primarily focused on oil and minerals. Critics have noted that such investment in the extraction of natural resources, while profitable for the investing corporations, does little to create significant numbers of jobs or promote broader national economic development.
The US announced on 2 October that 34 African countries qualified for trade benefits under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which is intended to provide broader market access for African countries that adopt trade liberalization policies, respect human and labour rights and oppose terrorism and corruption (see Africa Recovery, July 2000). However, the list of eligible products is not expected to be finalized before December because of opposition by domestic and non-African foreign producers to many of the 1,800 new products proposed for duty-free access.
A second obstacle cropped up in late September, when the US demanded that African governments adopt strict customs procedures to safeguard against the fraudulent labeling of Asian textiles as African manufactured. A South African government trade official told Africa Recovery that African governments were given just a week to accept the complex and highly technical agreement, which could require changes in national legislation and additional training for customs officers. Although South Africa has yet to accept the customs rules, it was among the 34 countries found eligible for participation.
Summit charts course for an 'African Union'African leaders decided in mid-July to begin establishing a new "African Union." Proponents see the move as a logical extension of the existing Organization of African Unity (OAU) and a way for the continent to better confront the challenges of globalization. Gathered at the 36th OAU summit meeting in Lomé, Togo, African leaders debated and adopted a founding document, called the Constitutive Act, laying down objectives, principles, institutions and an operational framework. Reviewing the conditions facing Africa at the start of a new millennium, they stressed the urgency of accelerating economic integration and political solidarity. The leaders of 27 OAU member states signed the act before leaving Togo. Subsequently, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo signalled support by holding a joint signing ceremony in September at UN headquarters in New York, in the presence of OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim. Formal accession to the treaty requires ratification by OAU member states. The Union itself would come into formal existence 30 days after ratification by two-thirds of the OAU members. Mr. Salim told reporters in Lomé that after the Union has been in force for a year, "the OAU will be absorbed into it." While few Africans oppose the concept of greater unity, some observers have questioned the timing or realism of the current proposal. Proponents talk optimistically of achieving the necessary ratification by more than 36 countries before the end of 2000. Libyan President Muammar al-Qaddafi, who has played a prominent role in promoting the project, believes the Union will be put in place at an extraordinary summit already scheduled for Sirte, Libya, in March 2001. In Lomé, he suggested that the rapid creation of a "United States of Africa" could end conflicts and speed Africa's long-awaited renaissance. But by the beginning of October only a handful of countries had reportedly completed the ratification process. Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe stayed away from the summit itself, because of a UN Security Council inquiry indicating that Togo had provided assistance to the Angolan rebel movement UNITA, in defiance of Security Council sanctions. Their absence made serious discussion of security and peacekeeping issues difficult. So far, the Lomé decision has stirred little public debate. Seasoned community observers are sceptical about any easy or rapid creation of such institutions as an African Central Bank, a Pan-African Parliament or a Court of Justice, all proposed in the Constitutive Act. Representatives at a week-long meeting of the Africa branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association referred discussions on the proposed Pan-African Parliament to individual countries for study. |
For risking their lives to uphold press
freedom and human rights amidst Sierra Leone's brutal civil war, three leading
journalists were accorded the World Press Review's International Editor
of the Year Award at UN headquarters on 28 September. Left to right: Mr.
David Tam-Baryoh, editor of Punch; Mr. Paul Kamara, editor
of For di People; and Mr. Philip Neville, editor of Standard
Times. The award, stated Mr. Tam-Baryoh, should be seen as a symbolic
acknowledgment of the courage and dedication of all Sierra Leonean journalists
-- especially the 15 who had been killed -- for their efforts to expose
both rebel atrocities and government corruption.