From Africa Recovery, Vol.17 #1 (May 2003), page 8

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) was adopted as the continent's premier development strategy at a July 2001 summit meeting of African heads of state. It also was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in November 2002, as the main framework for international partnership with Africa.

Obasanjo: New Partnership making progress

Answering criticisms that the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) has been making little visible headway, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has responded that "we have taken our time to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated." Despite this careful and measured pace, the New Partnership already has made "substantial progress ... in many areas," he said on 9 March at a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, of the NEPAD Implementation Committee. Eight African presidents and prime ministers participated, as did representatives from an additional 13 African countries.

"As we continue to sharpen our focus on implementation strategies of this world-acclaimed development initiative," Mr. Obasanjo said, "... NEPAD has moved beyond the level of mere rhetoric to the concrete and pragmatic stage of implementation."

Photo : ©United Nations

One step at the Abuja meeting was the formal launching of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). It is intended as a voluntary "self-monitoring" system by which participating African countries subject themselves to ongoing examination by other Africans in such priority areas as peace and security, democracy and political governance, and economic and corporate management. At the Abuja meeting, 10 African countries officially acceded to the APRM - Algeria, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. Botswana and Senegal also have signalled their intention to accede, and other African countries are being urged to do so as well.

African institutions, businesses and individuals were encouraged to contribute substantially to the APRM's funding, "in order to affirm African ownership of the mechanism," said a memorandum of understanding adopted by participants. They also mandated President Obasanjo to oversee the prompt establishment of a panel of eminent Africans to direct the mechanism's work.

The Nigerian president noted other areas of progress since the last NEPAD meeting of heads of state in November 2002. These included several African-led peace initiatives in Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan (see article "Africa seeks own solutions to conflict"), as well as African mediation in Zimbabwe to try to help that country address its political and economic turmoil.

Onward to Evian

At the beginning of June, France will host the next meeting of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized countries, in the town of Evian. According to French President Jacques Chirac, this will be an opportunity to review what Africa and its external partners have done since the G-8 adopted an "Africa Action Plan" at its last summit in Kananaskis, Canada (see Africa Recovery, September 2002). It will also be an occasion at which "this reciprocal commitment should begin to be implemented," Mr. Chirac stated at the France-Africa summit held in Paris in mid-February.

During the Paris summit, President Chirac raised several proposals aimed at helping stimulate African agriculture, including measures to improve market access for African agricultural exports and restart discussions on the question of primary commodity prices. If developed countries are able to achieve a common system of trade preferences for each African country, this would be "indispensable for attracting private investments, a NEPAD priority," he said.

Three pillars of agriculture

With the goal of addressing Africa's recurrent food crises and low agricultural productivity, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has supported the preparation of a draft Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), within the framework of NEPAD. The programme emphasizes the importance of significantly increasing investments in three main "pillars" of agriculture: extension of the area under sustainable land management; improvement of rural infrastructure; and increases in food supply and reduction of poverty.

Taking into account the priorities highlighted by CAADP, the Italian government announced in March that it would provide a grant of $3 mn to Uganda. FAO will oversee implementation of the programme, aimed at improving food security and helping reduce poverty levels.

Millions for transport

The African Development Bank has agreed to provide $200 mn for 17 projects, as part of its efforts to assist NEPAD to develop integrated transportation systems in Africa. Nigerian President Obasanjo also announced in early March that a group of private investors from Malaysia is considering investing some $1 bn in transportation infrastructure in Nigeria.

Such concrete measures are essential if NEPAD's goals are going to be more than a "mirage," Nigerian Minister of Aviation Kema Chikwe told a transport ministers' forum in Abuja from 9-13 March. Since NEPAD envisages an accelerated process of economic development in Africa, she said, the continent needs "a viable integrated transportation network to facilitate the smooth movement and distribution of goods and services."

UNDP assists Secretariat

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) agreed in early February to provide $1.9 mn for a programme to help strengthen the work of the NEPAD Secretariat, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. "We know that NEPAD has enormous potential, and UNDP is demonstrating our commitment to seeing the initiative succeed," commented Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, UNDP's regional director for Africa. Among other things, the UNDP support programme will help the Secretariat enlist experts to promote the New Partnership's objectives, establish an advisory panel of public sector, civil society and private sector representatives to advise on policies and programmes, help integrate the NEPAD and African Union communications strategies, support the work of the African Peer Review Mechanism and strengthen capacity to assess the performance of NEPAD's external partners.

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