From Africa Recovery, Vol.17 #2 (July 2003), page 24

COTTON
Africa challenges Northern subsidies

Four African nations have challenged the forthcoming World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Cancún, Mexico, in September, to agree to rapidly phase out all production and export subsidies for cotton. The countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali - are all heavily dependent on cotton and their economies have been hit hard by a depressed world market flooded with a highly subsidized crop from rich nations.

In a proposal submitted to the WTO in June, the countries stress that their "only specific interest" in the current round of negotiations, launched in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, is the elimination of cotton subsidies. "Our countries are not asking for charity, neither are we requesting preferential treatment or aid," President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso told the WTO's trade negotiations committee. "We solely demand that, in conformity with WTO basic principles, the free market rule be applied."

The proposal, which is supported by 13 other West and Central African countries, calls on the Cancún meeting to set up a mechanism to progressively reduce subsidies and eventually eliminate them by a fixed date. As an immediate and interim measure, it suggests that farmers in least developed countries be compensated for losses incurred because of the subsidies.

In West and Central Africa, where more than 90 per cent of Africa's cotton is grown for export, cotton revenue fell by 31 per cent between 1999 and 2002, mainly as a result of the massive subsidies paid to cotton farmers in the US, Europe and China. While African cotton has many advantages - high quality and the world's lowest costs of production - it cannot compete with the subsidized cotton. President Compaoré noted that African producers are ready to face world competition, "on the condition that it is not distorted by subsidies."

NEPAD
'Peer review' leaders named

Six eminent African women and men have been appointed to begin directing the work of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). Set up to further the goals of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the mechanism is a system of "self-monitoring" by which African countries review each others' political and economic governance. The six initial members of the supervising panel were appointed by NEPAD's 15-member heads of state Implementation Committee at the end of May. More members will be appointed at a later date.

The first six members are: Ms. Graça Machel, a well-known Mozambican children's rights activist; Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, a Nigerian economist and former head of the UN Economic Commission for Africa; Ms. Marie-Angelique Savané, former head of the UN Population Fund's Africa Bureau, from Senegal; Mr. Bethuel Kiplagat, Kenya's former ambassador to France and the UK; Ms. Dorothy Njeuma, a former vice-minister of higher education in Cameroon and currently chancellor of the University of Buea; and Mr. Chris Staals, former head of the South African Reserve Bank.

"I have great confidence in the integrity of the sons and daughters of Africa who have been nominated to serve on this panel," Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said when the names were announced.

The APRM is a voluntary mechanism, and will begin by conducting reviews of those African countries that have agreed to participate, in particular their policies, standards and practices relating to political governance and the rule of law, economic growth, sustainable development and regional integration. At the time the panel was named, 15 countries had indicated their willingness to join by signing the APRM's memorandum of understanding: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
New government, but peace uncertain

A new transitional government is being established in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As we went to press, four vice-presidents were to be sworn in. Those posts and other ministerial positions are being shared out among representatives of the former government of President Joseph Kabila, major armed groups and the unarmed opposition, all of which have been engaged in prolonged and difficult negotiations. Mr. Kabila is to remain president until elections can be organized.

Even as the talks continued before the signing of an agreement on the new government last December, new fighting flared in northeastern DRC between two previously unknown militias believed to be supported by neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. It was the latest fighting in a conflict that has drawn in seven African countries at one time or another.

"The final obstacle to movement towards peace in the DRC has been removed," South African President Thabo Mbeki said in Pretoria following the agreement's signing. But Mr. Aziz Pahad, deputy minister of foreign affairs, was more cautious: "Getting the transitional government going was the first hurdle. Others are still to come. I hope the international community will not remain complacent."

The agreement excludes the two warring militias in Ituri, in northeastern DRC, that have engaged in months of fighting for control of Bunia, the provincial capital. The groups have massacred civilians and fired on thousands seeking refuge in the compound of the UN peacekeeping force, says UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Carolyn McAskie.

The situation only stabilized after a multinational peacekeeping force was deployed to secure Bunia and protect civilians. UN Under-Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council on 7 July that Bunia has been a "weapons free zone" since 25 June.

APPOINTMENTS Mr. Hage Geingob has been named the new Executive Secretary of the Global Coalition for Africa, an intergovernmental forum for dialogue on Africa's priority development issues, headquartered in Washington, DC. A long-time leader of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Mr. Geingob spearheaded the group's electoral victory in Namibia's first democratic elections in 1989. Upon the country's formal independence in 1990, he became prime minister, a position he held until August 2002.

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