Secretary-General's press encounter at the African Union Summit

SG: I think both meetings are extremely important. The G8 meeting, of course, is limited to the eight leaders. And I think we've already seen some very good progress on the development issues. We were delighted that the European Union agreed to almost double development assistance and set a timetable for achieving the 0.7 percent of GDI (Gross Domestic Income) for development, and of course the debt relief, which was also agreed to by the foreign ministers and I expect to be endorsed by the heads of states in Gleneagles. And of course, the other important part of the package is the question of trade. And I hope the leaders will commit to ensuring the trade round, the Doha Round, is really a development round and it levels the field for the developing countries to be able to gain access to markets and compete without richer countries giving subsidies to their producers, which really undermines the competitiveness of goods from the developing world. But sometimes they even undersell them in their own markets. And I think most of the countries, given the chance, would prefer to trade themselves out of poverty rather than live on handouts. So I hope this will be done and of course, in September, all the 191 members states will meet in New York to discuss the reform proposals on the table. The reform proposals also includes the need for good governance by the Third World countries commitment to fight corruption. It is what we call the Monterray Consensus. They had certain responsibilities about improving governments, transparency and creating the right environment to release the creative energies of their people and the donor community would in turn provide additional financial support. In New York, we expect 175 heads of state and government to attend the conference, the summit. They have indicated they are coming, so this is likely to be the largest gathering of heads of states ever. And they have important decisions to take on development issues and on UN reform. I think it is an important one.

Q: You mentioned today that the African Union already has provisions for states to interfere where countries can't protect their own citizens? Any particular reason why you brought it up?

SG: No, I brought it up in the sense that we cannot have that in the constitutive document of the African Union, but not supported at the UN-level. And basically my message was, it is important you have already recognized it as an African Union and I expect you to support it in New York. And besides, it is on this continent that people have suffered most from this. You saw what happened in Rwanda. Do we want to repeat it? Do we want to sit back on another Rwanda that is going on and pretend we didn't know?

Q: In this regard, are you unhappy with the way African leaders have not spoken about the mass clearances that are happening in Zimbabwe of urban areas where hundreds of thousands of people have virtually been made homeless?

SG: Let me focus on what I have done. I mean I have personally have been in touch with President Mugabe. We have discussed this issue several times and I have sent in a fact-finding mission to determine what is going on and report back to me so that we can determine what needs to be done and what help we can bring to bare on this situation. And hopefully, there will lessons in it for everybody. And I am waiting for the report. My envoy has extended her stay until next Friday because I wanted to do a thorough job. She has visited several cities. She has been to visit some of the displaced. And I am looking forward to her report and I will take it from there.

Q: Last question, as the G8 beckons, there are a lot of hopes and expectations among these African leaders who you know very well. Are they going to be satisfied do you think with what the West would deliver at the G8?

SG: I think it is an important contribution. And important step forward, and we should be grateful for that. We should accept that but we need to build on that. We need to look back and see where we were a year ago. But this is a step in the right direction but it is not the whole story. And I hope as we move forward, we will intensify this partnership, partnership between the North and the South, and really make it work for the benefit of the poor. As I have indicated, the next thing we are looking at is the issue of trade. And what efforts they would make to ensure that the poor have a fair deal?

Q: And can the African leaders that you are meeting here, deliver what the West wants which is good governance, no corruption?

SG: I think progress is being made. Quite a few African governments are tackling that. And in fact, (Nigerian) President Obasanjo, who spoke today is being very active in his own country and many other governments are trying to improve governance and transparency and we should support and encourage them to do it. Thank you very much.