Africa urges West to make good on pledges

SYRTE, Libya – African Union leaders yesterday called on their fellow African nations to present a united front in their dealings with the rest of the world and exhorted the rich nations of the planet to make good on their promises to help the world’s least developed continent climb out of poverty.

“Today there is a worldwide trend in Africa’s favour. It’s not just a flash in the pan, it’s sincere,” AU President Alpha Oumar Konare told the several dozen African heads of state gathered in the Libyan town of Syrte for the pan-African body’s fifth heads of state summit.Referring to the forthcoming summit of the G8 group of richest nations set to open Wednesday in Gleneagles, Scotland, and to the meeting scheduled for September in New York on the reform of the UN, Konare said in his opening address: “Africa will participate in these meetings, proud, united and showing solidarity.This is an Africa that handles its own problems and respects its principles”.He also called on rich nations to help, saying: “Too many promises have been made to us in the course of too many meetings, but none has ever been honoured”.The call for Africa to present a united front in its dealings with other economic blocks and international bodies refers to the need for the continent to find, and stick with, a common position on the proposed reform of the UN Security Council, one subject topping the agenda.The leaders are expected to ratify a declaration on African representation on the UN Security Council drawn up by their foreign ministers and calling for the allocation of “two permanent seats with full privileges including veto rights …and five non-permanent seats on the Security Council”.Eight countries have officially declared themselves candidates for the two Security Council seats that Africa may or may not get in the framework of a broader reform of the UN.This summit is expected to steer clear of the thorny issue of who fills the two potential African seats for fear of igniting regional rivalries.Africa is the only continent to have become poorer over the past 25 years, according to the UN, with some 300 million people living on less than one dollar a day.Africa’s relations with the G8 developed nations has crept on to agenda because the event comes just two days ahead of the G8 summit in Scotland and because a handful of African leaders, among them Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, current chair of the pan-African body will attend the Scotland summit.Ghana’s President John Kufuor told AFP he hoped the G8 would result in an extension of the debt relief package announced in June to all African nations “across the board”, to enhanced aid, fair trade and a new resolution on the part of the G8 nations ‘to keep their promises”.Other heads of state or government who assembled in this town 450 kilometres east of Tripoli for the summit, the fifth since the African Union was launched in 2002 to succeed the Organisation of African Unity, included Jose Edouardo dos Santos of Angola, Benin’s Mathieu Kerekou, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, François Bozize of Central African Republic, Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast and Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh.UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso both addressed the summit.Barroso announced a meeting would be organised in Lisbon to agree on a new Euro-Africa pact, the aim of which is to turn the current partnership between Africa and Europe, between the North and the South into “a solid coalition for a stronger and more stable multilateral world”.Annan officially announced the setting up of a Democracy Fund aimed notably at helping countries prepare and hold elections.Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, already criticised in the west for his democratic record, has come under fire for his policy of demolishing unauthorised housing and businesses which has made tens of thousands homeless.The African Union, which has been criticised notably by Britain and the United States for not intervening, sent a special rights investigator to Zimbabwe just as Mugabe left for Libya.Mugabe told AFP his country was coming under unfair pressure and blamed this on Britain.- Nampa-AFPIt’s not just a flash in the pan, it’s sincere,” AU President Alpha Oumar Konare told the several dozen African heads of state gathered in the Libyan town of Syrte for the pan-African body’s fifth heads of state summit.Referring to the forthcoming summit of the G8 group of richest nations set to open Wednesday in Gleneagles, Scotland, and to the meeting scheduled for September in New York on the reform of the UN, Konare said in his opening address: “Africa will participate in these meetings, proud, united and showing solidarity.This is an Africa that handles its own problems and respects its principles”.He also called on rich nations to help, saying: “Too many promises have been made to us in the course of too many meetings, but none has ever been honoured”.The call for Africa to present a united front in its dealings with other economic blocks and international bodies refers to the need for the continent to find, and stick with, a common position on the proposed reform of the UN Security Council, one subject topping the agenda.The leaders are expected to ratify a declaration on African representation on the UN Security Council drawn up by their foreign ministers and calling for the allocation of “two permanent seats with full privileges including veto rights …and five non-permanent seats on the Security Council”.Eight countries have officially declared themselves candidates for the two Security Council seats that Africa may or may not get in the framework of a broader reform of the UN.This summit is expected to steer clear of the thorny issue of who fills the two potential African seats for fear of igniting regional rivalries.Africa is the only continent to have become poorer over the past 25 years, according to the UN, with some 300 million people living on less than one dollar a day.Africa’s relations with the G8 developed nations has crept on to agenda because the event comes just two days ahead of the G8 summit in Scotland and because a handful of African leaders, among them Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, current chair of the pan-African body will attend the Scotland summit.Ghana’s President John Kufuor told AFP he hoped the G8 would result in an extension of the debt relief package announced in June to all African nations “across the board”, to enhanced aid, fair trade and a new resolution on the part of the G8 nations ‘to keep their promises”.Other heads of state or government who assembled in this town 450 kilometres east of Tripoli for the summit, the fifth since the African Union was launched in 2002 to succeed the Organisation of African Unity, included Jose Edouardo dos Santos of Angola, Benin’s Mathieu Kerekou, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, François Bozize of Central African Republic, Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast and Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh.UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso both addressed the summit.Barroso announced a meeting would be organised in Lisbon to agree on a new Euro-Africa pact, the aim of which is to turn the current partnership between Africa and Europe, between the North and the South into “a solid coalition for a stronger and more stable multilateral world”.Annan officially announced the setting up of a Democracy Fund aimed notably at helping countries prepare and hold elections.Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, already criticised in the west for his democratic record, has come under fire for his policy of demolishing unauthorised housing and businesses which has made tens of thousands homeless.The African Union, which has been criticised notably by Britain and the United States for not intervening, sent a special rights investigator to Zimbabwe just as Mugabe left for Libya.Mugabe told AFP his country was coming under unfair pressure and blamed this on Britain.- Nampa-AFP