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Africa/Global: Talking Points on Common Issues
AfricaFocus Bulletin
July 31, 2014 (140731)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
As African leaders and corporate CEOs gather to meet with
President Obama and U.S. government officials, a wide
variety of civil society activists will also be meeting in
Washington, some in officially recognized side events, others in
alternative venues. Many more will be issuing statements and
communicating their views, some appropriating the twitter hashtag
#AfricaSummit used by U.S. government officials, thus inserting their
views as well into that hashtag stream.
[Note: For the twitter search for #AfricaSummit, go to
http://tinyurl.com/p3m3s5k]
AfricaFocus Bulletin is a co-sponsor of one alternative event in
Washington, DC, initiated by the US-Africa Network
(http://www.usafricanetwork.org). The US-Africa Network has also
released a social media guide (http://tinyurl.com/pe8w9ku)with
selected sample tweets and links to other social media initiatives by
civil society.
In this context AfricaFocus has prepared a set of talking points on
selected critical issues, with particular emphasis on those where
both the United States and African countries are falling short in
addressing common global problems, such as climate change, illicit
financial flows, and flawed frameworks for addressing conflict and
economic progress.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains an open letter to President Obama
from the Publish What You Pay Africa Steering Committee, and then
excerpts from the AfricaFocus talking points
(http://www.africafocus.org/intro-gen.php). Additional material
related to the US-Africa Leaders Summit appeared in AfricaFocus
Bulletin on July 29 (http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/sum1407.php)
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
Open Letter to President Obama from African Civil Society
Publish What You Pay Africa Steering Committee
31 Jul 2014
http://www.publishwhatyoupay.org / direct URL:
http://tinyurl.com/nrfgz25
Dear Mr. President,
We, the African civil society leaders of Publish What You Pay - a
global coalition campaigning for an open and accountable gas, oil and
mining sector - are addressing you on the eve of the US - Africa
Leaders' Summit.
We are addressing you as concerned citizens, forced to see their
countries cheated out of revenues as illicit financial flows drain
Africa of its resources. Because of trade mispricing, opacity and
secrecy jurisdictions our continent has lost out on more than $1
trillion over the last 30 years. Africa is generating revenues, but
many of these flow to the pockets of rich corporations and
individuals rather than back to citizens. It shouldn't be this way.
We are addressing you as worried parents, who fear that by the time
our grandchildren grow up our country's natural resources will have
been depleted and we will have little to show for it. Our natural
resources are an opportunity for us to create better lives for our
future generations, but if good governance does not prevail that
chance will be squandered. And with oil, gas and mining, the one
chance is all you get.
We are addressing you as committed Africans and credible civil
society actors that engage in good governance. Despite the
difficulties there is a growing movement for good governance across
our continent. Countries are joining, and successfully implementing,
standards such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
They are taking ownership of natural resource management,
incorporating the Africa Mining Vision and providing the continent
with its own framework. We are building up expectations that the
government has a role to manage natural resources in an accountable
and transparent manner. But we, as civil society, need a guaranteed
space and platform so that we can operate.
You once said that "Africa's future is up to Africans" and that is
all we ask.
We are fighting every day to change our future. We risk arrest and
intimidation to bring the issue of natural resources into the open.
Where once silence reigned people now debate in the streets how their
revenues should be managed. But the extractive sector has many
players and there is only so much civil society can do within the
current confines of the game. The US and other developed countries,
as well as international extractive companies, profit hugely from the
sector and the rules play to their advantage. They have their role to
play too.
We are not asking for your charity - we are asking for a level
playing field. We see the US-Africa Leaders' Summit as a crucial
opportunity for all parties to make concrete commitments to enhancing
extractive governance. We are calling on our governments to commit to
an open and transparent bidding process for the allocation of
extractive contracts and licenses, including the publication of
contracts. We are calling on our governments to commit to creating
open budgeting processes, so that we can ensure extractive revenues
are responsibly spent. We also ask them to include beneficial
ownership declaration forms in procurement and contracts.
We have called on our governments. Today Mr. President, we
respectfully call on you.
It has been more than four years since you signed the Dodd-Frank Act,
section 1504 of which obliges all US listed extractive companies to
publish the payments they make. This law will yield crucial data that
can help us hold our governments to account, but it has yet to come
into effect. We ask you to urge the SEC for a swift publication of
the rules governing section 1504 to ensure that they are in line with
recent EU legislation and the emerging global standard for extractive
transparency.
The US once led on the issue of extractive transparency, we ask you
to reclaim that mantle and commit to working with other G7/G20
countries to adopt and implement measures similar to Dodd-Frank 1504
and the EU Transparency & Accounting Directives.
We call on you to commit to strengthening multilateral rules on
taxation to clamp down on trade mispricing and abusive transfer
pricing, to help ensure that African countries at least have a
fighting chance to profit from their resources.
Finally, we ask you to commit to creating a public registry of
corporate beneficial ownership information. Countries including the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and
Zambia are implementing this as part of the EITI standard and the UK
committed to doing so as part of the G7 Tax Trade and Transparency
agenda. We are looking at US leadership to follow suit.
Africa has the necessary resources to forge its own destiny. However
we need to change the global system that stacks the odds against us.
The revolution for open government and transparency has begun, we
call on you to help us complete it.
Yours Respectfully,
The Africa Publish What You Pay Steering Committee and members of the
Global Steering Committee
Representatives of the Africa PWYP Steering Committee
Taran Diallo, Guinea
Ali Idrissa, Niger
Bubelwa Kaiza, Tanzania
Jean-Claude Katende, DR Congo
Gilbert Maoundonodji, Chad
Steve Manteaw, Ghana
Faith Nwadishi, Nigeria
African representatives on the Global PWYP Steering Committe
Cecilia Mattia, Sierra Leone
Marc Ona, Gabon
Talking Points - AfricaFocus Bulletin
AfricaFocus Bulletin pays special attention to issues which are both
Africa-wide and global. Today's global issues take different forms in
different countries and on different continents. But the most
critical issues transcend geographical boundaries and demand common
action.
A few examples (below) are included in this set of pages prepared in
July 2014 (http://www.africafocus.org/intro-gen.php). Other issues
covered regularly by AfricaFocus, but not yet
included here, include Global Health and HIV/AIDS
(http://www.africafocus.org/healthexp4.php), Migration
(http://www.africafocus.org/migrexp.php) and Information and
Communication Technology (http://www.africafocus.org/ictexp.php).
Talking Points
- Global warming and environmental damage from the fossil-fuel
industry already affect all of us, although responsibility lies
primarily with the rich industrialized countries and the newly
industrializing powers. Africa is the most vulnerable continent, but
extreme weather and sea-level rise have hit New Orleans and New
Jersey as well as Lagos.
- When industries make decisions based on short-term profits,
encouraged by goverment subsidies to established industries, they
systematically discount damages from "externalities." Visible results
include the devastation of oil-producing areas in the Niger Delta and
of coal-producing areas, whether in South Africa or West Virginia.
The longer-term consequences in rising temperatures and more extreme
weather will be even more devastating.
- Action to combat climate change depends in part on decisions made
in international conferences, where the primary obstacles to action
are the rich countries and the newly industrializing powers. But
efforts at many other levels are also of decisive importance. Fossilfuel
divestment campaigns, as they grow and multiply, can affect
investment choices. So can technological innovation. Notably, clean
energy can already be more cost-effective than large-scale fossil
fuel plants in supplying distributed energy access to Africa.
Recent Bulletins
June 30, 2014 Africa: Clean Energy Most Cost-Effective
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/ces1406.php
"From off-grid LED lighting to 'Skinny Grids,' we can now provide
energy access with a fraction of the amount of power we used to need.
More importantly, we can unlock affordable initial interventions --
like lighting, mobile phone charging, fans, and TVs plus a small
amount of agro processing -- to help people get onto the energy
ladder today rather than forcing them to wait decades for a grid
extension that may never come. ... It's important to understand that
we aren't just imagining this clean energy market growth -- it's
already happening." -- Justin Guay, Sierra Club
February 26, 2014 Africa: Tracking Toxic Pollution
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/env1402.php
The damages produced by modern economies, termed "externalities" by
economists, most often do not figure in the market signals shaping
corporate profits and therefore corporate decision-making. The
result, both in advanced economies or around the world, includes not
only the massive threat to our common future through global warming,
but also extraordinary levels of toxic pollution disproportionately
affecting the most vulnerable. Of the top ten toxic threats around
the world identified in a new report, three are in Africa: the
Agbogbloshie Dumpsite for e-waste in Ghana, the entire Niger Delta
region in Nigeria, and the now-closed but still deadly lead mining
site in Kabwe, Zambia.
January 21, 2014 South Africa: Renewables Rising, Coal Still King
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/coal1401.php
"South Africa [is] the world's sixth-largest coal exporter, seventhlargest
coal producer, and thirteenth-largest CO2 emitter, with percapita
emissions twice the global average. Ninety-four percent of the
country's electricity comes from coal ... The country's abundant
solar and wind resources offer a promising renewable energy
alternative. But entrenched political interests connected to the
ruling party are fighting to expand coal's role in the national
economy." - Adam Welz, "The Future of Coal"
November 18, 2013 Africa: Time to Pay for Climate "Loss and Damage"
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/clim1311.php
"The U.S. delegation negotiating at the U.N. international climate
change conference in Poland is pushing an agenda of minimising the
role of "Loss and Damage" in the UNFCCC framework, prioritising
private finance in the Green Climate Fund, and delaying the deadline
for post-2020 emission reduction commitments, according to a State
Department negotiating strategy which IPS has seen." Inter Press
Service
Talking Points
- Inequality and tax evasion are growing both within and between
countries, while the rich on all continents funnel their wealth into
secret bank accounts scattered around the world. This erodes the
public sector, starves countries of funds needed for development, and
drives up deficits.
- The trend is worldwide as multinational companies shuttle money and
subsidiaries between countries to minimize taxes, while the ultrarich
and organized crime hide their assets in untraceable shell
accounts. But the toll in Africa is enormous, with losses estimated
at $50 billion to $80 billion a year due to illicit capital flight.
- One recent study, for example, estimated at least US$60.8 billion
in losses due to transfer pricing in or out of 5 African Countries
(Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda), from 2002-2011.
- The good news is that governments and multilateral agencies around
the world are waking up to this issue, and the pressure for
transparency in financial reporting is growing. The same technical
mechanisms that have been used to track funds of drug traffickers and
terrorist networks can now be used, if there is political will, to
track monies lost to illicit financial flows and tax evasion.
Recent Bulletins
June 1, 2014 South Africa: Disappearing Diamond Revenue
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/dia1406.php
"In 2011, South Africa produced diamonds whose uncut, or rough, value
was $1.73 billion, or 12 percent of global production, according to
the most recent government data available. Yet from 2010 to 2011,
diamond-producing companies paid South Africa's government just $11
million in mining royalties, according to the latest Tax Statistics
report, produced by the South African Treasury and the South African
Revenue Service." - Khadija Sharife
May 26, 2014 Africa: Fraudulent Trade & Tax Evasion
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/iff1405.php
"The fraudulent misinvoicing of trade is hampering economic growth
and potentially resulting in billions of U.S. dollars in lost tax
revenue in Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda, according
to a new report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington DCbased
research and advocacy organization. The study -- funded by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark -- finds that the over- and
under-invoicing of trade transactions facilitated at least US$60.8
billion in illicit financial flows into or out of the five African
countries between 2002 and 2011."
May 12, 2014 Africa: Report Highlights Resource Plunder
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/app1405.php
"Take the profit out of plunder: Africa's resources should be
sustainably managed for the benefit of Africa's peoples. National and
regional action alone will not be enough. The international community
must develop multilateral systems that prevent the plunder of
Africa's resources [of fisheries and forests]." - Africa Progress
Panel, 2014
April 30, 2014 Africa: Taxation Key to Fighting Inequality
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/tax1404.php
'In many countries, it is the poor who end up paying more tax as a
proportion of their income and this is just not right. When the rich
are able to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, a government must
rely on the rest of its citizens to fill its coffers. While tax
dodging goes unchecked, governments are severely hampered from
putting in place progressive tax systems - so fairer domestic tax
systems depend on global transparency measures' - Alvin Mosioma,
Director, Tax Justice Network - Africa
Talking Points
- Despite the image of a conflict-ridden continent, most African
countries are at peace. They are afflicted not by war and warlords
but by the less-visible kinds of "everyday" structural violence that
prevail around the world: violence against women or migrants, for
example, as well as abuses in police and prison systems, street crime
that disproportionately affects the poor, or, more generally,
systematic inequalities in access to basic social rights.
- African civil conflicts, where they are occurring, are most often
interpreted in terms of simplistic narratives applied to the entire
continent. But each country is distinct. When there is open war, as
in Somalia, South Sudan, northeastern Nigeria, or the Central African
Republic, the causes are complex. Using explanations such as "age-old
hostilities" or "tribalism" is wrong. But so is seeing external
powers such as the United States or France as the primary
contributors to violence, although colonial and Cold War histories,
as well as current arms sales, have decisively influenced the context
of today's conflicts.
- Leaders in Africa and around the world give lip service to
addressing root causes of terrorism, violent internal conflicts,
common crime, and other threats. In practice, they most often rely on
militarized responses that are ineffective and abusive of human
rights. In those countries where violent Islamic extremism is
present, standard global counter-terrorism strategies are almost
certain to further inflame the situation.
- Security forces, both of African governments and of multilateral
organizations such as the African Union and the United Nations, are
needed to protect civilians from violence carried out by non-state
actors. But peacekeeping actions are often underfunded, misdirected,
or both. The responsibility for funding and accountable management of
such missions should be global as well as regional and national.
- There are no simple or "one-size-fits-all" solutions to violence
and terrorism. Greater efforts are needed to address long-term causes
and exercise preventive diplomacy. But people affected by conflict
also need immediate help, both humanitarian assistance and
accountable, adequately funded protection from violence.
Recent Bulletins
July 14, 2014 Africa: Understanding Organized Crime
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/oc1407.php
"We have concluded that drug use must be regarded primarily as a
public health problem. Drug users need help, not punishment. We
believe that the consumption and possession for personal use of drugs
should not be criminalised. Experience shows that criminalisation of
drug use worsens health and social problems, puts huge pressures on
the criminal justice system and incites corruption. ... We caution
that West Africa must not become a new front line in the failed "war
on drugs," which has neither reduced drug consumption nor put
traffickers out of business." - West Africa Commission on Drugs
June 23, 2014 Central African Republic: Still A Forgotten Crisis
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/car1406.php
"The crisis that has plagued the Central African Republic (CAR) since
December 2012, particularly predation by both authorities and armed
groups, has led to the collapse of the state. ... Ending this cycle
of predatory rule and moving peacefully to a state that functions and
can protect its citizens requires CAR's international partners to
prioritise, alongside security, economic revival and the fight
against corruption and illegal trafficking. Only a close partnership
between the government, UN and other international actors, with
foreign advisers working alongside civil servants in key ministries,
can address these challenges." - International Crisis Group
June 9, 2014 Nigeria: Beyond the Hashtag Debates
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/nig1406.php
"As is often the case in situations of widespread insecurity and
violence, the displacement caused by Boko Haram and the [Nigerian]
army's operations against it has reduced people's ability to feed
themselves both directly and indirectly. Not only have IDPs exhausted
their own supplies, making them dependent on their hosts' resources,
but over 60 per cent of the region's farmers have been displaced just
before the start of the planting season, making food crops scarcer
and setting the scene for protracted shortages." - Internal
Displacement Monitoring Centre
May 19, 2014 Kenya: Refugee Crackdown "Counter-productive"
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/ken1405.php
"Harassment and forced repatriation [of Somali refugees in Kenya] is
likely to incite acute hatred against Kenya and entice more youth to
join the Al-Qaeda-linked extremist group. This strategy is
counterproductive. The government's decision to take this route has
provoked anger. Somalis, whether from Kenya or from Somalia, and the
Muslim community have suffered brutal police actions. This suits AlShabaab
propaganda and alienates a community that can help fight
terrorism," Nuur Sheikh, expert on conflict in Horn of Africa, in
interview with Inter Press Service.
Talking Points
- International agencies agree that small farmers are key to
addressing poverty and food insecurity in Africa. But commercial
monopolization of seeds and land grabs by both foreign and domestic
investors make a mockery of international pledges.
- Studies have found that attention to small farmers can be the most
effective strategy for increasing food production and providing
income to the rural population. But there are few effective controls
on the rush of investment into land by speculators and commercial
enterprises. Farmers who lose their land wait in vain for promised
replacement jobs. In South Africa and Namibia, the issue of land
distribution remains unresolved.
- At the same time, multinational companies such as Monsanto, which
monopolize the supply of commercial seeds and fertilizer, erode the
independence of small farmers by pressuring governments to outlaw
traditional practices of seed saving and sharing. The companies'
monopolistic strategies are supported by public and private
international donors, such as USAID and the Gates Foundation.
Recent Bulletins
March 17, 2014 Africa/Global: The Right to Food
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/food1403.php
"The right to food is the right of every individual, alone or in
community with others, to have physical and economic access at all
times to sufficient, adequate and culturally acceptable food that is
produced and consumed sustainably, preserving access to food for
future generations. ... Because of the various channels though which
access to food can be achieved, the creation of decent jobs in the
industry and services sectors plays an essential role in securing the
right to food, as does the provision of social protection."- Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Final Report
November 9, 2013 Africa: Monopolizing Maize
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/food1311.php
According to a new report from the African Centre for Biosafety, in
South Africa, "Monsanto's Bt maize, MON810, has failed hopelessly in
South Africa as a result of massive insect resistance, after only 15
years of its introduction into commercial agriculture." Yet the same
variety is being promoted in other African countries by projects
supported by Monsanto. And South Africa's supply of maize, a staple
food, is dominated by a few large companies and consists almost
entirely of GM crop varieties.
June 12, 2013 Africa: Underdeveloping African Agriculture
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/ag1306.php
"These interventions from AGRA [Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa] and the G8 are, first and foremost, about opening markets and
creating space for multinational corporations such as Yara, Monsanto
and Cargill, to secure profits. ... As world leaders speak in
philanthropic terms about 'ending hunger', behind the scenes Africa's
seed and trade laws are being 'harmonised' to the whim of agribusiness
giants. The efforts of Africa's farmers over millennia stand
to be privatised and expropriated, while traditional and vital
practices such as seed saving and sharing stand to be criminalised."
-- Francis Ngang, Secretary General of Inades-Formation
(http://www.inadesfo.net/)
June 12, 2013 Mozambique: Agriculture Project Challenged
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/moz1306.php
"We, the rural populations, families from the communities of the
Nacala Corridor, religious organisations and Mozambican civil
society, recognising the importance and urgency of combating poverty
and promoting sustainable and sovereign development, believe it is
timely and crucial to voice our concerns and proposals in relation to
the ProSavana Programme. ... After several discussions at community
level in the districts covered by this programme, with Mozambican
Government authorities [and with representatives of Brazil and
Japan], we find that there are many discrepancies and contradictions
[confirming] defects in the programme design; irregularities in the
alleged process of public consultation and participation; serious and
imminent threat of usurpation of rural populations' lands and forced
removal of communities from areas that they currently occupy." - Open
letter to leaders of Mozambique, Brazil, and Japan, May 28, 2013
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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