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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC) from 1995 to 2001 and by Africa Action
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Africa: UN Development Priorities
Any links to other sites in this file from 1995 are not clickable,
given the difficulty in maintaining up-to-date links in old files.
However, we hope they may still provide leads for your research.
Africa: UN Development Priorities
Date Distributed (ymd): 950724
United Nations Priorities for Development of Africa
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Address to the Economic and Social Council
Geneva, July 4, 1995
Excerpts:
I welcomed with great interest the final communique of the
recent "Group of Seven" Summit held in Halifax and the
proposals put forward therein to enable the United Nations
system to promote sustainable development more effectively and
to ensure a better distribution of the fruits of growth. ...
I believe, as they do, that the "persistence of extreme
poverty and marginalization of the poorest countries is simply
not compatible with universal aspirations for prosperity and
security". [see below, further excerpt from Halifax Summit]
Indeed, the end of ideological confrontation has not given the
world the peace or development it has a right to expect. The
progress made in the global economy seems to have bypassed the
most disadvantaged countries. In some of them, the structure
of the State itself has collapsed, and societies have been
plunged into complete disarray. Poverty, hunger and illiteracy
plague more than a fifth of the global population, and the
social situation is deteriorating dangerously in many parts of
the world.
...
For the present, you have decided to devote the high-level
segment of this session to the development of Africa. And I
support you wholeheartedly, for the African continent
represents our most urgent priority in terms of its need for
the solidarity of the international community.
Here again, I was very pleased to note the serious concern
expressed by the industrialized countries at the Halifax
Summit with regard to sub-Saharan Africa. I welcome their
commitment to cooperate "with other countries to encourage
relevant multilateral institutions" to reduce the extreme
poverty engulfing Africa. The final communique of the Halifax
Summit contains extremely interesting proposals concerning the
United Nations system which should greatly inspire us. Today,
this continent often baffles the world by continually giving
the international community reasons for alternating between
hope and discouragement.
Some short-term indicators may appear satisfactory. For
example, in 1995, the growth of total output on the continent
reached its highest level in six years. Moreover, some
countries, owing primarily to economic policy reforms, have
seen their gross domestic product increase in the past few
years.
But the structural weaknesses are there, and in many cases,
they are becoming more critical. The current improvement in
growth rates is still much too slight to compensate for the
lag accumulated over 15 years of economic decline.
Economic performance is disappointing, even in countries that
have made substantial reforms. In 1994, for instance, two
African countries, Angola and Eritrea, were added by the
General Assembly to the list of least developed countries. At
the same time, only Botswana moved out of that category.
Among the factors hindering Africa's development one can
mention inadequate infrastructures, weak institutions, poorly
utilized human resources, a great vulnerability to natural and
climatic disasters and the impact of unfavourable terms of
trade.
To this must be added the debt burden, runaway population
growth and environmental deterioration. Twenty-five per cent
of the arid lands in Africa, for instance, are today
experiencing soil degradation. That is the highest percentage
in the world.
We know also, though, that development in Africa is seriously
hampered by the unstable political situation there.
Admittedly, South Africa continues to advance along the road
to democracy. Peace has returned to Mozambique. And in Angola,
the situation allows us to glimpse, at last, some real hope of
national reconciliation.
Yet the African continent is still too often the scene of
ethnic confrontations and civil wars that compound the
existing poverty and underdevelopment. Some countries continue
to offer us the distressing spectacle of peoples tearing each
other to pieces. And in various parts of the continent,
tensions are liable, at any moment if we do not take care, to
degenerate into bloody combats.
At the end of 1994, Africa had nearly 7 million refugees and
about 2 million displaced persons, which is the highest figure
in the world.
We all know that institutional and political instability,
persistent tensions and incessant confrontations are major
obstacles to development.
Indeed, while there can be no peace without development, it is
also not possible to have sustainable development without
peace. Conflicts help to spawn poverty, and povrty is itself
an undeniable factor in conflict. This vicious cycle
absolutely has to be broken.
For years now, the United Nations system has been trying to
overcome these difficulties and promote Africa's development.
Within the whole spectrum of United Nations agencies and
programmes, action is being stepped up with that goal in mind.
The World Food Programme, the Economic Commission for Africa,
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United
Nations Childrens' Fund (UNICEF), and most of the specialized
agencies are sparing no effort to bring help to the continent
by way of technical, financial and humanitarian assistance.
But we must go still further. For it is essential to meet the
increasingly pressing needs of African women and men. This is
why the Organization has made the development of Africa one of
its priorities for the 1990s.
As you know, this falls under the New Agenda for the
Development of Africa, adopted by the General Assembly in 1991
and reviewed in 1994.
Last autumn, to round out the activities already undertaken
under the Agenda, we made a point of launching a special
initiative on behalf of Africa in the Administrative Committee
on Coordination.
I asked that a steering committee be given the task of
formulating specific projects in the short and the medium term
to promote the development of Africa in areas like food
security, institutional strengthening, private-sector
expansion, desertification and social development. I am hoping
your deliberations over the next two days will help give new
impetus to this initiative.
As I see it, today, in order to sustain the development of the
countries of Africa, the Organization must move in several
directions that I believe should now have priority.
To begin with, the United Nations must help Africa to
strengthen its regional structures. With this in mind, the
bonds of cooperation that exist between the United Nations and
the Organization of African Unity must be strengthened.
In this respect, I am heartened by the fact that the Treaty of
Abuja, which I had the honour to sign and which established
the African Economic Community, is now fully in force. And I
can only applaud initiatives like that taken by the Tunisian
Government when it organized, this May, a pan-African
conference of energy ministers.
Furthermore, the United Nations absolutely must help African
countries to diversify their economies. Africa's products have
to be allowed access to foreign markets. It must be fully
recognized that Africa is the only region in the world that
may be hurt by the Uruguay Round agreements.
Indeed, the challenge to trade preferences and the anticipated
rise in prices for food products, which the African continent
imports more heavily than it exports, will probably not be
offset, at least in the short term, by the trade stimulus
which for other countries will be the chief result of the
Uruguay Round.
Help is therefore needed to counterbalance this temporarily
negative impact. Assistance should allow new export
capabilities to be created and production to be diversified,
with a shift especially towards non-traditional sectors. This
was the thinking behind the creation of a diversification fund
to facilitate the establishment of investment credits.
It is also necessary for the international community to decide
at long last to take on the nagging problem of African debt.
A large number of the countries in Africa are today crushed by
an unbearable external debt burden, and many of them are
accumulating unmanageable arrears.
The outstanding principle of Africa's long-term debt today
amounts to $37 billion, accounting for half the outstanding
debt of the entire third world. Obviously, the issue of
finding the financial resources needed for African recovery
and development will not be satisfactorily dealt with until
the debt problem is solved.
I should like to draw your special attention here to the debt
overhang of certain African countries with multilateral
financial institutions. According to the World Bank, only six
out of the 21 most indebted African countries are in a
position to repay their debt, even under the softest borrowing
terms.
Beyond the debt problem, I trust that the international
community will not only maintain but also raise its level of
assistance to the African continent. Africa is the only region
in the world that did not benefit from the recent increase in
private capital flows to the developing countries.
Except for a few countries, official financing remains the
main source of capital for the African continent. The drop in
official development assistance that occurred since 1993 is
particularly alarming. One source of serious concern, in
particular, is that the United States share in total official
development assistance to African countries fell from 17 per
cent 10 years ago to 12 per cent today. Only an increase in
the European Union's share, which now accounts for 40 per cent
of the total amount, has made it possible to make up for this
reduction. The United Nations should also help African
countries to establish effective social institutions. Let us
never forget that social development depends, above all, on
the political will of States.
The State cannot be reduced to a closed circle of political
leaders. The State is, first of all, an administration -- one
that is sound, honest, devoted, well-informed, concerned with
public service and the general interest, and attentive to the
social needs of its citizens, both men and women. We are all
aware that social administration has yet to be created, for
the most part, in many African countries.
Lastly, it is essential for the United Nations to support the
efforts of African countries to improve public education and
vocational training. Africa's population, far from being a
handicap, is an inestimable resource and guarantor of its
future, but only if enough food and medical attention are
first of all assured. These are the basic conditions of social
development. In addition, we must openly share our knowledge,
constantly encouraging the transfer of technology and
promoting communications and development in rural areas.
In this regard, I draw your attention to a proposal to finance
research to promote a "green revolution" in Africa, which was
formulated in the World Economic and Social Survey 1995.
Nothing will be possible for the international community,
however, unless African men and women take their fate into
their own hands.
I should also like to say that, in these efforts to further
the development of Africa, I attach great importance to any
initiatives that may be taken within the Organization of
African Unity. This institution is one that, in my view, must
play a larger role in promoting the continent's economic and
social development. And, in this perspective, I hope that new
ties will be established between the Organization of African
Unity and the United Nations.
The United Nations must ask Africans themselves, all Africans,
to become the driving force behind development efforts.
Governments, regional organizations, non-governmental
organizations and the African people all have a decisive role
to play. I have no doubt that they will be able to take up the
development challenge. I believe deeply in the capacity of
African men and women for work, action, initiative and
imagination. I am also aware of their strong sense of
solidarity, without which real economic and social development
cannot be conceived. I wanted to take these few minutes to
reaffirm the importance I attach personally to the development
of Africa. For me, this issue is one of the most essential and
urgent of all those that face us. I eagerly await your
comments and suggestions, so that we can work together towards
the development of Africa.
***********************************************************
From the G-7 Summit Declaration in Halifax, Canada, 18 June
1995, by the leaders of the United States, Canada, Japan,
France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and the European Union
Reducing Poverty
28. An overriding priority is to improve the plight of the
world's poor. Persistence of extreme poverty and
marginalization of the poorest countries is simply not
compatible with universal aspirations for prosperity and
security. Sub-Saharan Africa faces especially severe
challenges. We will work with others to encourage relevant
multilateral institutions to:
focus concessional resources on the poorest countries,
especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa, which have a
demonstrated capacity and commitment to use them effectively,
and take trends in military and other unproductive spending
into account in extending assistance;
direct a substantially increased proportion of their
resources to basic social programmes and other measures which
attack the roots of poverty.
29. We welcome the Paris Club response to our encouragement
last year to improve the treatment of the debt of the poorest
countries and urge the full and constructive implementation of
the Naples terms. We recognize that some of the poorest
countries have substantial multilateral debt burdens. We will
encourage:
the Bretton Woods institutions to develop a comprehensive
approach to assist countries with multilateral debt problems,
through the flexible implementation of existing instruments
and new mechanisms where necessary;
better use of all existing World Bank and IMF resources and
adoption of appropriate measures in the multilateral
development banks to advance this objective and to continue
concessional ESAF lending operations.
30. Open markets throughout the world are also crucial to
accelerated economic growth in the developing countries.
Multilateral institutions should work to assist the
integration of the poorest countries into the world trading
system. We encourage the WTO to monitor and review the Uruguay
Round's impact on the least developed countries.
*********************************************************
In the two-day ECOSOC discussion on African development
following the Secretary-General's statement, of the G-7
countries, only Germany, Canada and Italy made statements.
The German statement was the most extensive. According to the
UN press release:
HELMUT SCHAEFER, Minister of State, Federal Foreign Office of
Germany, said the basic prerequisite for a successful
development process in Africa was the greater integration of
African States into the world economy. Participation in world
markets implied that domestic macroeconomic policies had to be
adapted to global economic process. That meant that
governments should encourage a social culture in which the
private sector could create more and better jobs. They should
contribute to international trade, investment, internal
savings and non-inflationary growth. Sustainable development,
social and environmental issues should also become part of
their political agenda.
A favourable legal and administrative framework and
well-functioning markets would enhance the development of
entrepreneurship and of small-and medium-sized businesses.
All such conditions would help to increase confidence in
domestic economic policies, create and mobilize savings and
encourage productive investment and would facilitate the
necessary permanent process of structural adjustment in
African countries. Germany would continue to support Africa
in all its efforts.
*******************************************************
This material is being reposted for wider distribution
by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's
primary objective is to widen the policy debate in the
United States around African issues and the U.S. role
in Africa, by concentrating on providing accessible
policy-relevant information and analysis usable by a
wide range of groups and individuals. APIC is
affiliated with the Washington Office on Africa (WOA),
a not-for-profit church, trade union and civil rights
group supported organization that works with Congress
on Africa-related legislation.
*******************************************************
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