Launch of the Report of the Commission for Africa

Address by K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa
Addis Ababa
11 March 2005

Prime Minister Meles,
Your Excellencies,
My good friend, Myles
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

First let me say that it has been an honour and a privilege to be a member of the Commission for Africa. Our work has been conducted in a spirit of cooperation and commitment and with a genuine conviction that ways must be found for Africa to develop.

And I believe we have produced a very significant document. Why do I say that?

This is the first time in my experience of reports on African development - and I have been involved in a great many - in which all sides really take responsibility for what has happened to our continent.
As the report puts it, we set out to "tell the truth about Africa".

Of course, our report clearly acknowledges that Africa is responsible for its own future and there is no doubt that we are moving forward. But no past report has gone as far as this one to acknowledge that the developed world also bears responsibility for the obstacles besetting Africa.
In this report we acknowledge the legacy of colonialism, the damaging impact of the structural adjustment years, the odious debt built up by irresponsible borrowing and irresponsible lending, the aid that was more designed to help wealthy donors than the poor recipients and the Cold War’s fuelling of African conflicts and backing for dictators who were hostile to their own people.
No one doubts that African governments have made serious mistakes but they have also repeatedly faced obstacles placed in their path by the rich world. And this must change if there is to be any progress. This report is not about blame. But acknowledging the past is vitally important, first, to give Africa confidence that our partners are really hand in hand with us and second because if we don’t really understand what went wrong in our past, we will not successfully move forward.

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Prime minister Meles has talked about the many things Africa must do to advance development.
But we also say Africa's partners have their part to play in kick-starting this process. I believe we have broken new ground in the kind of action being sought from Africa’s partners in the developed world.

For example, on debt, we have gone further in our recommendations than any such previous report. We are looking for 100% multilateral debt service cancellation for all sub-Saharan African countries. We also argue for a new type of debt relief compact to include all sub-Saharan low-income countries including those excluded from current schemes.

We are pushing the envelope on trade. On the WTO’s international trade talks, we want to see a “pro-development” agreement by the end of 2006 so that Africa and other developing countries and see the benefits quickly.

Here are some of the things we want to see in that agreement:

An end to rich countries’ trade-distorting support to cotton and sugar, a commitment by 2010 to end all export subsidies and all trade-distorting support in agriculture, progressive reduction of all tariffs to zero by 2015, bigger quotas and duty-free access to developed country markets for all low income sub-Saharan countries.

We are looking for dramatically more resources for Africa – and we give a bold and detailed explanation of why and how. We want to see aid to sub-Saharan Africa increasing by an additional 25 billion dollars per year, over the next five years. But this must be accompanied by a radical change in the way donors behave and deliver assistance, as well as by continued strong improvements in governance in African countries.

The use of policy conditionality alongside aid should be strongly reduced. We must also see more accountability on both sides and better monitoring of implementation - two vital new components of this new paradigm for development cooperation.

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Trade, aid and debt are obviously key areas. But let’s look at another area in detail – that of conflict.

Yes, Africa has a lot to do on this front - and we are doing it. Our leaders are working intensively to bring peace to Cote d’Ivoire, in Darfur and other places. Their recent resolute action in Togo shows the seriousness of their commitment to end military impunity on our continent.

Yet even here we say there is a vital role for our partners. For example, to enable the African Union to act quickly and effectively to resolve violent conflict, we call on donors to fund at least 50 percent of the African Union’s Peace Fund from 2005 onwards.

We call on the UN Security Council to establish the UN Peacebuilding Commission, with the powers and resources it needs to fulfill the mandate of preventing violent conflict, and coordinating post-conflict reconstruction.

And we say that by next year, the international community should open international negotiations on the development of an international “Arms Trade Treaty”.

Meanwhile, to control the trade in resources that fund Africa’s wars, we want the international community to agree on a common definition of “conflict resources” and create an Expert Panel within the UN to monitor the links between natural resource extraction and violent conflict.

And OECD countries should promote the development of clear and comprehensive guidelines for companies operating in areas at risk of violent conflict.

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Let me just touch on a couple of other areas where we are calling on Africa’s partners to make a key contribution.

One of those is in tackling the problem of corruption. In our report we argue that corruption is a systemic challenge and we need to tackle it from both sides – at the African end and at the other end where the bribes are offered.

African governments must create more transparent systems, but we would also like to see developed countries put into practice the OECD’s “Action Statement on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits”, and we want them all to sign up to the UN convention against corruption this year.

Africa also wants its stolen money back. We call for the right measures to be taken to allow the urgent repatriation of illicitly-acquired funds and assets held in the financial systems of developed countries, with a report back on progress by 2006.

The other key area I want to highlight is the AIDS pandemic. Again – Africa has a long list of action points in this area. But on the donor side there are many ways in which collaboration must be deepened.

To name only a couple of areas, we believe Africa’s partners should meet the current funding gap and increase support to 10 billion dollars per year within five years. And funding should become more long-term and predictable so that African countries can plan with confidence.

We also say donors must this year reach a global agreement, harmonising their disparate responses to HIV and AIDS.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

The timing of this report is critically important. 2005 could be a big year for Africa, with the UK’s G8 presidency, the UN Millennium Summit follow-up in New York in September, the Doha round and a number of other opportunities to renew political will to achieve Africa’s development.

My personal hope is that with this report we have made a major contribution to shaping the international agenda for Africa. The test will be whether we are able to influence the outcomes of all these key moments and meetings, towards real change.

This report was not meant to be a pious hope, but a call to action. Now that we have spelled out what needs to be done - it is time to advocate for Africa and to act.

Whether you are in government, in civil society, in business or the public sector, it is time to get together - nationally, regionally or internationally - and look at what we are proposing so that you can decide where and how to start implementing these recommendations.

The ball is now in all our courts - to see how, hand in hand, we can change the course of history and take Africa forward.