International cooperation
"Afropessimism", the
enemy of democracy
Reconsidering the effects of international aid for the development of
Africa over the last decade, from a human rights standpoint
by Attilio Massimo Iannucci
Despite the serious conflicts and the environmental and epidemic catastrophes
that are frequent on the African continent, Attilio Massimo Iannucci suggests
looking at the positive phenomena indicating change, for example the processes
of democratisation that have been taking place in many African countries
in the last few years. In this context, Iannucci particularly stresses
the important role of international cooperation and the possibilities
offered by a global approach to the problems facing Africa today, placing
greater attention on strategies for prevention and reaction to existing
risks.
The significant political and economic changes which have affected Sub-
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| A view of Abidjan across the harbor before
the new bridge, Abidjan, Ivory Coast Source: Lauer Joseph, University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. Africa Focus. 2000 |
In 1996, with the approval on the part of OECD-DAC of a document entitled Shaping the 21st Century, the donor community set itself a series of objectives, undertaking to do away with gender discrimination in primary and secondary education by 2005, to put in place sustainable development strategies and to invert the environmental degradation trend, to half the population in a state of absolute poverty, to ensure primary education and access to basic health care and family planning services for all, to reduce infant mortality and that for children under five of two thirds and, finally, to reduce deaths in childbirth by three fourths..
The approach of Italian diplomacy towards promoting African development is a global one, as it aims at the improvement of conditions for the entire continent, although at the same time its is also more focused towards specific regions historically linked to the country. This approach, which is coordinated with the initiatives of other western donor countries, is put in practice in the support provided to both continental and regional African multilateral institutions, but does not fail to also take a bilateral stance which strives to acknowledge, appreciate and support the efforts made by each country in their specific economic, social and political contexts.
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| Gifty Affeny i-Dadzie (left), president
of the Ghana Journalists Association; Kakuna Kerina (center), coordinator
of the Comittee to Protect Journalists Africa Program and Kabral Bray
-Amihere, president of the West African Journalist's Association. Source: CPJ - Comittee to Protect Journalists |
Thus, alongside objectively difficult situations such as those in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Rwanda and Burundi, Sudan and Somalia, a few positive glimpses have enabled Italian diplomacy to start bilateral initiatives in Mozambique, Angola and Uganda, where, albeit slowly but surely, democracy is growing and economy is evolving towards an increasingly market-oriented system. An important positive example of this trend is provided by South Africa.
Democracy and human rights are undoubtedly fundamental to the development of Africa. However, we cannot avoid taking into account that the different situations in the interested countries, which result from specific historical and cultural processes, can at times temporarily give rise to forms of democracy which do not always agree with western standards. Based on the conviction that initiatives should be conceived and undertaken in such a way as to support the processes of political and economic reform initiated by the powers that rule in the beneficiary countries, the objectives of Italian co-operation in Africa can thus be summarised as follows: the fight against poverty and diseases; the promotion of fair and sustainable growth; the prevention and resolution of conflicts; and the provision of an adequate response to the great international issues.
Cooperation initiatives which favour political maturity at all government levels, both local and central, at the same time also promote the economic growth of beneficiary countries, as they make new resources available to civil society in the form of a network of relationships based on reciprocal trust and legality, rather than on authoritarianism and abuses of power. In the same way, by helping African governments develop their advisory bodies it is possible to contribute to the prevention of mass violations of human rights, often recorded in the past decade, while at the same time reducing the number of refugees, thus also keeping in check the spread of epidemics and environmental degradation which inevitably accompany conflict situations.
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| Students at National Parliament
building, Gaborone, Botswana Source: Volz Stephen, University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. Africa Focus. 2000 |
On the other hand, one of the factors which goes against the work already carried out and any good intentions for the future, is that most African countries live at the margins of the trade exchange systems and international investment flows. From this point of view, the continent's situation appears to be particularly dramatic; in the past decade African exports have not only stayed at very modest levels, but have even recorded a fall. This commercial marginalization is accompanied by an equally obvious financial marginalization, that is, the actual inability on the part of the poorer countries to attract international financial flows. Indeed, despite the fact that in recent years direct investments towards developing countries have increased noticeably, these nevertheless remain concentrated in a few countries which are more attractive to the private sector, while only 3.2% of such flows is directed at the African continent.
As regards access to basic resources, more than half of
the African population have no safe water supplies and two thirds no adequate
sanitation systems. Africa, which counts for about 12% of the world population,
records about 80% of the deaths by Aids and about 90% of malaria deaths.
The health of a population is a fundamental element towards the definition
of any economic model. If it is true that widespread
poverty lowers the general level of health, the reverse is also
true, in that the inability to raise the level of health of a population
translates into the impossibility of carrying out better development plans.
In the mid 90s African countries paid over 25 million dollars
a year for their debts and only 15 million dollars for healthcare-related
expenses. The World Health Organization estimated the economic loss caused
by malaria at 2.2 billion dollars a year and pointed out that, at the
yearly cost of one billion dollars, the deaths caused by this disease
could be reduced by half.
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| The Egyptian Museum, Cairo Source: Wass Betty, University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. Africa Focus. 2000 |
World-wide public opinion is aware of the fact that the availability and costs of the drugs which could significantly help reduce the spreading of the main diseases of Africa also depend of trade policies and patents. Therefore it also considers legitimate the decision of the South African government to introduce on the market drugs at lower prices - corresponding to their actual production and distribution cost - than those demanded by the pharmaceutical industries of industrialized countries. Italy also backs this need and - although recognizing the need for balanced solutions which do not damage research - supports it with the G8.
At the beginning of 2001, the South African President Mbeki, the Algerian President Bouteflika and the Nigerian President Obasanjo launched an ambitious development plan known as the Millennium African Recovery Plan (MAP). Leaving aside the purely rhetorical aspect, the plan is laid out differently from declarations of autonomy in the Africa to Africans tradition. Indeed, the plan involves a commitment on the part of African leaders in favour of peace, stability and good administration, in the hope that this will induce the West to increase the investments and aid to development directed towards the country. At the basis of the plan is the consideration that, by reducing the risks perceived by potential investors, Africa has all chances to become an economically promising area and to therefore take steps along the way to sustainable development. More particularly, the plan involves African countries' undertaking the commitments mentioned against the financing, on the part of the international community, of specific investment and development programmes in the areas of conflict prevention, road construction, food and agriculture, education and telecommunications.
The plan's launch is also a sign of a real capacity for proposition on the part the African continent, showing its willingness to not resign itself to its tragic condition. The first international reactions have been generally encouraging, but the commitments foreseen by the plan will have to begin to be honoured by concrete measures for the limitation of conflicts and the promotion of democracy. As suggested by the DAC, in the Guidelines on Conflict, Peace and Development Cooperation on the Threshold of the 21st Century, the prevention of conflict and its causes are values by now fully shared by the entire donor community. Conflict prevention is perceived today as an integrating part of policies for the reduction of poverty, the promotion of economic growth and the improvement of a population's standards of living, within a sustainable development context. The objective is to incorporate the conflict prevention lens into all donor policies, including those for cooperation, commerce and the regulation of investments, as well as foreign policies, in order to spread a culture of prevention towards the creation of a clear, coordinated, coherent and effective prevention system.
Given this premise the international community cannot fail to respond with investment and development initiatives, otherwise it runs the risk of marginalizing Africa further. And in this case we should expect - as well as further political and military crises, environmental catastrophes and the spread of diseases - a general increase of its level of poverty, with social consequences which would soon be felt in industrialized countries.
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| Mr. Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Former President
of Tanzania, giving the opening speech at a football match organized
as part of the "ISHI -Live Youth HIV/AIDS Behaviour Change Communication
Campaign" Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Source: Koehler Jane, JHU/CCP |
These dramatic possibilities mean that it is necessary to widen the angle from which the problems of the developing world, and of Africa in particular, are viewed, and to study such situations more in depth by the most suitable means. To this end, since the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, and in the latest yearly report on development published by the World Bank [Attacking Poverty, 2000], the concept of the vulnerability of individuals and the social and economic context in which they live is taking shape. This analysis starts from the assumption that the elimination of poverty depends in great measure on the capacity of individuals, but - at a higher level of responsibility - also on the capacity of international organizations and institutions to put in place prevention and reaction strategies for the risks involved in particularly difficult situations - in terms of environmental conditions, hygiene-healthcare, production, ethnic and religious conflicts, etc. - in which these individuals are forced to live. In essence, the approach to vulnerability aims to find ways of strengthening such strategies by promoting greater knowledge of the social, economic and organizational contexts of weaker communities and the search for the most suitable policies to contribute to the promotion of more self-sustainable development processes.
ATTILIO MASSIMO IANNUCCI
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Born in Ceprano, in the province of Frosinone, Latium,
Italy in 1947. He has a degree in law and political science and a PhD
in International Law. He began his diplomatic career in 1972 and has on
several occasions rendered service at the Italian Foreign Ministry. His
appointments abroad include: Consul in Lausanne, Press Advisor in Cairo,
First Counsellor in Beirut and Counsellor Minister in Beijing. Appointed
Plenipotentiary Minister, since 29 September1998 he is Vice-Director General
for Cooperation in Development at the Italian Foreign Ministry.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN AFRICA
It is not an easy task to outline an overview
of the professional associations in Africa because there are many in many
countries and they represent groupings of extremely different professions:
architects, insurance agents, lawyers,
financial analysts, journalists, engineers, veterinarians, merchants,
teachers, farm experts, dentists, surgeons, tour operators, airline personnel,
doctors, nurses, pharmacists, bankers, etc.
Following are some examples researched through the Internet, that are indicative of how widespread the phenomena are throughout the continent.
The Uganda Law Society (http://uls.or.ug), whose head office is in Kampala, accounts for 500 members distributed in all the regions of the country. Whereas the Law Society of Kenya (www.lsk.or.ke), which recently celebrated 50 years of activity, has a membership of about 3,000 practicing lawyers and is also a member of the African Bar Association (ABA), the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and the International Bar Association. There are lawyers' associations and societies in more than thirty African states.
The last ten years have seen the development of many independent journalists' associations (both in the public and private sectors), and the creation and strengthening of important regional organizations like the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the East Africa Media Institute and the West African Journalists Association. The latter also belongs to the Ghana Journalists Association (www.ghanamedia.com/gja/), that has more than 800 affiliates and is also a member of the International Federation of Journalists. Furthermore, in recent years the women have gained ground professionally, because more are being employed on editorial staff and they are forming their own associations, such as the Federation of African Women Media, the Zambia Media Women Association, the Uganda Media Women Association (http://interconnection.org/umwa/; More information can be obtained from the site of the African Women's Media Center www.awmc.com).
Doctors, nurses and pharmacists also have their professional associations in many countries. Two examples are the Medical Association of Senegal (www.ordremedecins.sn), that has about 650 members (260 working in the public sector and 390 in the private sector), and the a Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (www.psnigeria.org), which together with other associations is active in 12 countries of Sub-Saharian Africa and is also a regular member of the International Pharmaceutical Federation.
(G. Caiati)