"Continent celebrates Africa Day"

By Sifelani Tsiko, www.herald.co.zw

AFRICA today celebrates the 41st anniversary of the founding of the continental body - the African Union at a time when it is battling to put a whole array of economic, political and social issues onto an even keel with other powerful countries.

This vast continent is working and hopes to drag the economy from a crisis by fighting corruption, poverty, hunger, the deadly HIV and Aids pandemic and encouraging investment.

But in the process, powerful countries continue to subdue and hurl everything they can find at this collective African spirit that seeks to bind, integrate and ensure Africans have control of their destiny and resources through a complex web of conditionalities tied with economic aid.

Despite this assault, the African spirit still lives on, unbowed by the divisive and dominant policies of powerful countries, which aim to exploit chiefly the economic resources of the African continent.

In the terms - Africa Day, The Herald unravels some of the events and issues taking place on this continent which is home to about more than 700 million people.

A for A little bit of history. The Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union, was founded on May 25 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia mainly to fight colonial rule and ensure the continent was independent. When it was launched, there were 30 independent countries and now 41 years later - all 53-member states on the continent have achieved political independence.

The anti-colonial movement in its early years was influenced and shaped by such renowned pan-African legends like Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Emperor Haile Selassie, Kenneth Kaunda and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere among others.

Last year, the OAU was transformed into the African Union, a continental body which has shifted its thrust from the fight against colonial rule to the more complex war of economic independence.

F is for Food for Thought. Drought, armed conflicts and lack of farming inputs continue to hamper food sufficiency in Africa. Last May, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation reported that 23 countries on the continent faced severe food shortages due to drought, poverty and armed conflict.

The African Union is now moving to set up an agricultural development fund to eliminate food deficiencies and increase food production. To attain self-sufficiency in food production, agricultural experts say there is need to promote strategic food crops like maize, wheat, sorghum, rice ad other cereals.

Agriculture is the key to the survival of the continent. At least 78 percent of Africa’s population is engaged in agricultural activities lending weight to Zimbabwe’s land reform programme. Zimbabwe is showing others the way to go and land redistribution and utilisation are now a priority for many African countries.

Food aid is a dangerous weapon in Africa and critics say donors often use it to interfere in the internal affairs of African countries.

"We are not hungry. It should go to hungrier people, hungrier countries than ourselves," President Mugabe told Sky TV News recently reaffirming his government crop forecast of 2,4 million tonnes of maize.

"Why foist this food upon us? We don’t want to be choked," he said with a touch of pride on the country’s prospects of a good harvest.

R is for resilience. Credit for resilience must be given to ordinary men and women who persevere everyday to make Africa what it is today. Through their daily struggles they toil on farms, mines, factories and everywhere in unimaginable places to produce goods and services for the continent.

It is them that give Africa a cause for the celebration of the African spirit that has emerged triumphant in the wake of adversity, slavery, colonialism, imperialism and all forms of exploitation that continue up to this day.

I is for Intra-Africa trade yet to be fully exploited. Africa has a great potential to increase intra-continental trade and create more economic opportunities.

Economic analysts say greater emphasis needs to be put on the harmonisation of customs procedures, reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, improving transport and communication links through investment in regional infrastructure.

Sub-regional and regional economic groupings are no doubt, a great step towards a realisation of the African dream for intra-continental trade and the creation of the African Economic Community.

Over reliance on Western markets still remains high and Africa is the loser in this scenario in which rich powerful nations peg the prices for their commodities.

Africa’s share of world exports fell from 6,3 percent in 1980 to 2 percent in 2000 according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Economies in Africa grew by an average of 3,6 percent in 2003, a level which is still far below the goals set in 2000 in the Millennium Development Goals.

Growth exceeded five percent in 17 African countries against 11 in 2002, while seven countries recorded negative growth last year.

Increased intra-African trade, debt reduction and the reforming of the world trade rules to meet the interests of exporting African countries can help the African economy to grow.

C is for Conflict resolution. Progress made towards ending conflicts in Angola, DRC, Liberia and Sudan has contributed to the improved economic growth of the continent.

The ratification of the African Union protocol on peace and security which is expected to be transformed into the Peace and Security Council forms an important foundation for a mechanism for preventing, managing and solving conflicts.

Military analysts say the establishment of the Peace and Security Council may be another milestone in the defence of the African cause for self-determination by Africans themselves.

"Its high time Africans have to be architects of their own destiny and indeed address the issues of security and peace on the continent on basis of African and home-grown solutions," says one analyst.

The UN Security Council, he says, has been deliberately insensitive to the appeals by Africa and even national governments for assistance when conflicts develop on the continent.

Peace is a critical ingredient for economic growth and investment.

A is for Aids. The HIV and Aids pandemic continues to wreck havoc on the continent. Anti-retrovirals are now being distributed to patients even though greater challenges related to affordability, access and continuity still abound.

The World Health Organisation in 2003 reported that there were 3,5 million new cases of HIV and Aids in Africa. East and Southern Africa were the highest hit regions in Africa having 38 percent of 3,5 million cases on the continent.

Africa also recorded the highest deaths as a result of the infection. The pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 17 million Africa and has affected 25 million others living with the disease.

By the end of 2002, Africa had become home to over 30 million of the 42 million people worldwide infected with HIV and Aids.

The fight against the pandemic has to go on using multifaceted strategies.

D is for Debt. Debt reduction is still another critical factor for the underdevelopment of the continent. Economist say reducing debt servicing to manageable levels is important for the growth of African economies.

Last year, it was estimated that the total debt burden of African countries stood at some US$300 billion of which US$149 billion is owed by 34 of the poorest countries on the continent.

Analysts say rich nations must cancel more debts while giving expanded trade privileges to spur African economic growth at the same time.

A is for Aid. The UN Economic Commission for Africa reported in March this year that there is a decline in external aid to Africa.

It said external aid, though vital for Africa’s development, has become unpredictable and of low quality.

The ECA said this unpredictability has become widespread in Africa as donors make unilateral changes in aid agreements without consulting the recipients and were imposing excessive conditionalities on aid.

In addition to this, the commission said, donors were now insisting on extensive reporting requirements, something, which has led to high transaction costs for recipient countries.

"For decades Africa has demanded aid, aid, aid," one Africa leader said in Washington. "I don’t want aid, I want trade."

And true, this what Africa needs.

Y is for Yebo South Africa as one paper in that country screamed after the giant southern neighbour won the bid to host the World Cup in 2010. Africa has been marginalised for years when it comes to the hosting world sporting events.

Sadc expects to benefit directly or indirectly from this world sporting event which has the potential to rake in billions of dollars to the SA economy with some millions trickling in to its neighbours.

Africa still faces formidable challenges ahead, but the winning of the bid to host the 2010 World Cup is a great step that will lift the African spirit high in the wake of adversity and everything bad hurled on it.

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http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=32288&pubdate=2004-05-25