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Le Canada et l’ONU > Newton Bowles Reports Ce document est disponible seulement en anglais.
Africa Africa with its interlocking tragedies of war and poverty was front-stage at the U.N. in 1998, both in the Security Council and in the General Assembly. The U.S. got the Security Council, at "Ministerial" level, to hold a special meeting on Africa in September 1997 at which the Council asked the Secretary-General to give them a report on Africa. He did so, producing a study that is splendid in its scope; and in its fearless exposition of what is happening, of who is responsible (short of naming names), and of what must be done. (For U.N. buffs, this is a must read. Although particular to Africa, much of the analysis of conflict applies everywhere. Document A/52/871 of 17 April 1998, entitled "The causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa".) In 1998, the Security Council met twice on Africa (September and December). Its year-end Presidential Statement, which I have discussed earlier in this report, in effect embraces the notion of human security, no peace without justice, food for all, etc. Thus may Africa be not only the cradle of homo sap., but in its tragedy the cradle of deeper understanding-- no pain, no gain. I say may-- it ain't necessarily so. Time will tell. Beginning with a caveat (Africa is big and varied), the report in effect says that Africa today needs to take on its own destiny, avoiding the attribution of its malaise to its colonial past or to a hostile contemporary world. In many countries, says the report, political power is personalized, exploitative, irresponsible and ethnically divisive. I continue my summary. The spoils of war-- diamonds, oil, gold, timber and arms, especially light weapons-- are also what finances and prolongs war. Identifying arms dealers and choking off the trade in small arms would help a lot. Foreign commerce is complicit, and neighbouring States may also be crossing the borders. (My comment: This is well known of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Also Angola. The personal network among political lordlings is important. About foreign commerce, when will June brides blanch at the blood on their diamonds?) Where this is happening, no one wants to invest. This is not the whole picture. Extreme poverty, which reigns in 33 of Africa's 53 countries, makes for instability. Here external circumstance is critical. National wealth usually depends on exports of a few primary products which often face import restrictions; and, in any case, bring less money because price has gone down. External aid-- ODA, official development assistance-- continues to go down. As much as 60 percent of African export revenue is eaten up by servicing external debt, so these debts must be forgiven or drastically reduced. While the OAU is trying to build capacity to resolve conflict, it isn't able yet to do much. UN support for peacekeeping is urgently needed. Also to create and maintain security (peace), a big increase in external capital is urgently needed. These are some core elements of this perceptive and challenging report. We have a good idea of what needs to be done. Do "we" (Africans and the rest) want to do it? It was smart of the Secretary-General to address his report to both the Security Council and the General Assembly; and it was unusual and good that this subject was simultaneously under consideration in both. The G.A. agenda also included a review the U.N. "New Agenda" for African development in the 1990's (another dazzling acronym: UN-NADAF). It would have made sense for the G.A. to discuss the two (conflict and development, UN-NADAF) together, but it didn't, which inflicted regurgitation. (This "New Agenda" was intended to concentrate and give a boost to U.N. aid so as to have a significant impact in Africa. With dwindling resources, not much could be done.) Altogether, the G.A. spent about a week on Africa. Upshot: it endorsed the Secretary-General's recommendations, with exhortation to everyone to (get the will to) act. The ICRC delegate (daughter-in-law of the first UNICEF Representative in China) had hope for Africa: "Africa is rich in traditions imbued with profound human values which it shares with humanitarian law and which can be found in the codes that have traditionally governed the conduct of hostilities. The challenge before us all is therefore to revive those values, especially among the young..." Is it too late to be young? |
