ENDURING PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN UNITED NATIONS AND ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY IS PRICELESS, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS OAU ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

13 July 1999

Press Release
SG/SM/7066
AFR/155

ENDURING PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN UNITED NATIONS AND ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY IS PRICELESS, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS OAU ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

19990713 'Together, I Have No Doubt That We Can Find the Path of Durable Peace And Lasting Prosperity in Africa', Kofi Annan Tells African Leaders in Algiers

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's address to the Annual Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), in Algiers on 12 July:

Je suis très honoré de me trouver à nouveau parmi vous. Permettez-moi tout d'abord de remercier le Gouvernement et le peuple algérien pour leur hospitalité. Laissez-moi aussi, avec tous ceux et celles qui sont ici présents, féliciter de nouveau le Président Abdelaziz Bouteflika pour sa récente élection.

L'Algérie occupe une place particulière dans le coeur de tous les Africains, en particulier ceux qui, comme moi, se souviennent d'avoir suivi au jour le jour sa lutte de libération nationale et sa contribution majeure à l'unité et à la solidarité de l'Afrique, ainsi que son combat pour la coopération Sud-Sud.

Depuis votre élection, Monsieur le Président vous avez pris des décisions courageuses pour restituer à l'Algérie sa véritable identité dans l'unité et la concorde, et pour lui redonner la place qui est la sienne en Afrique et dans le monde. Une fois de plus, je vous souhaite plein succès dans cette noble entreprise.

Algeria is far from the only nation in Africa where important and positive changes are taking place. In the past week alone, we have seen the successful conclusion of a peace settlement for Sierra Leone, and the completion of a ceasefire agreement that promises to end the fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I would like to congratulate the African Presidents and other leaders whose personal involvement made the crucial difference in these long and difficult negotiations. The United Nations will do its part to ensure the effective implementation of these agreements.

The past year has also seen a break in the long stalemate over the Lockerbie air disaster. I would like to take this opportunity to thank King Fahd and former President Mandela for the support they gave to the United Nations and to me as Secretary-General in the resolution of this situation. All this would not have been possible without the full cooperation of Colonel Al-Qadhafi, and I thank him.

In recent months, South Africa has held its second democratic election and Nigeria has returned to civilian rule through a fair, free and democratic process. Ex-President Abubakar has demonstrated real statesmanship in steering the country in this very encouraging direction. Now, the democratically elected leader, President Obasanjo, is providing Nigeria with dynamic and visionary leadership.

And two weeks from today, Liberia will ignite a great bonfire of weapons decommissioned from its civil war -- a symbolic display that bodes well for the consolidation of peace in that country.

At the same time, however, deadly conflicts persist: in Angola, in the Congo Republic, and between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The United Nations will continue to do what we can to bring about an end to these hostilities. In Western Sahara, United Nations officials are continuing their efforts to arrange a referendum. And in the Central African Republic, we have mounted a multi-dimensional peacekeeping operation responsible for organizing elections, disarmament and other tasks.

Along with conflict, in the past year we have also witnessed, in the Comoros, Guinea-Bissau and Niger, new examples of a problem we hoped we had put behind us -- and new deviations from the principle, agreed to in Harare two years ago, that the will of the people must be the basis of authority in Africa and that governments, duly elected, should not be overthrown by force.

Indeed, it was the persistence and prevalence of conflict in Africa that formed the rationale for the special report I submitted last year to the Security Council and General Assembly.

One of the main points of that report was the intimate connection between peace and development. The development of Africa has always been one of the United Nations prime concerns, and with good reason: healthy development is the best long-term conflict prevention we know. Donor governments, driven by short-term publicity, often fail to make that connection. But so do we Africans ourselves. Two of the recommendations in my report were that African States should reduce their purchases of weapons and ammunition to 1.5 per cent of gross national product (GNP), and should impose zero growth on their defence budgets for 10 years. In too many States, however, things are still moving the opposite way.

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And of course, it is not only governments which are buying arms. To stem the flow, particularly of illegal weapons, we need cooperation and decisive action from the countries that produce them.

If weapons of war soak up resources, war itself is far worse. It destroys the development already achieved. It blights the prospect of whole nations, indeed the whole continent. Conflict in some countries jeopardizes the development of all the others, even the best governed.

Until we get a handle on these conflicts, Africa will not attract the private investment and official develop aid it so badly needs; nor will it liberate the creative and entrepreneurial energies of its people.

Last week, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, along with the International Chamber of Commerce, published a study showing that Africa brings a higher return to American and Japanese companies which invest there than any other region of the world.

That being so, why are investors all over the world not beating a path to Africa's door? Because Africa's profitability is one of the best kept secrets in today's world economy.

The continent has also posted impressive rates of economic growth in recent years, which is all the more remarkable given the effects of conflict, the Asian crisis and depressed commodity prices.

But most chief executives of multinational companies never look in detail at the prospect of any African country. They know Africa only from a few headlines or the odd minute of television news, which show a continent disfigured by conflict. They see a continent in crisis. That is the image we are up against. For many African countries it is a gross distortion. For others it has a basis in reality. All of us have an obligation to help change that reality, and a strong interest in doing so.

As if that were not challenge enough, we also have the impact of AIDS. Every minute that passes, four young Africans are infected with HIV. Every day, Africa buries five-and-a-half thousand of its sons and daughters who have died of AIDS.

Terrible as it is for the families directly affected, this plague is also devastating our economic prospects. As former President Nelson Mandela has said, "AIDS kill those on whom society relies to grow the crops, work in the mines and the factories, run the school and govern nations and countries."

We Africans have to fight back. We have to face unpleasant facts and confront them head on. I am here, as Secretary-General of the United Nations,

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to assure you that if you do that, you will not be alone. The United Nations and its funds and programmes are working alongside you.

And despite setbacks, I am encouraged by much that I see in Africa today.

Most Africans are confronting their problems with courage and imagination. These are people who deserve help, and have shown they know how to use help when it comes.

Some of these people are struggling against their government, or in places where government hardly exists. But Government is not always the villain. More and more African Governments are showing that they know the problems they are up against, and taking difficult, brave decisions to deal with them. If investment in many African countries has become so profitable, that is largely thanks to enlightened decisions taken by African leaders to liberalize trade, to strengthen the rule of law and respect for human rights, and to improve governance and institutions.

Our advocacy for debt relief seems to be yielding results, although much more needs to be done. And we have seen, Africans have also taken the lead in peacemaking and peacekeeping on their own continent.

In short, the overall picture in Africa today is nowhere near as gloomy as it seems to those elsewhere.

The new millennium is upon us. With it will come the United Nations Millennium Summit, which will be held next year in December and to which I invite all of you to participate.

I have no doubt that your own conference on the role of Africa in the twenty-first century, an initiative of my good friend, the distinguished Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim Salim, will contribute greatly to that event.

Over the past week I have had the good fortune to visit several nations in West Africa.

I have seen sober leadership transforming a nation's prospects, but also the wreckage caused by poor governance and disdain for the public good. I have seen homesick refugees and victims of barbaric acts maintain their dignity and their faith in human decency, in the spirit of Nelson Mandela, whose towering example has graced our continent, indeed our world, as one of the century's greatest heroes.

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I have seen a tragic chapter of Africa's past in the "Maison des esclaves" on the island of Gorée in Senegal.

And I have seen Africa's future in the partnerships being formed everywhere I went: partnerships among religious groups, as in Sierra Leone; brotherhood between the Guinean population and the 700,000 refugees it hosts; partnerships between Government and civil society; and partnerships among nations themselves.

There is one more partnership that, for me, is priceless. It is, of course, the enduring partnership between the United Nations and the OAU.

Our organizations have a long and productive history of shared values and joint action: as champions of African rights and self-sufficiency; as partners in the struggle for decolonization and against apartheid; and as supporters of African development.

Together, I have no doubt that we can find the path of durable peace and lasting prosperity in Africa. But we have our work cut out for us. So let us keep moving ahead, united in our love for Africa and our abiding faith in its people.

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