Press briefing on commission for africa

 

(Issued on 20 October 2004)

Generating a more coherent strategy of international support for Africa was urgent if the continent was to have a chance at meeting the Millennium Development Goals, delegates from the Commission for Africa told correspondents this afternoon at a news conference at United Nations Headquarters.

Myles Wickstead, head of the Commission’s Secretariat, and Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) and one of 16 Commission members appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, briefed reporters on the work of the Commission.  The Commission for Africa was launched by Prime Minister Blair in February, reflecting the United Kingdom’s efforts to put Africa high on the agenda in 2005, when the United Kingdom will hold both the Presidency of the Group of Eight and of the European Union.

The Commission was established “to push the case for Africa, to move from words to action on the continent”, said Mrs. Tibaijuka.

“The intention of the Commission is to generate the political will to deliver on the commitments that have already been made in the international community to Africa”, said Mr. Wickstead.  The ultimate objective, he added, was to support Africa in reaching the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.

The Commission was placing particular emphasis on supporting African-owned initiatives and aimed to encourage the international community to look at Africa in a different way, said Mr. Wickstead.  He noted the positive developments taking place in Africa, such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the recently created African Union, the Africa peer review mechanism that was taking place, and the improvements in governance and democratization.

“We have great confidence in the direction in which the Africa Union is going.  They have a dynamic leadership.  What they don’t yet have is capacity to be able to take on all the things that we’re very confident they will be able to take on a few years down the road”, said Mr. Wickstead.

The international community must recognize that developing that capacity would take a period of time, he added, noting that the Africa Union was only so recently established. 

Mrs. Tibaijuka pointed out that NEPAD had a great vision for Africa, but financial support was needed to implement that vision.

“A vision will not translate into reality if it is not supported by those in a position to break the vicious cycle and the structural bottlenecks in which Africa finds itself”, she said.

Addressing a reporter’s question on what lessons have been learned by the African Union’s efforts to stabilize the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, Mrs. Tibaijuka said the crisis of governance in the African continent is another area of concern to the Commission.

“If we are to be able to deliver prosperity of any sort we have to secure the peace”, she said, noting that this was a challenge not only in Sudan but in a number of other crises on the African continent.

He said the Commission would likely make recommendations for action in the areas of trade, agricultural subsidies, development assistance, and debt.  The Commission was also concerned with issues related to peace and security, governance, natural resources, migration, youth and HIV/AIDS.

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