PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS

The extent to which Nigeria, as a leading country in the West African subregion, in the wider region and as Chair of the African Union, took concrete steps towards taking responsibility for transparency and checking corruption would help the credibility of Africa’s total case for a positive and genuine partnership with the international community in terms of increased aid, debt relief, as well as trade, Ibrahim Gambari, the new Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said at a Headquarters press briefing today.

He was responding to a correspondent’s question regarding Nigeria’s current efforts to combat corruption.  In response to another question, about the need for African leaders to be more proactive in criticizing the policies of their neighbours, he recalled the recent Summit of African leaders in Sirte, Libya, where the Secretary-General had called on them not to be silent in the face of actions that would undermine their credibility, particularly now that there was positive international support for Africa’s development.

Even more positively, he said, African countries must be encouraged to live up to what they had signed up to, particularly the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) peer-review mechanism, by which African leaders should hold themselves accountable and monitor each others’ performance.  Asked whether that was something to which leaders like Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe would respond, he added that without disputes like that between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, the former colonial Power, leaders could refocus on the responsibility of African governments not to treat their own people badly.

Asked whether the Africans would ever reach consensus on two candidates for an expanded Security Council, he said the Africans would not allow the old divide-and-rule tactics to be applied to them.  While he had no mandate to speak for the African Union, the Africans could be expected, as a first step, to support the framework resolution agreement and then, should Africa get the two permanent seats they were seeking, to decide who those countries would be.

Responding to a question about whether a North African could be considered as truly representing the rest of the continent, he said they would take a holistic approach and consider the candidate who would best represent Africa’s interests and who had a past record of defending those interests inside and outside the United Nations.  He recalled that, as the campaign manager for the first Secretary-General from Africa, he had seen the submission of a list containing six candidates from all parts of the continent, including his native Nigeria, who was now that country’s President, and who had subsequently lost the election.  The decision would be balanced and not along the lines of North Africa, Arab Africa or Africa south of the Sahara.

Regarding his new appointment, which took effect on 1 July, the former Under-Secretary-General for the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa said the new post brought a different focus and responsibility.  He would be advising the Secretary-General on a much broader portfolio of peace and security.  Although he would be making some remarks today on Africa’s development in light of events this week, particularly the ongoing G-8 Summit, he expected to address the media in the not-too-distant future about other pressing issues on the international agenda.  He also expected to travel to various regions in order to get a feel of the situation on the ground, to know the conflicts first-hand, to see how the United Nations was trying to help, as well as what and where it could do better.

Turning to the G-8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, he said that while the attention being paid to Africa after so many years of neglect was encouraging, a lot of work would be needed to ensure that the present focus on the continent did not end after a single week in the spotlight.  The comprehensive approach needed to address the region’s problems could be described as a stool standing on three legs -- aid, trade and debt relief.  Action on Africa was long overdue and the time to deliver had come.  If mere words had sufficed, Africa would not have a single problem, given the various initiatives and programmes that had been launched on its behalf.  The debate on Africa’s development was now taking the form of a shared responsibility for its predicament –- the responsibility of the developed countries, on the one hand, and on the part of the Africans themselves, on the other.

Fortunately, some positive things were happening, despite what was heard about Darfur and Côte d’Ivoire, he said.  The reality was that more and more conflicts had been resolved, growth rates in a number of countries were quite high, inflation rates were down, investment was going up, and there were new efforts to fight corruption and promote transparency.  Most encouraging of all, a new peace and security architecture was in place with the African Union’s Peace and Security Council up and running.  Efforts to create an African standby force were going fairly well, and only African boots were on the ground in Darfur, albeit with significant support elements from the European Union, the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

On the social and economic front, he cited NEPAD, particularly its peer-review mechanism, which dealt with good political, economic and corporate governance.  About 26 countries had voluntarily subscribed to that mechanism.  There was cause for confidence that there would be progress emerging from the  G-8 Summit on helping Africa to meet its development challenges, which would continue at the September Summit.  There was a basis for a more effective partnership against poverty and for promoting sustainable development.

Asked to assess the impact of today’s terrorist attacks in London on the G-8 Summit and their long-term effect on Africa, the Under-Secretary-General said he did not believe they would distract attention from the determination of G-8 leaders to address the critical issues of relieving poverty and climate change.  If the terrorists had intended to undermine their resolve, they would have failed.

He added that Africans had always argued that the aim of terrorists was to create insecurity for everybody everywhere.  The 1998 terrorist attacks against the United States embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam had killed more Africans than the targeted Americans.  Africans, therefore, took the fight against terrorism very seriously.  Although nothing could justify terrorist acts, it was important to address issues that could lead to the creation of pools from which bad people could be recruited to do bad things.  All those issues were connected, and the impetus should be there to address them together.

Regarding his optimism that the G-8 would come up with a good package, he pointed out that the United Kingdom currently held the presidency and had made Africa one of two priorities.  It also held the presidency of the European Union, which had come up with some positive decisions to try to meet the goal of devoting 0.5 per cent of gross national income for development assistance by 2010, and 0.7 per cent by 2015.  Japan had decided to double its official development assistance to Africa (ODA), and the United States had recently announced initiatives that would have the effect of substantially increasing aid to Africa.

While there was reason fro cautious optimism regarding ODA, there was also the debt issue, he said.  G-8 finance ministers had decided to cancel the total debt of the poorest countries.  However, there was pressure for them to do something for middle-income countries and some hope along those lines had been raised by the recent decision by the Paris Club of creditors to write off $18 billion of Nigeria’s debt.  That was an important step because Nigeria, which was considered a middle-income country among the poor, played a leadership role in the subregion, as well as the wider region, and its economic health would have a positive effect on its neighbours.

Regarding trade, Mr. Gambari said that issue was still pending and the Doha Development Round must be reactivated.  More important was the need to address the question of subsidies, particularly those on cotton and other agricultural products, which were costing African farmers a lot.  It was to be hoped that a positive outcome on trade would emerge from Gleneagles.

In response to another question, he told the same journalist that, in the build-up to the G-8 Summit, Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom had chaired the Commission for Africa, and had pushed many of its recommendations in a number of G-8 capitals.  That had created momentum to have movement on all fronts, and most promising so far were efforts to double or substantially increase ODA for Africa, and to remove or substantially reduce agricultural subsidies.

Asked whether he had any ideas on how to define terrorism, the Under-Secretary-General said the Secretary-General had been very clear that there was no need to be hung up on the definition.  There had been manifestations of terrorism, including the targeting of innocent civilian populations and the creation of insecurity and fear among ordinary people.  The absence of a definition should not deter from the need for concrete actions.

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