In Sirte African leaders seek to accelerate unity and stress the fight against poverty, disease and war, writes Gamal Nkrumah The fate of African unity was cast into further doubt this week as African leaders grappled with the mammoth challenges facing the continent. No less than 47 African leaders attended the African Union (AU) summit in the Libyan seaside city of Sirte, hometown of Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi. President Hosni Mubarak led a high- powered Egyptian delegation that included Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit. Egypt, which has emerged as one of the pillars of conflict-resolution on the continent and currently has monitoring troops in southern Sudan, stressed its peace-keeping role in Africa. The proposed two permanent seats for Africa on the UN Security Council came high on the summit agenda. Although eight African countries have officially declared themselves candidates for the two seats it is generally agreed that Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are the front-runners. The summit did not delve into the thorny question of who should occupy the seats, but stressed instead the importance of obtaining them. In order to press ahead with the reforms of the UN African leaders believe essentially "two permanent seats that enjoy all the privileges including the right to veto in Security Council must be given to Africa with five other non-permanent seats," read the draft declaration. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas all flew to Sirte to join the deliberations on African concerns. The host, Gaddafi, underlined what a great many leaders at the summit have been saying for some time -- that the opportunity to lay the foundations for a more stable and prosperous future across the continent must be grasped. Echoing complaints by other African leaders that the drive for African unity is not moving fast enough he called for the process to be accelerated. Only unity, he said, can guarantee freedom from want. While political reform, good governance, economic deregulation and privatisation -- the most pressing items on the Western agenda as far as Africa is concerned -- were hardly touched upon, a great deal of attention was paid to conflict resolution and on the socio-economic hurdles facing the peoples of Africa. The Sirte summit convened just days before the G8 summit of the world's richest countries met in Gleneagles, Scotland. Not that Africans, who have grown weary of the G8's well- rehearsed initiatives, are holding their collective breath. Too many initiatives, however well-meant, have come to nothing. In Okinawa, Japan, in July 2000, G8 leaders offered $18 billion to poor countries. In Genoa, Italy, in 2001, the host nation proposed a multi- million dollar health fund for poor countries with a special emphasis on fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. Yet the continent remains ravaged by AIDS, and Africa's poorest countries are more vulnerable than ever. In Sirte African leaders voiced concern about G8 plans for Africa, urging Western powers, in particular, to adopt policies that would promote African trade and to increase development aid and debt relief. "We would like to see a sharp and sustained increase in development assistance," said South African President Thabo Mbeki, who stressed the three- pronged package of aid, trade and debt as the most efficient way of alleviating African poverty. "On debt relief it is our view that they need to go further. They need to take decisions that cover all African countries." Alluding to meetings scheduled at Gleneagles between some African heads of state and G8 leaders Mbeki insisted that South Africa would "make a presentation on the type of resources needed to promote peace and security". Nigerian president, and current chair of the AU Olusegun Obasanjo, reiterated the points made by his South African counterpart. Africa, he said, was grateful for the $40 billion debt relief package offered to 14 African nations last month. But, he stressed, all African countries must benefit from the measure. African leaders in Sirte were especially indignant about unfair international trade rules. They warned that subsidies to Western farmers cause particular harm across Africa, and contribute greatly to the exacerbation of poverty. The summit issued a statement demanding "the abolition of subsidies that stand as an obstacle to trade". Of particular concern is the more than $2 billion in subsidies that the US government give to American cotton farmers. Such subsidies, like the massive handouts European farmers receive as part of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, distort international trade to the detriment of African producers.
