Opening of the 76th ordinary session of the OAU Council of Ministers, Durban, 4 July 2002: Statement by OAU Secretary-General Amara Essy

I wish to join our gracious hosts the people and Government of South Africa to welcome you to this important session of our Council of Ministers. The significance of this session of Council cannot be over-emphasized. It is the last Session of the Council of Ministers of the OAU.

Allow me, Mr. Chairman and dear brother, to express to you personally and to the other members of your Bureau, my deep appreciation for the support that you extended to me, since you assumed office as Chairman of the Seventy-fifth Ordinary Session of Council. Given the enormous challenges that we were confronted with in the implementation of the mandate entrusted to us in Lusaka, that cooperation proved vital and decisive in enabling my colleagues and I in the General Secretariat, to carry out this noble task.

I should also like at this juncture to place on record our gratitude to the Government and people of South Africa, for the warmth of their hospitality and for the excellent facilities that have been placed at our disposal. A dynamic mix of peoples, cultures and religion, Durban reflects the mosaic of our Continent. In many ways therefore, it is the embodiment of the dynamism and progress that communal pluralism and diversity can bring when founded on mutual respect.

Mr. Chairman,

The General Secretariat eagerly looks forward to working with your successor in office and colleague, the distinguished Foreign Minister of South Africa, our sister Dr. Zuma. On many occasions, in the past, and particularly since I have been at the helm of affairs of the General Secretariat, I have witnessed at first hand, the efficiency, the dynamism and commitment of our sister to the cause of advancing our collective African interests. I wish to extend to her and her colleagues in the in-coming Bureau, my personal support and that of my colleagues in the General Secretariat.

Mr. Chairman,
Hon. Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Since your last meeting in March 2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and as I earlier on indicated, we of the General Secretariat will spare no effort to create the necessary conditions to ensure the launch of the African Union. During the same period also, we have had to concentrate our efforts on addressing the many other pressing challenges that confront our Continent, in particular, issues relating to peace, security and sustainable development. Permit me, therefore, to highlight some of these issues which we were able to address, sometimes with the contribution of everyone.

In The Comoros, thanks to scrupulous adherence to OAU’s recommendations and principles, and those of its partners in the international community, peace is gradually being restored in that country. The painstaking implementation of our plan of action has particularly been crowned by the democratic elections held in that country, the outcome of which has given impetus to a consensual arrangement which will hopefully be lasting.

I wish to extend a very warm welcome to the delegation of the Comoros led by its distinguished Foreign Minister, H.E. Mr. Mohammed Souef Amin, to this Session of Council after a long absence. I wish also to pay tribute to all the leaders of The Comoros, for accepting a democratic and negotiated solution to the crisis in their Country. May I, by the same token, thank the countries of the Region led by South Africa and all our cooperating partners, particularly, la Francophonie, the League of Arab States, the European Union and others, for having supported us in the search for peace in The Comoros.

The positive results that we have achieved in The Comoros, should be a source of inspiration to our brothers and sisters in Madagascar. As Africans, we have no interest in Madagascar other than the preservation of the unity, cohesion, peace, stability, security and the development of that country. Our involvement in Madagascar is informed by our commitment to the cherished principles that we adopted in the past, even if at times, short-term interests make them appear to be unpopular, especially to those directly affected. We must never allow ourselves to act on the basis of expediency, but continue to take into account the long-term perspective of the need to maintain our credibility as an Organization and respect for the principles that we ourselves adopted.

As Council is aware, it is this attachment to, and defense of, principles that informed the common position that we adopted on The Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Niger and Côte d’Ivoire. The crisis in Madagascar cannot therefore be treated any differently even if it is not fashionable to do so and notwithstanding the pressure and emotions generated in response to the situation in Madagascar. As the Central Organ at Summit level in its collective wisdom recommended in an unambiguous manner, we must continue to engage the leadership of that country to find the ways and means of peacefully resolving the current crisis, in the overall interest of the country and all its people.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, I wish to commend the Government of the DRC and all the Parties for their commitment to implement the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement. As Council is aware, the Inter-Congolese Dialogue was held in Sun City, here in South Africa from 25 February to 19 April this year. I wish to commend Sir Ketumile Masire, Facilitator of the Dialogue for his perseverance and commitment which culminated in the coming together of the Parties to negotiate a new dispensation for their country. It goes without saying that in the absence of the strong financial support and the political involvement of the Government of the Republic of South Africa, the outcome may not have been as promising as we had in South Africa. I wish therefore to pay a well-deserved tribute to President Thabo Mbeki for his personal involvement and the leadership that he showed throughout the period of the Talks, on behalf of our Continent.

Admittedly, the dialogue in Sun City did not produce the all-inclusive outcome expected. However, all hope is not lost. Rather, we must all continue to work with the Facilitator and the Parties, to address all the outstanding problems.

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,

You will surely agree with me, that the situation in Liberia remains a source of serious concern to all of us individually and to our Organization collectively. The insurgency and the destabilizing campaign being waged against the people of Liberia by the LURD, has resulted in unnecessary loss of life, the displacement of people and destruction of property. In recent months, I had dispatched my Special Envoy to consult with the Government of Liberia and the Leaders of the Region. We need to continue to work with ECOWAS to ensure an early restoration of peace to Liberia. Similarly, I believe that this Session of Council should appeal to the United Nations Security Council, to lift the sanctions against Liberia, because of its adverse impact on the ordinary people of the country.

Needless to say, I also remain seriously concerned over developments and the tragedies unfolding in The Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. As I have addressed these issues in great detail in my Introductory Note and my reports to this Session of Council and the Assembly, suffice it to say that we need to intensify our efforts to find solutions to the problems in these countries, and pursue our key objectives – that of establishing and consolidating our Union.

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,

It has not always been bad news on our Continent. I wish at this point to acknowledge the progress that has been made in some parts of the Continent to advance the cause of democratization in Africa. On this auspicious occasion, I wish to extend our warm congratulations to the people of the Republics of Mali and Sierra Leone for the successful conclusion of democratic elections in their countries. In spite of minor problems here and there, the OAU Election Teams that I dispatched to these two countries and the representatives of other international Observer Teams, were unanimous in their conclusions that the people of Mali and Sierra Leone were afforded the opportunity to freely elect the leaders of their choice.

I wish to appeal to our Member States and the donor community, in particular, the international financial institutions, to extend maximum support for the post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Sierra Leone. We have all commended the people of Sierra Leone for their courage and orderly conduct during and after the elections. We must now do our part, by ensuring that the dividends of democracy are felt by the people in very concrete ways.

Honorable Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The challenge of bringing peace to all parts of our Continent are enormous, but not insurmountable. We will not be able to construct and consolidate our African Union, when in many parts of our Continent, xenophobia is still practiced with reckless abandon, when our women and our most valuable resource, the youths, continue to be marginalized in the management of our countries and institutions. Neither can we make significant progress when there are pockets of poverty and misery, when our countries and peoples are consigned to the periphery in the global economy and when the gap between the have and have-nots is widening at an alarming rate. We need to give the upcoming generation of Africans something to hope and live for. This is why I should like now to focus on the economic health of our Continent, on the eve of the launching of the African Union.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the socio-economic level, it is no secret to anyone that Africa, our Continent, has, up to now, remained the least developed in the Planet. All socio-economic indicators are in the red, thus, portraying Africa as the only economic space whose growth has remained constantly negative. This state of affairs, which verges on catastrophe, is reflected in heavy debt burden, massive importation of food products with resultant foreign exchange drain, and balance of payments continually in the deficit; industrialization that is perpetually in embryonic stage, a gigantic but disorganized informal sector, poor health and educational infrastructure and life expectancy which is generally below the world average.

This continued downward trend of the economic and social indicators in Africa has persisted over a long time, despite real performances achieved by some African countries. As an example, the globalization phenomenon, which is characterized by a generalized deregulation, fierce competition which has no room for less developed economies, and a momentum towards formation of large entities, both vertically and horizontally, seem to be taking place without Africa’s effective participation.

Honorable Ministers,

The OAU, with the solid support of the Heads of State and Government of our respective countries has not been inactive in the face of the hurdles standing in the way of the Continent’s socio-economic development. Quite the contrary, the OAU has taken numerous initiatives geared to dismantling all these constraints, thereby improving the well-being of the African people. Thus, at the economic level, the General Secretariat enthusiastically welcomed the advent of NEPAD – a vital program initiated by Africans for Africans, whose contents encapsulates those of the previous initiatives, particularly, the Abuja Treaty.

Honorable Ministers,

You will recall that the Lusaka Summit of our Heads of State and Government adopted the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as a program of the African Union for the promotion of rapid and sustainable economic development of our countries and integration of our continent as a dynamic partner in the global economy. Since your last session, a number of meetings have been held at various levels to engage our development partners. It is also needful to encourage the participation of all segments of the African society in the NEPAD process with a view to ensuring the effective implementation of the important program. The Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee which will be meeting here in Durban will report to the Assembly on the progress made so far and the way forward in respect of the program.

Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Is it possible to promote socio-economic development and eradicate poverty in a Continent decimated by the devastating consequences of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria?

We have been gravely concerned by the growing number of victims of these debilitative scourges which today constitute by themselves the main causes of morbidity and mortality in Africa, particularly among the active forces of our countries, namely youth as well as women and children. We have intensified our efforts at a collective approach to resolving these problems by implementing various declarations and plans of action adopted by our Heads of State and Government in Abuja, in April 2000 and 2001 respectively, during the Special Summits devoted to these issues. We are convinced that diseases know no borders and that it is by concerted action coordinated and harmonized at national, regional and continent-wide levels that we will succeed in reducing the magnitude of the destruction caused by these diseases on our peoples.

We also consider the prevalence of wide-spread poverty, unemployment and under-employment as a major concern in Africa. It was for this reason that, at the invitation of the Government of Faso, a Ministerial Conference on Employment Promotion and Poverty Alleviation in Africa was organized. Indeed, the correlation between poverty alleviation and employment promotion is today no longer in doubt. Hence, the conclusions and recommendations of this Conference will serve as guidelines for our Member States’ future action especially, in charting the way forward in the fight against poverty and in the creation of adequate opportunities for decent and productive employment in order to resolve the problem of unemployment and under-employment in Africa.

Honorable Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I also wish to report to Council on the progress that we have made in executing the Implementation Plan of the Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA). So far, the Experts’ meeting on the four calabashes dealing with Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation, were held in MidRand and Addis Ababa in December 2001 and May 2002 respectively.

The Second OAU-Civil Society Conference on developing partnership with African Civil Society Organizations was convened from 11 to 15 June 2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was pleased not only with the response and commitment of the Organizations that participated, but also with the enthusiastic manner in which the Civil Society embraced the African Union principles and the notion of partnership with African Governments to achieve the objectives of the Union. The Reports of these initiatives will be laid before this session of Council, while the Assembly will meet as the first standing conference of the CSSDCA here in Durban. I commend the Memorandum of Understanding on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation for your consideration as a comprehensive and an all-inclusive Peer Review Mechanism for our Continent. In doing so, I should like to appeal to you to bear in mind the fact that your experts and plenipotentiaries have already reached a consensus on the documents that are being submitted.

Finally before concluding on this issue, I should like to commend the Governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa, for their generous contribution of five hundred thousand dollars each, in support of the programs to be initiated by the CSSDCA. I also wish to encourage other Member States to contribute to the realization of the objectives of this crucial initiative, which constitutes an appropriate framework for the advancement of common African values and monitoring performance within the Union.

Distinguished Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have tried in this address to highlight some of the major issues and challenges that have confronted our Continent. It is by no means an exhaustive statement, as I have deliberately not referred to the very rich discussions that took place during your Special Session on the African Union. In the next two days, you will be deliberating on many of these issues and will propose the way forward to the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.

The people of the Continent count on your collective wisdom, in your deliberations, to provide them with the means to build a better future for themselves and their children. I am confident that you will not fail them and that together, we shall continue to work tirelessly to build a strong and dynamic African Union for the future generation of Africans.

I wish you fruitful deliberations and thank you for your kind attention.