Briefing by Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad at the Foreign Affairs Portfolio Committee, Cape Town , 23 May 2001

Nearly 50 years ago Nkrumah said:

"Thus may we take pride in the name of Africa, not out of romanticism, but as an inspiration for the future. It is right and proper that we should know about our past. For just as the future moves from the present so the present has emerged from the past. Nor need we be ashamed of the past. There was much in it of glory. What our ancestors achieved in the context of their contemporary society gives us confidence that we can create, out of the past, a glorious future, not in terms of war and military pomp, but in terms of social progress and peace, for we repudiate war and violence. Our battles shall be against the old ideas that keep men trammelled in their own greed, against the crass stupidities that breed hatred, fear and inhumanity. The heroes of our future will be those who can lead our people out of the stifling fog of disintegration through serfdom, into the valley of light where purpose, endeavour and determination will create a brotherhood."

The vision was there but the timing and circumstances were not right.

The fact is that despite our early leaders vision and commitment we are faced with the stark reality that despite our enormous riches and potential, the greatest number of least developed countries are found in Africa (33 out of 48).

The reasons for this reality are complex and many; they include slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism as well as the Cold War.

As we enter the new millennium, a new African leadership is emerging which has proclaimed "enough is enough" and has committed itself to work for an African renewal.

Today on the eve of the 38th anniversary of the founding of the OAU, we can confidently say that the rampant Afro-pessimism of the last few years is on the retreat.

KY Amoako, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, recently noted that the vision of an African Renaissance is not a mirage. Tangible and encouraging progress has been made by many countries in reforming their economies, and in putting in place the right policies and structures to ensure equitable growth and reduce poverty.

Why is there a new sense of optimism?

Positive developments

1. Conflicts
(a) DRC
(b) Angola
(c) Burundi
(d) Ethiopia-Eritrea

2. Chiluba announcement re 3rd term.

The OAU Summit decision (9 September 1999) in Sirte, Libya, to transform the OAU into the African Union, which comes into effect on the 26th of May 2001 is also very significant.

Through this shift in focus mainly from our liberation from colonialism to our liberation from conflict, underdevelopment, poverty, disease and human rights abuses we now have an instrument more suitably geared to address these challenges.

With the coming into effect of the African Union on the 26 of May 2001 we will have put in place Continental building blocs for the socio-economic regeneration of the Continent and a Continent at peace with itself.

• Role of Portfolio Committee
  
• Importance of African Parliament

Another important African initiative around which the re-birth of Africa in the new millennium will focus is the Millennium African Recovery Programme or MARP, which the OAU mandated Presidents Boutlefika, Obassanjo and Mbeki to prepare.

The MARP is a declaration of a firm commitment by African leaders to take ownership and responsibility for the sustainable economic development of the Continent. The starting point is a critical examination of Africa's post independence experience and acceptance that things have to be done differently to achieve meaningful socio-economic progress, without which it would not be easy to achieve our historic task of improving the lives of our people.

The MARP contains a vision, perspective and the outlines of a plan for the redevelopment of Africa. It is based on a partnership approach that will include all who wish to become full partners in the development of the continent. It clarifies objectives and approaches to development projects

MARP has developed the outlines of a concrete programme of action that is multi-faceted and priority areas it would cover include:

• Creating peace, security and stability, and democratic governance without which it would be impossible to engage in meaningful economic activity;
• Investing in Africa's people through a comprehensive human resource strategy;
• Harnessing and developing Africa's strategic and comparative advantages in the resource based sectors to lead the development of an industrial strategy;
• Increasing investments in the Information and communication technology sector without which we would not be able to bridge the digital divide;
• Development of infrastructure including transport and energy; and
• Developing financing mechanism.

The objectives we want to achieve through its implementation include the acceleration of efforts to eradicate poverty on the Continent and to significantly increase new investments by mobilising both domestic and especially foreign savings.

The plan envisages both Africa-wide and regional initiatives. Conflict prevention and eradication of infectious diseases are examples of programmes that will be Continental in scope. Economic development initiatives like the development of agriculture and agro-industries, economic infrastructure, promotion of competitiveness and economic integration will be managed at regional or sub-regional levels.

However, MAP can only succeed with the commitment of Africa and the realisation of the rest of the international community that without Africa succeeding they themselves are not succeeding.
[Extensive consultations with developed countries and institutions; G-8 meeting in Italy]

The focus of the program is not increased AID but increased investments in viable infrastructure and business opportunities, and targeted aid and technical support to address capacity constraints and urgent human development priorities.

• OMEGA
  
• UN ECA Compact for African Recovery

Two extremely important events will take place in South Africa over the next 15 months, which will impact on our objectives of an African renewal.

Firstly, the World Conference Against Racism. It is most appropriate that South Africa will host the WCAR as our record in the fight against racism speaks for itself. It is also a tribute to our Continent and recognition of the role played by the OAU in this struggle. As a country and as representatives of the people we have to use both events to maximise the programmes as developed in the MAP.

Secondly, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. The 2002 World Summit is significant in that it will be held in Africa, the recognition afforded this Continent should be seen as a reflection as to where we are headed at the moment. This World Summit on Sustainable Development will serve as an ideal opportunity to further advance the African Economic Development Strategy globally. It is estimated that 60,000 will participate in this conference.

The deliberations of Conference can be effected by many factors, today I want to deal with one aspect i.e. Kyoto Protocol.

Under the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the developed industrial countries must on average reduce their carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels by 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The main motivation for the Protocol is the significant increase in the earth's temperature (global warming) which is mainly caused by rising GHG levels, trapped under the earth's atmosphere.

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 but has yet to come into force. To date 84 countries have signed the Protocol and 33 have ratified or acceded. It has commenced the domestic stakeholder consultation process and parliamentary consideration and a final decision on accession will be made once the outstanding elements are finalised.

On 29 March, President G Bush declared that his administration was withdrawing from further negotiations and participation in the Kyoto Protocol. Mr Bush cited two reasons:

• The science about global warming was "incomplete" and it was insufficient as a basis for decision making.
  
• Reducing domestic carbon dioxide emissions in the US would require converting older coal-fired plants to natural gas which could result in significant energy price increases which would be politically difficult, as the Californian energy crisis has demonstrated.

Since the US is responsible for at least 25 percent of worldwide GHG emissions.

The announcement by President Bush is a major setback for the Kyoto Protocol process. A way forward is that the resumed negotiations in July in Bonn may produce decisions that are more acceptable to the US than the current drafts.

If there is no agreement on the Kyoto Protocol by the time South Africa hosts the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in the second half of 2002, it will have a significant impact on the environmental component of WDDS deliberations. Reasons:

• Climate change significantly impacts on the other two important multilateral environmental agreements (MEA's) reached at Rio in 1992 namely desertification and biodiversity. Already there is growing criticism by environmental groups of many parties' lack of adherence to the objectives of these two conventions.
• The continued commitment of the developed North to MEA decisions and programmes related to finance, capacity building and technology transfer will be severely questioned if the Kyoto Protocol is not implemented.
• In practice global warming and climate change have a significant impact on Agenda 21 and the main elements of sustainable development.
• Future MEA processes that may be discussed at the WSSD include water and forests. Climate Change also has a major impact on these two important global issues.
• The environmental NGO sector will rally strongly around the climate change issue and will utilise the difficulties of the Kyoto Protocol to focus attention on the environmental component of sustainable development to the detriment of the social and economic aspects thereof.

Climate change is already having a profound impact on Africa and this trend cannot be reversed without concerted international action that addresses the primary cause of climate change namely a reduction in global GHG emissions. Climate change is already impacting on the following regular occurrences on the continent namely severe drought, regular floods, food shortages as a result of damaged crops, increased health problems e.g. malaria and others. In terms of the MAP, climate change is therefore an important consideration for South Africa and Africa.

South Africa is of the view that the international community has already made considerable progress in addressing the outstanding elements of the Kyoto Protocol. It would therefore be counterproductive and unhelpful to interrupt the process at this stage. The issue of climate change will not disappear and the international community will have to take decisions in the interests of future generations. Since the impact of global warming is inescapable and becoming more profound, the global community will have to address the question.