The pressure was mounting on the business community at the World
Economic Forum summit yesterday to help finance new African Union
institutions, as President Thabo Mbeki stressed a dearth of funding
among governments.
Addressing delegates at the WEF Africa summit in Durban, Mbeki said the continent had made significant progress in setting up the legal institutions to transform the continent.
These included the African Court of Justice, the proposed Peace and Security Council, and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) peer review mechanism.
However, most African countries would struggle to find the resources to pay their share of the associated costs.
"There is a practical reality, and I don't know how we are going to solve it, that the continent does not have the money to fund these institutions," he said.
More than 600 delegates from about 40 countries are in the East Coast city to discuss how to move Nepad forward.
Central to the economic recovery programme is peer review, which aims to allow for countries to be monitored on their adherence to Nepad principles.
Mbeki said all countries had committed to the AU's Constitutive Act, signalling progress and a willingness to resolve conflicts and injustice.
The Act demanded a commitment to good governance and democracy and the acceptance of intervention, and included strict sanctions against member governments that did not abide by its provisions.
"I am optimistic about the future of the continent.
"There are many things that are wrong, there are many things that are going wrong... but I think the continent is moving forward".
The president, who is currently also AU President, said African leaders had to accept that the world was sceptical about whether the continent would live up to its promises.
It was, therefore, imperative that governments took the decisions taken seriously, he said.
Mbeki added he was grateful delegates at the summit had raised the issue of the business community's responsibility to help put these structures in place.
Delegates had earlier urged corporates, and especially African companies, to put their money where their mouths were and to help fund the peer review mechanism.
Speaking earlier, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel was also upbeat on the progress achieved in making Nepad a reality, saying the peer review mechanism was a world first.
"There is no other part of the world that has taken issues that far because that's laying your soul bare, and I think that's an important element".
In the past year, six prominent Africans had been appointed to the unit, and 15 countries had signed up for peer review.
But, Manuel stressed the developed world was not doing enough to help resolve the massive debt problems plaguing Africa, and stripping it of money.
"There is still too much money that flows off the African continent as part of debt service, a lot of it quite unjustifiable," he said.
Ghana's private sector development minister Kwamena Bartels, however, was less optimistic on peer review.
Addressing a separate session, he said a lot needed to be done by both African countries and international partners to make Nepad work.
Some Africans leaders had not delivered on Nepad and in particular on the peer review mechanism, but the recovery plan must not be allowed to be held back by the poor performance of those countries.
"I believe it is important to let these drivers take Nepad forward... in the hope that others that are not as committed will see themselves left behind and will be under pressure from their people to move forward," Bartels said.
Meanwhile, outside the conference centre, protesters dismissed WEF and Nepad for pandering to the free market and the rich.
Watched closely by police in riot gear and on horse-back, about 600 demonstrators chanted anti-WEF slogans and carried placards that read: "Stop, we are dying", and "No WEF".
Veteran activist Dennis Brutus said the WEF meeting was all about corporates.
"They say they are trying to help at the WEF, but the reality is that it is an agenda set by these corporates". – Sapa.
Addressing delegates at the WEF Africa summit in Durban, Mbeki said the continent had made significant progress in setting up the legal institutions to transform the continent.
These included the African Court of Justice, the proposed Peace and Security Council, and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) peer review mechanism.
However, most African countries would struggle to find the resources to pay their share of the associated costs.
"There is a practical reality, and I don't know how we are going to solve it, that the continent does not have the money to fund these institutions," he said.
More than 600 delegates from about 40 countries are in the East Coast city to discuss how to move Nepad forward.
Central to the economic recovery programme is peer review, which aims to allow for countries to be monitored on their adherence to Nepad principles.
Mbeki said all countries had committed to the AU's Constitutive Act, signalling progress and a willingness to resolve conflicts and injustice.
The Act demanded a commitment to good governance and democracy and the acceptance of intervention, and included strict sanctions against member governments that did not abide by its provisions.
"I am optimistic about the future of the continent.
"There are many things that are wrong, there are many things that are going wrong... but I think the continent is moving forward".
The president, who is currently also AU President, said African leaders had to accept that the world was sceptical about whether the continent would live up to its promises.
It was, therefore, imperative that governments took the decisions taken seriously, he said.
Mbeki added he was grateful delegates at the summit had raised the issue of the business community's responsibility to help put these structures in place.
Delegates had earlier urged corporates, and especially African companies, to put their money where their mouths were and to help fund the peer review mechanism.
Speaking earlier, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel was also upbeat on the progress achieved in making Nepad a reality, saying the peer review mechanism was a world first.
"There is no other part of the world that has taken issues that far because that's laying your soul bare, and I think that's an important element".
In the past year, six prominent Africans had been appointed to the unit, and 15 countries had signed up for peer review.
But, Manuel stressed the developed world was not doing enough to help resolve the massive debt problems plaguing Africa, and stripping it of money.
"There is still too much money that flows off the African continent as part of debt service, a lot of it quite unjustifiable," he said.
Ghana's private sector development minister Kwamena Bartels, however, was less optimistic on peer review.
Addressing a separate session, he said a lot needed to be done by both African countries and international partners to make Nepad work.
Some Africans leaders had not delivered on Nepad and in particular on the peer review mechanism, but the recovery plan must not be allowed to be held back by the poor performance of those countries.
"I believe it is important to let these drivers take Nepad forward... in the hope that others that are not as committed will see themselves left behind and will be under pressure from their people to move forward," Bartels said.
Meanwhile, outside the conference centre, protesters dismissed WEF and Nepad for pandering to the free market and the rich.
Watched closely by police in riot gear and on horse-back, about 600 demonstrators chanted anti-WEF slogans and carried placards that read: "Stop, we are dying", and "No WEF".
Veteran activist Dennis Brutus said the WEF meeting was all about corporates.
"They say they are trying to help at the WEF, but the reality is that it is an agenda set by these corporates". – Sapa.
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