Poor African countries are likely to be thrown into a deep economic crisis should the United States (US) proceed with its military plans to attack Iraq.

It is feared that war in the oil-rich Middle East region would push up oil prices, further deepening Africa’s debt and economic troubles.

African Union (AU) chairperson and South African President Thabo Mbeki has warned of a devastating economic decline in the continent in the event of war.

Speaking to reporters at the presidential guesthouse in Pretoria late yesterday after receiving credentials from designed ambassadors from Kuwait, Qatar, Lithuania, Ireland, Sri Lanka and Paraguay, Mr Mbeki further appealed to the international community and world leaders to put brakes on a US-led military invasion of Baghdad.

‘War would be devastating, not just to Iraq but also to the whole of the Middle East and to other countries of the world,’ Mr Mbeki warned.

He added that there was ‘no need to go to war’ as the only solution to deal with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), but ‘to allow United Nations inspectors more time do their work.’
‘War would create new problems and enormous problems,’ he observed.

Africa’s economic recovery plan, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), tailored to redress past economic misfortunes, would also be affected by war as much as the continent’s economies were inflicted by the Israelis-Arab war in 1973.

‘In a situation like that we would have to say goodbye to African development.’
Already there are concerns that Africa’s developmental needs are overshadowed by the military build-up around the Gulf region, in anticipation of a looming US-led military bash with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

However, US President George W. Bush told Americans during his State of the Union address yesterday to brace themselves for a imminent military assault on Iraq.

Washington demands Baghdad to disarm or face the might of the Pentagon and its allies such as Britain.

This is despite strong anti-war sentiments by the international community, including several permanent UN Security Council members such as France, Germany, Russia and China, as well as the developing nations, including South Africa.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told the UN Security Council on Monday that Iraq was not fully co-operative, while Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that his team would need more time to further conduct its work.

Mr Blix also dismissed a 12 000-page declaration made by Baghdad to the UN on its weapons programme and said there were signs that Irag still had anthrax stocks.

President Mbeki noted that it took IAEA inspectors two years to declare South Africa free of WMD, after the country voluntarily opted to destroy its nuclear arsenal.

A divided UN Security Council is today expected to conduct a closed-door debate on the Iraq crisis.

However, it is speculated that no decision is expected until after US Secretary of State Colin Powell makes a presentation next week on the need for a military onslaught against Irag. – BuaNews