18 May 2001
Ambassador Gloria Abella
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
The Business Community
Professors and student
Ladies and Gentlemen
Thank you for the opportunity to address this important gathering of people from government, academia, the business community and civil society. It is indeed an honour and a pleasure for my delegation and I to be here at the Matias Romero Institute.
In order to understand the history of the world, of life and of humanity, it is critical that we understand the origins, transitions and the on-going evolutions and adaptation over long periods.
Fortunately, because of the persistent and untiring work of some of the most eminent scientists, evidence of the evolution of the earth, life and humanity is available and presented to us in the form of fossils that have been excavated from the bowels of the African soil.
There is proof of this unique fossil evidence, which continues to help humanity understand itself. Nowhere else in the world is there such a concentration of fossil records, that tell us to much about the earth, the evolution of humanity, than those found on the vast expanse of the African landscape, particularly in the South and east of the continent.
I can therefore say here, with confidence, that the history of the Earth, the history of life and the history of humanity are the history of Africa. Africa is the cradle of humanity.
Africa is an indispensable resource base that has served humanity for many centuries. It is the main source of minerals and its wide and unspoiled natural habitat a basis for mining and agriculture. It provides a large part of the world's ecological lung due to the vast rain forests and minimal presence of emissions that harm the environment.
It has archaeological sites that provide answers on the evolution of the earth, life and the human species as well as a unique contribution of the richness of Africa's culture to that of the cultures of the world.
However, Africa has endured centuries of slavery - the harshest and most dehumanising of crimes ever committed against humankind, thus being deprived of the benefit of the contributions of millions of her children - forcibly transported across the vast oceans in the quest to build and consolidate the economic might of distant empires.
Historians, in recording this unfortunate chapter of history, have not given attention to the traumatic interruption of the nation-building processes that were underway in Africa at the time. The discovery of the vast mineral resources of the continent led to massive territorial conquests and centuries of colonial domination. Incalculable amounts of our vast natural resources ended up in the coffers of distant metropolis, underpinning the expansion of their industrial base at the expense of the common heritage of African people.
In many cases the pursuit of these resources has been a contributing factor in many of the conflicts that continue to plague the continent. Many of the borders artificially imposed by colonialism between people that were naturally evolving into single nations laid the foundation for many of these conflicts.
The cold war - which introduced the competing interests of foreign powers in our countries - itself laid the basis for many of the wars that ravaged our countries for decades, contributing nothing to the development and empowerment of our people. It is only the wars of the national liberation movements that were fought for the benefit our people.
Many of the political and economic policies adopted by African countries on advice from far and wide - proved to be unsuitable for our conditions, negating the very prosperity and economic emancipation of millions on our continent, that had formed an important basis of our struggles.
It is also true that some African leaders betrayed their mandates to lead their people out of poverty, illiteracy and disease, and succumbed to the corrupt path of self-enrichment, further exploiting their people's common heritage for personal again. Even as their people's common heritage for personal again. Even as their people sought to replace them with leaders that suggested a new vision and therefore a promise of a new beginning -many clung to power, further entrenching undemocratic governance on the African continent.
Since the 1970's, Africa has gone through economic and social trials that seem to mitigate against her meaningful participation in world affairs and the global economy. Stagnation of economies, double-digit balances of payment and budget deficits, unsustainable debt burdens and low levels of growth have been the norm rather that the exception in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the latest report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 20% of the world's population, living in developed countries, has 82% of the world's GDP, controls 82% of international export markets and consumes 86% of everything that is produced while 80% of the world's population consumes the remaining 14%.
In this context, the African continent, which is made up of 54 countries, with an estimated population of seven hundred million inhabitants, generates 1% of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its share in world trade is a mere 3%.
Yet this region possesses enormous mineral riches and accounts for the bigger percentage of the world's production of strategic minerals, including diamonds, chromium, copper and gold amongst others.
As recently as 1994, Africa's marginalisation and exclusion from world affairs, global trade and markets was almost complete. Although accounting for 12% of the world population, Africa's share of developing countries' exports or 1995 was 6,7%, while its share of global exports was 1.8 percent that same year.
It is crucial to note that the natural wealth that Africa is endowed with contributes a negligible income for the continent, as most of the mineral resources are exported in their raw form, thereby denying African countries the added value to be derived from the processing of the raw materials.
Following the debt crisis of the 1980s, many countries decided to adopt the Bretton Woods Institutions package of structural adjustment programmes. This was done with the belief that the opening up of their economies would lead to more investments, economic growth, access to finance and the promotion of the private sector.
As many of you know from your own experiences with Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), these did not stabilise and reform the macro-economic national frameworks, they did not revitalise growth and lead to sustainable development and prosperity. Instead they brought untold hardship, poverty, unemployment and social unrest in most of our societies.
These experiences forced us to start thinking about what we need to do to reverse these negative trends so as to ensure that Africa occupies her rightful place amongst the peoples and nations of the world? How are we to discharge our responsibility to participate actively in global affairs so as to influence the development of the New World Order in all its ramifications: the political, the economic, the social, the cultural and so on?
We, in South Africa, start from the premise that while our primary responsibility is to our citizenry and to meeting their basic needs, we do not exist in isolation from our neighbours, Africans and the rest of humanity.
We realise that we cannot survive as an island of stability, peace and prosperity surrounded by conflict, poverty and disease. We recognise the fact that our destiny is intrinsically linked to that of our neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and to that of our continent. The success of SACD and Africa is our success.
As Africans we need to play an active role in the building and strengthening of our regional economic blocs, which are the building blocks for the development of an integrated African economy. This is of vital importance in a world where economies of scale are essential to global competition.
In order to develop the areas in which we have comparative advantage, we believe that it is important for us to participate in multilateral forums such as the United Nations, International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Apart form discharging our international obligations, we participate in these institutions because many of the decisions taken there have direct and often dire consequences for us in African and in the South in general.
It is therefore important that we ensure that these institutions are democratised, representative, accountable and serve all our interests and not only those of the developed North. We have to level the playing fields.
Chairperson, it is our firm belief that the conditions on our continent now augur well for its rebirth and reconstruction. African leaders acknowledge that they have a responsibility to create a conducive environment for the development of Africa. To this end they have, through the Organisation of African Unity taken a firms and principled position that any leader who comes to power through unconstitutional means, and not through the will of the people, is not welcome in the OAU.
This is driven by the fact that the people of the continent have rejected dictatorships and the resolution of political problems through conflict. The holding of regular elections in the presence of independent monitors is no longer the exception, but rather the norm; free political activity and participation in processes of governance and political discourse in society ensures the development of a vibrant and committed civil society.
I is testimony to the fact that our peoples have taken a decision that the African Renaissance, which is a process and not an event, can only be successful when they take charge of their destiny. As Africans we have risen to the challenge and have declared this century, the African Century.
It is this vision of the African Renaissance and our commitment and belief in its realisation that has led to the decision by African Leaders to mandate President Mbeki of South Africa, Obasanjo of Nigeria and Bouteflika of Algeria to develop a clear programme for African recovery.
The programme, called the Millenium African Recovery Plan (MAP), is driven by a need to deal with the continuing marginalisation and underdevelopment of the African continent.
It's key programs address issues such as human resource development; infrastructure development; peace and security; commitment to democracy and human rights; sustainable economic growth and development. These are critical elements of the plan for an African Renaissance to restore the dignity and self worth of the continent and its people.
Those governments and trans-national corporations world that benefited from the plunder, destabilisation and disempowement of Africa, have a responsibility to participate in the process of empowering Africans and ensuring Africa's rebirth.
Our view is that the international community has to realise that the continued marginalisation of the continent will only serve to add to international instability. The continent cannot significantly contribute to the growth of the world economy, unless it is able to address, fundamentally, the pervasive social ills currently afflicting the majority of our countries.
We Africans are intent on placing the proud image of our continent back on the face of the world map, and to enable it to take its rightful place among the community of nations.
We believe therefor, Chairperson, that the mandate given by the OAU to Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Olusegun Obasanjo and Mohamend Bouteflika, to devise and implement a programme for the reversal of this trend was indeed a visionary one.
Our leaders have already made several representations to, among others, the Summits of the Nordic countries, the European Union and the Group of Eight, with whom we believe we share the responsibility of ensuring the success of the programme.
As a result of these an increasing number of world leaders are prepared to partner African Leaders in ensuring sustainable development as evidenced by the Skagen Declaration of the Nordic Countries, the United Resolution on Africa and the emergence of new partnerships with Africa.
We would like to call upon countries like Mexico to join us in this partnership was we strive to democratise the global systems of governance, the international financial institutions and strengthen democratic institutions in order to ensure that this global partnership, and particularly the strengthening of South - South links, guarantees a life of dignity for all people, in which each and every one is able to realise his or her potential.
What is required is a commitment on the part of governments, the private sector and other institutions of civil society, to the genuine integration of all nations into the global economy and global governance.
The realisation of the African Renaissance, through the implementation of MAP should sever as a tool to mobilise all of humanity to work in partnership with Africa for its accelerated development and economic growth that is central to the improvement of the quality of life or ordinary Africans.
I would like to invite you the people and government of Mexico to join us in this just cause for the benefit of all our peoples.
I thank you.