frica’s development priorities - pegged to donor aid particularly from the United States - could take a back seat with more prominence being given to Iraq’s reconstruction. African governments are calling on the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other donors to be consistent in the development commitments they have made to the continent so far.
More than 40 million Africans, many of them in the Horn of Africa, are threatened with starvation this year, WFP says. Other statistics indicate that the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa living on less that US$1 a day has risen from 241 million in 1990 to more than 400 million.
The African governments and international bodies are concerned that the continent could suffer as a result of the expected diversion of development aid to Iraq. They see this as a scheme to relegate Africa to second place whenever a major funding issue outside Africa comes up. More intriguing is their demand that the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other multilateral donor countries should fulfill their development pledges to the continent.
To highlight some of the reductions in donor aid, a look at the US figures for African aid would suffice. US President George W. Bush’s budget proposals for 2004 entails cuts in development aid funding to various African countries. Tanzania, South Africa Mozambique, and Kenya will receive less than half of the previous development funding, while numerous other African countries will also get less development funding.
Analysts in the US State Department attribute the aid reductions to US financial commitments in Iraq. Policy shortcomings - The World Bank predicts that Africa will fall short of achieving the Millennium Development Goals key of which is halving poverty by the year 2015, because of the reconstruction needs in Iraq as well as other internal policy shortcomings. At a meeting last month of a committee that advises the World Bank and IMF on development priorities, the issue of Iraq featured prominently, although it was not on the agenda.
“We hope we can keep the international community focused on some key development issues… In a world of limited resources, there are real concerns that the attention of international donors should not be lost on Iraq’s reconstruction ... or in Afghanistan”, said World Bank spokesperson Carolyn Anstey.
African delegates at the meeting demanded that Africa’s development needs be given equal priority. Lesotho’s Finance Minister, Timothy Thahane, observed that every year, Africa continued to struggle for resources because sudden development priorities emerged elsewhere. His Ugandan counterpart, Gerald Ssendaula, felt that while donors should attend to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq, Africa was also in dire need for resources to fight poverty, boost its water supply and support education. But the delegates also acknowledged that the solution to Africa’s development needs rested squarely on the hands of Africans themselves.
Indeed, new initiatives are being proposed to enhance Africa’s economic independence. Drive for manageable loans - The Chairman of African Stock Exchanges, Jimnah Mbaru, has initiated proposals that will lead to the establishment of an ‘African World Bank’. Once established, the bank will give development loans to African countries under repayment terms that African countries can manage.
The World Bank’s latest report on African development indicators said the rapid spread of HIV/Aids, minimal foreign aid and investment, and weak commodity prices could undo the hard-fought gains of recent years. The bank mentioned the war in Iraq as a new factor that would impede Africa’s development. In Nairobi, Kenya, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, regretted the low funding that Africa gets for its humanitarian programs, adding that UNHCR needed an additional US$100 million to fund repatriation programs for Africa’s refugees.
A similar situation confronts the World Food Program (WFP) which has launched a US$1.3 billion humanitarian operation in Iraq, but also says it is US$1 billion short of the US$1.8 billion it needs to meet emergency food demands for Africa this year. “How is it that we routinely accept a level of suffering and hopelessness in Africa which we would never accept in any other part of the world?”, asked WFP Director James Morris at the UN Security Council recently.
More than 40 million Africans, many of them in the Horn of Africa, are threatened with starvation this year, WFP says. Other statistics indicate that the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa living on less that US$1 a day has risen from 241 million in 1990 to more than 400 million.
There are also new fears that the US may withdraw its development assistance to Africa because most African countries did not support the war in Iraq. However, a Nairobi-based African political analyst, Dr. Hassouna Moustafa, differs: “The Iraq war is water under the bridge and it is unlikely that the US would retaliate”. Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda and Rwanda were among the countries that made public their support for the war to disarm Iraq.
Dr. Moustafa predicted that the handful of African nations that supported the war might face a diplomatic fall-out from Arab nations. In the run-up to the war in Iraq, the US and France - then having different positions on the timing and modalities of the war - lobbied the African members of the UN Security Council - Angola, Guinea and Cameroon to support their respective positions. Nevertheless, the US-led coalition dispensed the diplomatic strategy and attacked Iraq without seeking an additional UN Security Council resolution.
Washington-based lobby, Africa Action, says in a new report that US policy toward Africa will be driven almost exclusively by Washington’s involvement in Iraq and its interests in African oil. The lobby is concerned that the war against HIV/Aids will continue to suffer lack of resources and called for more resource provision, cancellation of African debts and support for peace-building initiatives.
Despite the dwindling capital inflows to Africa, not all is lost as there are no indications, so far, that the US-sponsored development initiatives in Africa will stall. The level of trade relations through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is set to grow further this year as more eligible countries increase their AGOA-related investments.
The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a worldwide aid initiative started by President Bush, intends to increase development assistance to African countries that make strides in strengthening democracy and enhancing sound economic governance. Uganda, Senegal and Ghana are among the 15 countries expected to benefit from the $1.3 billion MCA initiative. Last January, Bush sought Congress approval to commit US$15 billion over the next five years, including nearly $10 billion in new funds to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.
The US President intends to tour South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal and Botswana this July to solidify this campaign. Kenya, which was earlier expected to be included in the president’s tour, has now been overlooked. There is already a diplomatic standoff between Kenya and the US after the latter, alongside Britain, imposed travel advisories on their citizens not to visit Kenya, for fear of terrorist attacks. The move has led to constant closures of both the two countries’ embassies in Kenya.
(From New People Feature Service)