In this issue:

Mbeki: EU Pledged To Fund African Water Projects

African Finance Ministers Denounce IMF

South Africa and Brazil Signed a Defense Agreement

South Africa Delivers Humanitarian Aid to Iraq

Mass Actions Against Mugabe Losing Ground\

Uganda Blamed for Massacres in Democratic Republic of Congo

Nigerian Labor Blasts Gasoline Price Hike of 54%

No to Water Privatization in Ghana

African Nations Will Rebuff Attempts To Break Protectionism

G-8 Leaders Fail To Act on Providing Generic Drugs

Pharmaceutical Giants Should Not Pocket U.S. Money for Combatting AIDS

From Volume 2, Issue Number 23 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published June 10, 2003
Africa News Digest

Mbeki: EU Pledged To Fund African Water Projects

Although most aid agencies and NGOs are claiming that absolutely nothing came out of the G-8 meeting, President Mbeki, in his report-back meeting, spoke of new European Union funding for African water projects for which Africa must now gear up, so that it can put the money to use. He said "the EU alone" has set aside $1.17 billion (U.S.) a year to deal with water problems of the African continent. He noted this is in addition to the water programs that the EU already has in Africa. "We must be able in each of our countries to say this is our water development program. These are the resources we are putting in," he said. He noted in passing that in South Africa, water pumping schemes came to a standstill because generators broke or were not refuelled, adding that if this is true for South Africa, "you can imagine what happens in other countries less developed than this one."

The African Development Bank announced June 4 a Water Initiative for the continent to supply rural water and sanitation. This initiative would need an investment of $10 billion up to 2015.

Mbeki said that New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) clearly needs a body to help ensure that projects are put into practice. He said the structure was needed to be able to inform countries, for example, how much money was available to develop water resources and monitor progress. Mbeki claimed that it will be a complex matter to integrate and coordinate the aid that was agreed upon.

On other matters such as the debt, clearly nothing was achieved. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade noted that in the 40 years that the debt question had been brought up by world leaders, "nothing has moved," and it certainly didn't move in Evian.

African Finance Ministers Denounce IMF

It was "a long day of attacks on the IMF's Africa policies by the assembled African Finance Ministers and Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi," according to AllAfrica.com. It was the June 1 meeting of African ministers of finance, planning and economic development in Addis Abeba, convened by the UN Economic Commission for Africa to promote policy coherence between Africa and its donor parties. In a statement issued at the end, the ministers accused the Fund of imposing rigid and intrusive conditionalities on African borrowers, and using "overly optimistic" projections of African trade and economic growth figures to calculate the amount of debt relief granted under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) program. Ethiopian President Zenawi told the assembled ministers that he declares himself "a card-carrying member of the IMF bashing club." But Zenawi and the ministers agreed that they could not break with the IMF. Ethiopia pays around $90 million a year in debt servicing alone, which is almost equivalent to its entire health budget.

South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel slammed the IMF for secretly planning to divide its Africa Department into two sections. Manuel, who sits on the Fund's Board of Governors and chairs the World Bank's Development Committee, "angrily confronted an IMF representative," according to AllAfrica.com. In his prepared remarks to the meeting, Manuel said, "It is of tremendous concern to us that the IMF is currently considering to divide the Africa Department into two. Will it be along old colonial lines, or into north and south? We don't know. What we know, is that Europe is not being divided; nor is America. Europe is in fact being unified as the former Eastern Europe joins into the European Union. I think it is time for decisions in the IMF no longer to be imposed on us, but to derive from consultation with us."

South Africa and Brazil Signed a Defense Agreement

On June 4, in Cape Town, South African Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and his Brazilian counterpart Jose Viegas Filho signed a cooperation agreement on defense-related matters. Filho was on a five-day official visit to South Africa. Lekoto said this agreement would facilitate bilateral cooperation in defense-related industries in a number of areas. These include research and development, acquisition and logistic support, procurement of military equipment, and exchanging experiences in peacekeeping operations. Lekota is quoted: "Agreements such as this one are important to South Africa. As a developing nation we are looking to partnerships with friendly countries to facilitate access to cutting edge technology...." The coverage of Lekota's press conference by South African news service SAPA notes that following the end of the Cold War, tensions evaporated and there seemed to be prospects for world peace, but that today, "emerging threats at the horizons to those prospects of peace required urgent action to ensure peace, security and stability in the world."

South Africa Delivers Humanitarian Aid to Iraq

Officials from South Africa's foreign affairs department delivered about 30 tons of humanitarian aid to Iraq. The aid, which includes medical supplies, medicines, water purification tablets, and baby milk formula, was to be flown into the country June 5. Speaking in Pretoria June 4, Acting Foreign Affairs Director-General Abdul Minty said that a team of journalists and representatives from the non-profit organization that collected the aid, Gift of the Givers, would also leave for Iraq June 5. The South African team will assess the situation and Iraq's needs, during its four-day stay in Baghdad, according to Minty. He said that the South African government would try to give the assistance that is needed most, after a report-back from the factfinding team.

Mass Actions Against Mugabe Losing Ground

In Zimbabwe, mass actions against the Mugabe government were losing ground on June 4, the third day of what leaders from the British-created Movement for Democratic Change claim will be a five-day effort to bring down the government. On Wednesday, business activity was coming back to life, with an estimated 40% of businesses in Harare opening. The government is continuing to use all its power, from military to legal options, to thwart the strike.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge slammed Western "hypocrisy" in talking to 65 foreign journalists in Harare. "It is regrettable that the G-8 summit has seen it fit to criticize the government's efforts to maintain law and order while deliberately ignoring the illegal acts of the MDC ... in its attempts to overthrow a legally constituted government by violent means," Mudenge said.

Uganda Blamed for Massacres in Democratic Republic of Congo

The Kinshasa government is laying responsibility for ongoing massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo squarely on Uganda. The DRC Information Minister Kikaya bin Karubi told Uganda's opposition newspaper, The Monitor June 4 that the DRC government is convinced it was Uganda that armed and created the division in his country's Ituri region. "All these warlords were created by Uganda. The blame for the massacres squarely lies on Uganda and Rwanda," he said. The DRC minister was reacting to allegations that DRC government soldiers were involved in the massacre in Tchiomia near the Ugandan border the first weekend in June. This allegation, he said, is "totally false. The [Kinshasa] government does not have any troops in that part of the country."

Uganda's Minister of State for Defense Ruth Nankabirwa June 4 attempted to deny that Uganda had armed any of the Congolese militias, but there is extensive information to the contrary. She is quoted: "The Congolese themselves are responsible for their own deaths."

Nigerian Labor Blasts Gasoline Price Hike of 54%

The Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) has slammed the Obasanjo government's plan to increase the price of gasoline 54%, from 26 naira to 40 naira per liter. Chris Uyot, head of NLC's Industrial Relations Department, is quoted in Nigerian daily The Vanguard June 4: "We are aware that some people have created artificial scarcity of fuel in several parts of the country. We are also aware that because this artificial scarcity has resulted in black market with its attendant hike in price, these same people are now citing this crisis which they created as justification for an increase in the price of petroleum products."

Uyot said that the national leadership of the NLC was already mobilizing across the country for a nationwide strike if the government implements the fuel price hike.

The Vanguard says, "[U]nlike what happened in the past, when the Federal government used a court action to stop an NLC strike, the workers' body is poised not to allow this to happen again."

The NLC had accepted Obasanjo's re-election, while calling on him to be magnanimous in victory.

No to Water Privatization in Ghana

Opposition to water privatization in Ghana may be bearing fruit. The controversy created by the Ghanaian government's decision earlier this year to invite private participation in supplying water has still not subsided in Ghana. In mid-May, a conference was held in Accra to oppose this initiative of the Kufuor government, which brought together various groups from across Africa who oppose the pressure being put on governments by lending institutions to privatize water. The conference was titled: "Securing the Right to Water in Africa." According to Ebo Quansah, writing for Public Agenda May 29, "Currently, there is reason for the anti-privatization of water lobby to rejoice," as "many of the foreign water companies who initially expressed interest to come to Ghana to run water are dragging their feet. Apparently, the business is not as lucrative as first thought. But another school of thought holds that the pressure mounted by the anti-privatization lobby has sent shock waves down the spines of those foreign firms who initially expressed interest in Ghana water."

Twenty-four other African countries have active World Bank loan conditions that include measures to privatize water systems. Catholic Information Service for Africa on May 8 noted, concerning the moves "to transform water into a commodity to be traded and sold for commercial gain," that in "Kenya, this threat is just rearing its head. The disadvantages and negative consequences of such a development are a cause for grave concern.... An adequate supply of water is an inalienable human right and a public trust to be protected and nurtured by all peoples, communities and nations. The Church in Africa needs to take a stand concerning this spreading trend to privatize water distribution and basic sanitation services in Africa." The publication noted that this is currently happening in Burkina-Faso, Gabon, South Africa, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sao Tome, Uganda, Chad, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Angola, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Niger.

African Nations Will Rebuff Attempts To Break Protectionism

Liberal economic and trade policies being pushed by the South African Trade and Industry Ministry will not meet with positive response from other African countries which are choosing to go in a more protectionist direction, says a report published in the last week in May by the British-steered South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). Author Peter Draper of SAIIA says efforts by Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin to mobilize support from SA's African partners to liberalize world trade, are simply not going to work, because "most African countries may have their own agenda, which favors protectionism." Draper is a former South African trade department official.

In the report titled "To Liberalise or Not To Liberalise: A Review of the SA Government's Trade Policy," Draper says that it is clear that "the African continent is becoming increasingly marginalized from the global economy." He continues that "it is debatable whether (or not) the majority of African states have an interest in a broad round of WTO negotiations, given that their export interests are comparatively few.... This puts them into a somewhat contradictory position relative to South Africa, which has much more diverse interests and capabilities."

Draper argues that as a result of this strategic divide, other African governments might regard the SA government "with some degree of suspicion."

G-8 Leaders Fail To Act on Providing Generic Drugs

At the June 3 meeting of G-8 leaders in Evian, France, there was no action on the urgent demand to provide access to cheaper generic medicines to the developing sector for AIDS and other diseases, instead of expensive drugs from Western pharmaceutical companies, leaving the matter in the hands of the World Trade Organization. French President Chirac's "action plan on health" was stripped from his proposals because of President Bush's opposition, as was his call for ending export subsidies on food to Africa. Jean-Herve Bradol, head of Doctors Without Borders in France, accused Chirac of bowing to Bush by dropping an earlier pledge to raise the issue. "Today's inaction on health is a bitter pill to swallow for people in developing counties who know that, behind closed doors, the G-8 are deliberately blocking access to affordable drugs in trade negotiations."

Pharmaceutical Giants Should Not Pocket U.S. Money for Combatting AIDS

President Bush's $15 billion for combatting aids in Africa will probably mostly go to U.S. pharmaceutical companies, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel speculated, speaking at a meeting of Africa finance ministers in Addis Abeba June 2. Manuel insisted that this had to be stopped; that the new funds pledged by the wealthier countries "must actually land on this continent," which he doesn't now see as part of the U.S. plan. "The bulk of the $15 billion ... proposed by President Bush will land in the pockets of U.S. pharmaceutical companies."

Referring to anti-retrovirals, Manuel said, "We must have a campaign that releases generics—we must focus on price." Although reiterating the South African government position that anti-retroviral drugs, by themselves, will not solve the problem, without providing decent nutrition and a health-care system, Manuel said, that all African leaders must try to obtain generic drugs to fight the pandemic.

All rights reserved © 2003 EIRNS