African pact offers economic opportunity

Nov 21, 2004

FIFTEEN AFRICAN presidents and UN chief Kofi Annan have signed a declaration pledging to promote peace and security in the Great Lakes region.<br>

FIFTEEN AFRICAN presidents and UN chief Kofi Annan have signed a declaration pledging to promote peace and security in the Great Lakes region.
The agreement commits the region to promoting common policies to end the proliferation of illicit small arms, light weapons and mines, and to harmonise existing mechanisms. It also calls for national and regional policies based on democracy and good governance, and consolidating the rule of law.
President Museveni joined the leaders of Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe in a historic event that promises a lot for this part of the continent.
The promise may be great, but so are the hurdles. The fact remains that many of these countries have ongoing rebellions, and some are fractious too. There is no doubting, though, how much more weakened dissident forces would be if they were not backed by outside powers.
The Great Lakes conference is just what a region that has seen genocide, multilateral war in addition to the internal rebellions and massive displacements, needed.

The test is now going to be initially in the observance of the spirit of the declaration and, in the longer term, exploitation of that spirit for greater and lasting good.
The signatory countries belong, variously, to economic groupings, which could be the biggest beneficiaries. The East African Community, the SADCC and Comesa, all regional groupings bringing together some, if not most, of the countries above, will have an interest in the pact. Mutual suspicion between leaders and governments arising out of the various conflicts has often set the economic groupings’ programmes back. Now that peace is being underwritten by political goodwill, opportunity has arisen to get the economic side of regional cooperation up and running. Ultimately, it is mutual economic interest that will guarantee stability.
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