The Foreign Service Journal, May 2004

Taking Responsibility Whatever the authoritarian inclinations are or were of many states, in terms of basic economic policy, all African states, each of them— semi-socialist Tanzania included— were mainly marching to the economic drumbeat of for- mer colonial masters, the Bretton Woods institutions or the United States. As President Nyerere told me in an interview years ago: “No matter who we say we are, politi- cally and economically, we are all in the Western sphere of influence.” So it is significant that, while the debt burden remains crushing and there is still much unfairness in trade relations with G-7 nations, African leaders have come to realize that pointing fingers or clenching fists with loud shouts about neo-colonial exploitation or imperialist domi- nation does not let them off the hook for much that has gone wrong in Africa. Botswana, for example, became independent in 1966 as one of the world’s poorest nations; annual per capita income was $100. Since then its annual growth rate has topped 7 percent. Botswana’s stability and economic growth might be explained by diamond wealth, except that Nigeria, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone also have great natural resources yet can- not be called successful in economic development. Much of the explanation for Botswana’s success has to do with attitude, especially compared to the above-named nations whose officials often saw the great wealth provided by abundant natural resources as an excuse to steal. By contrast, Botswana has seen it as a way to develop and has been careful about its sources of advice. So when the IMF offered to supply the Bank of Botswana with a deputy governor, the bank did not automatically accept him. Instead, Botswana officials flew to Washington to interview the candidate. And when drought battered the country in 1981, Botswana pulled its belt so tight that an IMF team had little to recommend in the way of structur- al adjustments, writes Joe Stiglitz in his 2002 book, Globalization and Its Discontents. The attitudes of African governments seem to be changing as recognition grows that closer regional cooper- ation is necessary for development. In February, the 16- member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa trade began negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. And in March, Southern African Development Community Executive Secretary Prega Ramsamy said that member countries (Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe) intend to create a regional common market in 2012. “The plan is to have member states sign a free trade agreement by 2008, customs union protocol in 2010 and a common market pact in 2012,” said Ramsamy. Across the continent examples abound of the great energy being put into strengthening regional economic organization. This past January, after negotiations that went into the early morning hours, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda signed a treaty that breathed new life into the moribund East African Community. The EAC had col- lapsed in 1977 because of conflict with Idi Amin as well as deep political differences. Under the treaty, tariff and non- tariff barriers will be lifted, a major step toward tapping the significant potential of a community with a combined pop- ulation of over 90 million and a gross domestic product of about $25 billion. A joint communiqué issued from Arusha declared: “The heads of state observed that the customs union epitomized the will of the East African peo- ple to unite in strength and realize the faster socio-eco- nomic transformation of the region as a single market and investment area.” NEPAD: The Case for A New Africa It is through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, however, that African leaders hope to make their most convincing case that a new Africa is emerging. Born out of three years of discussion among African heads of state, NEPAD was launched in October 2001. At its- heart, said The Post of Zambia in an editorial last November, “are African-initiated strategies to overcome the crisis of under-development.” Key to NEPAD’s vision is good governance, transparency in economic practices and the encouragement of private sector investment in Africa. NEPAD is tightly bound to the African Union, cre- ated in July 1999 as a replacement for the Organization of African Unity. The A.U. says it subscribes to the right of collective intervention in situations of genocide, rejects military coups, and is committed to the promotion of gender equality. And unlike the old OAU, insist spokesmen for the organization, the new A.U. organization will do more than talk; it will be a real pan-African union. Last July the A.U. approved establishment of a Pan-African Parliament; it was inaugurated this March, and swore in a woman as president. The A.U. will implement specific plans F O C U S M A Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 41