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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Summit Features Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Reparations required
The Africa-Europe summit that ended in Cairo on Tuesday may not have yielded concrete results consistent with Africa's many legitimate demands. Still, it was a positive first step in a process that should go some way toward correcting many historic injustices. European leaders, representing the wealthy, technologically advanced North, were faced for the first time with the bitter complaints of Africa's leaders, who resent the way this continent is being marginalised and left to struggle alone with its suffering, poverty, famine, epidemics, conflicts, and overwhelmingly authoritarian regimes.
Although several African countries have witnessed significant developments in recent years, especially with regard to human rights and political pluralism, democracy alone will not solve the continent's problems. Millions of impoverished people are facing probable famine in the Horn of Africa, and their lives will not be spared by democratic elections. Millions of HIV-positive Africans, deprived of basic health and education, are dying every year because they cannot afford expensive medication; but the Western prescription of good governance and the rule of law will not cure the AIDS pandemic.
African leaders who spoke at the summit made it clear that democracy and human rights are a priority. But even the few African countries with elected governments continue to face the same challenges preventing the development of the continent and forcing its people to live in extreme poverty.
Algerian President and OAU Chairman Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika thanked European countries for their initiatives to cancel some Third World debt, but described these initiatives accurately as "a drop of water in a vast, thirsty desert." Bouteflika added: "It is like a doctor dealing with a dying patient, and telling him: 'Close your eyes and die peacefully, I have relieved all your debts'."
The African continent, which the now advanced European countries plundered for centuries, deserves the attention of its former colonisers. The cancellation of external debts, European investment, the development of infrastructure and technology transfer: this is what Africans expect. Only in this way will a continent so rich in resources find the strength to end its people's suffering.
