By Jerome Mwanda Republished courtesy IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
NAIROBI (IDN) – The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's appeal to developed countries to make good on promises made repeatedly at summit meetings of the G8 and G20 and at the United Nations to double aid to Africa, comes at a right point in time and sets the record straight about an under-reported and much-maligned continent.
But Africa, too, has a promise to keep, he said in an address to the Cameroon National Assembly at Yaoundé on his way to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. "Sustainable development can only be built on the firm bedrock of peace and good governance."
Elaborating his point, Ban said, over recent years, Africa had moved steadily from a principle of "non-interference" in one another's affairs towards a new and more modern principle of "non-indifference". "We must keep and build on this momentum."
Ban not only took up cudgels on behalf of Africa, but also praised Cameroon for its relations with the UN, its role in Africa, and progress made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Africa can achieve the MDGs, said Ban. Africa has boundless potential, amazing human and material wealth, 1 billion people, more than half of whom are under the age of 30. "As I see it, delivering for the people of Africa is a matter of commitment. Africa's people need neither pity nor charity. They need only the tools to create jobs and generate incomes."
"There must also be more room for free trade. Africa's products should not be priced out of markets by heavy import taxes," he said on June 10, adding: "Africa's farmers should not have to run up against unfair agricultural subsidies. Africa's Governments must be empowered to scale up investments in agriculture, water, education, health and infrastructure."
Ban said, at September's Millennium Development Goals Summit, he will call on Governments to develop a results-oriented action plan, with concrete steps and timelines.
TRUE PARTNERSHIP
"A chattering bird builds no nest." Citing this Cameroonian proverb, the UN chief said: "We need less talk, more action. That is why we will showcase success stories, scale them up, and create partnerships that will allow us to do even more. Africa needs true partnership, partnerships where donors listen to recipients and tailor their assistance to Africa’s needs."
Maternal health is the Millennium Development Goal where the international community has lagged furthest behind. Yet success here will touch off a virtuous "ripple effect" through all the Goals."We need to combine the efforts of donors and recipients with private sector and civil society initiatives."
Ban also stressed the need to help Africa in combating climate change. "We know that climate change is a threat to development, a threat to stability and a particular threat to Africa."
In fact, Cameroon and other members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission have voiced valid and legitimate concerns over the dramatic decrease in water levels of this vital source. Ban said: "Africa needs help in reducing its vulnerability."
The December 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference marked a significant step forward in a number of areas: a goal of limiting global temperature rise to within 2 degrees C by 2050; mitigation actions by all countries; progress on addressing deforestation and forest degradation; funding for developing countries for adaptation and mitigation.
The UN High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, he said, is working to mobilize new and innovative public and private funding to reach our annual $100 billion target by 2020. This funding will support mitigation and adaptation strategies in developing countries. It will help countries like Cameroon to reach the MDGs.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Turning to African leaders, Ban said, while the developed world is responsible for keeping the Millennium promise, "Africa, too, has a promise to keep. Sustainable development can only be built on the firm bedrock of peace and good governance."
Ban explained: "Over recent years, Africa has moved steadily from a principle of 'non-interference' in one another's affairs towards a new and more modern principle of 'non-indifference'. We must keep and build on this momentum."
What African opposition leaders registered with great satisfaction was the UN Secretary-General's insistence that the organization of peaceful, credible and transparent elections is critical.
He said: "We cannot allow the will of the people to be thwarted by electoral fraud. We cannot accept unconstitutional changes of Government. We cannot permit endless manipulations of the law to preserve the privileges of those in power. We cannot turn a blind eye to corruption, nepotism and tyranny."
"Nor can we stay quiet when people are denied fundamental rights," he added. "Without durable peace there will be no sustained development. Without sustained development, Africa will not attain the Millennium Development Goals. And without achieving the Millennium Development Goals, Africa will not find the promise and prosperity that its people so richly deserve."
These unequivocal remarks made in the National Assembly in Yaoundé is of particular importance because despite slow movement toward democratic reform, political power remains firmly in the hands of President Paul Biya who has been in office since November 1982.
He won a new seven-year term in presidential elections in October 2004. Commonwealth observers accepted the result, but said the poll lacked credibility in key areas. Opposition parties alleged widespread fraud.
The ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) in coalition with three other parties occupies 153 of the 180 parliamentary seats, and in 2008 President Biya’s government amended the constitution to allow him to run for a third term in office in 2011.
FRAGILE STABILITY
Multiple risks of conflict exist in the build-up to presidential elections in 2011 and beyond, according to the International Crisis Group based in Brussels. "Cameroon's apparent stability in a turbulent region cannot be taken for granted."
In a report released in May 2010, the Group says: The co-option of elites through the distribution of state largesse, and the emigration of many educated young people provide a certain safety valve for tensions, but the failure of reform and continued poor governance mean people no longer believe in the rule of law or peaceful political change.
The report goes back to the 1990s to explain the rationale behind its view. In the early 1990s, opposition parties emerged, and multiparty elections were held. For two and a half years, the regime was seriously threatened at the ballot box and in the street, and frustrations led to widespread violence in 1991.
But having pulled through, President Biya and his ruling party started to push back on reforms and restore authoritarian rule behind a façade of democratic practice. "Today, the nation-building project has become frayed, as the economy has stagnated, and unemployment and inequality have risen."
According to the report, the economy is weighed down by corruption and inertia, and the population sees very little from what economic growth there has been, mainly through exploitation of natural resources.
Other highlights of the report are:
- Potential organising forces are weak and dissipated, popular anger is high.
- The regime retains its old conservative reflexes, but the experiences and expectations of a youthful population have moved on.
- The political opposition is weakened by internal fractures and an erosion of democratic space, leaving few channels to express legitimate discontent.
- The explosion of anger in February 2008, stimulated by Biya's decision to alter the constitution to seek a further term in office, showed the dangers of this situation.
According to the report, Cameroon has many features of other countries which have fallen into conflict, including highly centralised and personalised leadership, political manipulation of ethnic tensions and very widespread corruption.
"Even if it overcomes its near-term challenges, the possibility of longer term deterioration leading to more open conflict cannot be excluded."
The report points to Cote d’Ivoire where a protracted struggle for succession of a long-serving president laid the ground for a civil war. "With President Biya now 77, and in the absence of any clear signals over his intentions, the question of presidential succession also looms large," says the report.
Events in Guinea in December 2008, when weak rule of law and manipulation of the constitution were seized on by junior officers with disastrous consequences, should be sobering for anyone concerned about Cameroon, advises the International Crisis Group.
BACKGROUND
The Republic of Cameroon is a unitary republic of central and western Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.
The country is called "Africa in miniature" – as Ban also mentioned in his address -- for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaounde, and Garoua.
Cameroon, a country of 20 million people, with English and French as the official languages, is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team nicknamed The Indomitable Lions.
