|
2005 A Year Of Positive Action!
The year 2004 has ended on
positive signs for Africa even though there were
several black spots during the year and even before by
way of economic growth, food situation, peace and
stability as well as democracy.
There have been over 9.5 million
refugees and hundreds and thousands of people who have
been slaughtered in
Africa
from a number of conflicts and civil wars. Within all
these strifes and comotions,
Africa
is still on its feet. If this scale of destruction and
fighting was in
Europe
, then people would be calling it World War III with
the entire world rushing to report, provide aid,
mediate and otherwise try to diffuse the situation.
Africa
countries like Burundi Congo The Democratic Republic
of Congo Cote
d’Ivoire
(
Ivory Coast
) Eritrea/Ethiopia Liberia Nigeria Rwanda Sierra Leone
Sudan Uganda Zimbabwe among others have had their
share in the continents religious, ehthnic, civil as
well as political conflicts.
The situation, however, apears
quite better than before. With the intervention of the
African Union, and other sub-regional groupings like
the Economic Commission for West Africa (ECOWAS) and
to the external front the European Union dealing with
a number of the conflicts on the continent, peace
gradually cripping in.
Last November, fifteen presidents
from the
Great Lakes
region and its neighboring states met for two days in
Tanzania
and signed the “
Dar es Salaam
Declaration” in presence of the United Nations
Secretary General Dr. Kofi Annan, committing
themselves to the creation of a peaceful region and
ending decades of war and bloodshed.
The declaration was a product of
the International Peace Conference on the
Great Lakes
which brought together friends and enemies, warring
and factional groups from the war-torn states in the
region and those with political instability. The Great
Lakes Region covers countries sharing the waters of
the African great lakes of
Victoria
and
Tanganyika
.
Similar declarations have been
observed in various arts of the continent trying to
bring peace to areas like the La Cote D’Ivoire,
Liberia
, and even
Sudan
.
On the economic front, the
continent is struggling to wipe way its $300 billion
debt owed to foreign creditors. Many donor countries
and organizations have canceled some of the debts. In
2004 alone over 120 billon dollars was cancelled by
the various donors.
Globally, planting of GM crops
has increased at an annual rate of 15 per cent since
they were first introduced in the mid-1990s, according
to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). If
this rate were sustained, the global market would
reach US$210 billion by 2014, nearly a five-fold
increase from its current US$44 billion value.
Though the food situation has
deteriorated in some parts of
Africa
especially in the eastern part primarily due to the
unstable situations and drought, there is still a high
level of hope for the people on the continent.
According to the Food and agricultural Organization of
the United Nations the overall food supply situation
is stable in western
Africa
, following above average or record crops in most
countries last season, except Guinea Bissau due to the
effect of civil strife. National food security stocks
were replenished and markets are well supplied. Cereal
prices are mostly stable and often much lower than in
previous years. Early growing conditions in the
current season are also favorable.
The African continent experienced
a very vibrant democratic expedition during the year
2004. Six countries including
Niger
,
Mozambique
, and
Ghana
among others had smooth and relatively peaceful and
fair general elections. It is the expectation that the
peer review mechanism will be improved and good
governance will reign supreme in the year 2005.
African Echo wishes all Africans
a prosperous 2005. We on behalf of all African Leaders
call on the world to give a greater attention to
Africa
for the hopes that the people have to be sustained.
The continent cannot be isolated. We have a role to
play in the global village.
Africa
is resolved to move faster and we need the rest of the
world to support it.
Racism and discrimination should
be condemned in the strongest terms.
LONG LIVE
AFRICA
!
2005 LOOKS BETTER!
More in the current issue..
Back |
