Statement on Behalf of the African Union to the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the UN General Assembly for the Final Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF)

25 SEPTEMBER 2002

Mr Chairman,

On behalf of the African Union we wish to congratulate the Panel of Eminent Personalities, under the able leadership of Professor Botchwey, for their excellent evaluation of the implementation of the UN-NADAF. They fully met the expectations of the UN General Assembly, by delivering an unquestionably independent evaluation of truly "high-level quality".

The report provides a detailed assessment of the achievements and the shortcomings in the implementation of the New Agenda and identifies the lessons that should be drawn from those experiences. Their analysis and evaluation of the challenges faced by Africa and UN-NADAF and the failings of the agenda, are evidence of in-depth understanding and sincere interest in the continent. Professor Botchwey and his team deserve our appreciation and thanks for a job very well done.

We also wish to thank the Secretary-General for his report, which similarly contains very useful analysis of the lessons learnt, proposals on future engagement by the UN with the continent and particular recommendations.

Mr Chairman,

While the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa did not attain its set goals, I wish to echo President Thabo Mbeki, Chair of the African Union, who said at the General Assembly Special Session on NEPAD debate last week that he wished to thank the UN General Assembly for adopting UN-NADAF some ten years ago. UN-NADAF provided a rallying point for the African countries and our supporters within the United Nations.

It also played an important role in keeping our continent on the international development agenda. We look forward to the day when UN-NADAF will be replaced by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a programme of the African Union.

Mr Chairman,

I wish to associate the African Union with most of the findings, proposals and recommendations contained in the reports before us. We are particularly pleased by the inclusion of lessons learned from the implementation of UN-NADAF. Africa itself has taken the lessons of the past very seriously, when we designed our own plan for the future socio-economic regeneration of Africa NEPAD.

Both reports refer to the first and foremost lesson as being that conflict and development are mortal enemies. The leaders of our predecessor organisation, the OAU, recognised some years ago that conflict and development did not go together when they decided not to invite to their Summits African leaders who had come to power by undemocratic means.

That was also when African leaders decided to become actively involved in mediating African conflicts; when they created structures within the African Union to specifically deal with peace and security on the continent; and when they declared in NEPAD that peace and security are preconditions for sustainable development. The result has been growing peace and stability throughout our continent including in Angola, the DRC, Burundi, Sierra Leone, the Comores, Lesotho, Ethiopia and Eritrea. While we are not done yet, we are committed and working hard towards the goal of peace and security all over the continent.

The challenge is now for the international community, especially developed countries, to decide how to respond to the peace-making on the continent and also how they can support African peace efforts through peace keeping, conflict prevention, and ending the proliferation of weapons in Africa.

Mr Chairman,

We in Africa are living up to our commitments by embracing improved standards of political and economic governance. Just last week there was a meeting in Addis Ababa where the African Union set out its first ever, continent wide policy to tackle corruption in Africa.

The Convention on Combating Corruption would contain tough measures to deal with this issue, keeping our promise to improve governance on our continent. The Peer Review Mechanism of NEPAD, is another effort by Africa to address the issue of adherence to standards on the continent.

There are in fact numerous other efforts on the continent to ensure that our declared objectives and standards in economic and political governance are adhered to. In these ways we are trying to ensure that we will stay the course on what we have set out to do.

It is now time that our developed partners live up to their promises of real progress on debt relief, genuine market access, increased FDI flows, and transfers of useful technology and increased ODA.

Mr Chairman,

The reports also identified the need for sustained advocacy for African development. So far, we have been successful in having the special needs of Africa recognised in numerous UN fora and documentation, not least the Millennium Summit and its declaration through to WSSD in Johannesburg some three weeks ago. We further believe that NEPAD has all the elements that would make it the ideal instrument with which to generate excitement and enthusiasm among our partners.

In this regard we have to commend the efforts of the United Nations to ensure that Africa remains in the focus of international discussions on development and high on the development agenda.

On the lesson to increase the efficiency and relevance of the United Nations the African Union can only concur. While African countries are doing their utmost to make appositive contribution, by assisting with co-ordination at country-, sub-regional- and regional levels, we have little influence beyond that.

In many African countries, including my own country, we have established a United Nations House, accommodating almost all representatives of the United Nations System in one location. However, despite that, the unique rules and regulations of different UN agencies, still prevent effective co-operation and synchronisation of procedures and systems.

It is up to the UN and development partners to assist by simplifying and harmonising their own planning, programming, disbursement and reporting procedures. The question is whether the UN will be provided with the required resources to play its appropriate role in the development of our continent.

Mr Chairman,

On the way forward, I wish on behalf of the African Union to commend the Secretary-General, for declaring in April last year that the UN system must in future support Africa's own development plan NEPAD. The Secretary-General has remained firm to his commitment to see the United Nations support NEPAD.

We thus fully agree with the recommendation in the Secretary-General's report of NEPAD "as the new development policy framework around which the international community, including the United Nations System should concentrate its efforts for Africa's development". In this way NEPAD will become the natural successor for UN-NADAF, with the important difference that NEPAD will always remain an African-owned initiative. We hope that this debate will contribute ways in which the United Nations can support NEPAD and structure its future engagement with the continent in accordance with the NEPAD priorities, objectives and programmes.

Perhaps one of the best ways to maintain support for NEPAD within the United Nations would be for the Secretary-General to consider the creation of an office to co-ordinate, monitor and report on the international community's support for NEPAD. We agree with the independent evaluation report that "responsibility for the harmonisation and consistency of United Nations mobilisation on behalf of Africa should be placed (within the UN Secretariat) under a single authority with the means to exercise it."

We are pleased with the spirit shown by Member States in the discussions that led to the formulation and adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the New Partnership for Africa's Development in the General Assembly on 16 September. We note with great interest that more than 146 Member States signed as co-sponsors for this declaration.
This gives us reason to look forward to our discussions over the next few weeks, which would lead to the adoption of a resolution which should direct the future engagement of the United Nations with the continent of Africa. We realise that we could not have achieved all this without the support of the Secretary-General and his staff. For this we are truly appreciative.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.