Africa's socio-economic potential is reemerging
By THABO MBEKI
Special to USAfricaonline.com
USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
NigeriaCentral.com
The
Black Business Journal
Cape Town - A great moment is at hand: a chance for developed countries to make a sound investment while helping to break the cycle of African underdevelopment. This prospect now seems as obvious as it was previously elusive.
The
Group of 8 conference of industrialized nations that begins this
final week of June 2002 in Canada comes as we plan for the World
Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in September. It
follows significant commitments made by the Bush administration and
the European Union at a United Nations conference earlier this year
in Mexico to increase development aid. The common thread here is the
renewed determination among political leaders and civil society to
build a humane world of shared prosperity.
The idea gains its momentum not from the desire to provide charity. Nor is it premised merely on fears in highly developed nations of new immigrants or of poor regions becoming so volatile as to pull the rest of the world into instability. The momentum for sustained development, in partnership with the private sector, is based on a recognition that it is possible to revive poor nations, particularly in Africa, through investments for mutual benefit. There is an unprecedented resolve on the continent to turn away from the begging bowl and engage in new efforts to build a better life.
The fact that most African states have held multiparty elections in the past decade is relevant. So is the imminent formation of the African Union, out of the Organization of African Unity, which will occur at a summit in South Africa early next month. Such developments have helped reveal a socioeconomic potential previously obscured, and they have given strength to a new realism.
In this great effort, we Africans seek, and need, partners. On offer to the investors from the highly developed economies are sound prospects in countries whose infrastructures &emdash; limited telecommunications systems, poor roads, rail and port facilities, sometimes dilapidated cities &emdash; hold the promise of exponential improvement. Where others are approaching saturation, Africa offers rapid growth.
Such cooperation will reward the many African nations prepared to improve political and economic governance. But there could be broader spinoffs. This partnership of equals may lead to new introspection among the citizens of developed countries about themselves; it may rekindle that humanism that should lie at the foundation of global relations.
Such might be the outcome, if the developed nations work with Africans in redefining assistance, fashioning a fairer trade regime and treating Africa as an investment destination. Group of 8 leaders and other statesmen will gather in a remote spot in the Canadian Rockies to hear more about the New Partnership for Africa's Development. African leaders will arrive with concrete proposals on how to get this partnership off the ground.
A central feature of the new partnership is ensuring democracy, human rights and good governance. It sets out independent mechanisms for peer review, with provisions aimed at foreseeing problems and working to prevent their spread -; rather than just censuring and punishing when things go wrong. If programs in manufacturing, agriculture, education and health are to succeed, Africans in their millions must take an active part.
Most important, it is Africans who have done and will continue to
do the planning. As George C. Marshall noted in proposing his famous
plan to rebuild Europe half a century ago: "It would be neither
fitting nor efficacious for this government to undertake to draw up
unilaterally a program designed to place Europe on its feet
economically. This is the business of the Europeans." And so it will
be for Africans now. Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
These views were
stated during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and
senior analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on
Saturday November 18, 2000 during a special edition of
'Inside Politics 2000.'
Mbeki, president of South Africa, succeeded Nelson Mandela.
USAfrica FORUM:
IN THE HOUSE OF MANDELA:
A SILLY CRY FOR REPARATIONS
By Prof. Chimalum Nwankwo
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
Why Chinua
Achebe, the Eagle on
the Iroko, is Africa's writer of the century.
By Chido Nwangwu
Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard
of artistic excellence,
and more. By Douglas Killam
RELIGION
AND ETHNIC CONFLICT
Sharia-related
killings and carnage in Kaduna reenact deadly prologue to
Nigeria-Biafra war
of 1967.
Arafat's
duplicity, terrorism at the heart of
Israeli-Palestinian crises. By Barry Rubin
Martin Luther
King's
legacy,
Jews and Black History Month. By Chido Nwangwu
INSIGHT: How
Obasanjo's
self-succession
charade
at his Ota Farm has
turned Nigeria to an
'Animal
Farm.'
By Prof. Mobolaji
Aluko
Obasanjo's
'prayers' and the
Abacha path of staying in power. By Nkem
Ekeopara
Is
Obasanjo ordained by God to rule
Nigeria? And, other
fallacies. By Prof. Sola
Adeyeye
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa. By Chido Nwangwu
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
Why Bush should focus on dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide
TRIBUTE
A KING FOR
ALL TIMES:
Why Martin Luther King's
legacy
and vision are relevant into 21st 21st
century.
DIPLOMACY
Walter
Carrington:
African-American diplomat who put principles above self for
Nigeria 
(USAfrica's
founder Chido Nwangwu with Ambassador Carrington at the U.S.
embassy, Nigeria)
Private initiative,
free
market forces, and more
democratization
are Keys to prosperity in Africa
Should Africa debates begin and end
at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido Nwangwu
The Economics of Elections
in Nigeria
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
How far, how deep will Nigeria's human rights
commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
Nigeria as a Nation of Vulcanizers
Community Service Awards bring African-American, American
policy
and business leaders together with African
community at Texas Southern University
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors'
game
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
Nigeria at 40: punish financial thuggery,
build
domestic infrastructure
Is Obasanjo really up to
Nigeria's challenge and crises?
By USAfricaonline.com
contributing editor Ken Okorie. Commentary
appears from NigeriaCentral.com
Africa
suffers the scourge of the virus.
This life and pain of Kgomotso Mahlangu, a
five-month-old AIDS patient (above) in a hospital in the
Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on October
26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to the
sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who
form the core of any definition of a country's future, its
national security, actual and potential economic development
and internal markets.
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill
with AIDS
while African leaders
ignore disaster-in-waiting
NEWS
INVESTIGATION
Married White woman
confesses to having sexual relations with arrested
Nigerian-born, U.S.based Catholic priest Ike
Udegbulem.....
The unfolding criminal, legal and religio-social dimensions
following the allegations of rape and sodomy made by a lady
parishioner at Our Lady of Charity Roman Catholic Church in
Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York) against former Catholic priest
of Nigerian-descent, Ike Cyriacus Udegbulem, are taking more
complicated, messy turns and twists. USAfricaonline.com
and Houston-based USAfrica The Newspaper can confirm
that a mother of two who is the wife of a man whose family
has been providing most of the financial and operational
needs of Udegbulem has confessed to being not only a
provider of material needs but the sexual
lover of the randy priest who hails from Ihioma, in Orlu
Imo State of Nigeria. They all live in the city of Laredo,
Texas. Special reports and news investigation by Chido
Nwangwu
USAfrica INTERVIEW
"Why
African
Catholics are
concerned about crises,
sex abuse issues in our
church" - a frank
chat with ICCO's Mike Umeorah
Why Bush should focus on
dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide
DEMOCRACY'S
WARRIOR
Out
of Africa.
…The
cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but
his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua
Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on
his crusade against public corruption and press
censorship
in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By
John Suval.
CONTINENTAL
AGENDA
Bush's position on
Africa
is "ill-advised."
The position
stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of
Texas, George Bush where he said that "Africa will not be an
area of priority" in his presidency has been
questioned by USAfricaonline.com Publisher
Chido Nwangwu. He
added that Bush's "pre-election position was neither
validated by the economic exchanges nor geo-strategic
interests of our two continents."
Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
elected president.
By Al Johnson
The
Civilianizing of African soldiers
into
Presidents
Why Dr.
Martin Luther King's vision
is valid into the 21st century
Why Powell's
mission to the Middle
East failed. By Jonathan Elendu
In a special report a few hours after the history-making
nomination, USAfricaonline.com
Founder and Publisher Chido Nwangwu places Powell within the
trajectory of history and into his unfolding clout and
relevance in an essay titled 'Why Colin
Powell
brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush
presidency.'
AFRICA
AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS
Beyond U.S.
electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a democratic
republic hold
lessons
for
African politics.
It's wrong
to stereotype Nigerians as Drug
Dealers
Apple announces Titanium,
"killer
apps" and other
ground-breaking products for 2001. iTunes makes a record
500,000 downloads.
Steve Jobs extends
digital
magic