ABUJA, Oct 30 (AFP) - African leaders are to meet in the Nigerian capital
to discuss putting into practice the continent's own plan to escape the
poverty trap, Nigeria said Wednesday.
   Heads of state and government from 20 African countries have been
invited to attend Sunday's meeting in Abuja to discuss the New Partnership
for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
   NEPAD, which was drawn up by African presidents, has been welcomed by
the leaders of the rich world and adopted by the UN General Assembly as a
blueprint for Africa's development.
   Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, who is chairman of NEPAD's implementation
committee, will host the meeting.
   His fellow NEPAD architects Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Abdoulaye Wade
of Senegal, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and Mohammed Hosni Mubarak of
Egypt, have also been invited.
   President Paul Biya of Cameroon is also invited. If he comes it will be
the first time he and Obasanjo have met since the World Court awarded
Cameroon a disputed peninsula on the Nigerian border.
   Obasanjo has rejected the judgement, and Nigeria has refused to withdraw
its forces from the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula, but both sides say they are
ready for talks on the issue.
   Some 15 more African leaders have also been invited either as committee
members or observers, along with Amara Essy, the interim chairman of the
Commission of the African Union.
   Top of the agenda will be putting into practice a "peer review
mechanism" under which African leaders can hold their colleagues to account
under NEPAD's prescribed standards of good governance.
   Under this system any African leader who fails to live up to promises of
open, accountable, democratic government could be sanctioned by his peers,
the statement said.
   Earlier this month, 60 African economy ministers met in Johannesburg,
South Africa, to fashion ways to implement NEPAD in their respective
countries, it also said.
   They adopted a declaration backing self-monitoring among African states
and identified other priorities such as building infrastructure through
subregional projects, cooperation between parliaments and private and civil
sectors to reduce poverty, and integrating Africa into the global economy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~