Could this have been the cause of Thabi Mbeki's initial relunctance to sign
on to the Peer Review Mechanism or was it the Mugabe factor as Mbeki's
critics would like us to believe.
-----------------------------------

November 8, 2002
Posted to the web November 8, 2002

Jonathan Katzenellenbogen , International Affairs Editor
Johannesburg

The secretariat for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad),
which is responsible for much of the technical work around the initiative
and the peer review mechanism, will ultimately be taken over by the African
Union (AU), it emerged yesterday.

While predicted widely, the development has raised concern in some quarters
that the peer review mechanism will lose its impartiality.

The pending dissolution of the secretariat was decided on at the weekend at
a meeting of the heads of state Nepad implementation committee in Abuja.

But the indication the decision had actually been made was only confirmed
yesterday with the release of a communiqué of the heads of state.

An official close to the talks said the meeting had ended late on Sunday. As
a number of the leaders who participated had already left then, it had
proved difficult to get their approval for an early announcement.

No date is given in the communiqué for the dissolution of the secretariat,
which is headed by President Thabo Mbeki's economic advisor, Wiseman Nkuhlu.
Before the AU takeover, the secretariat has been tasked with coming up with
detailed criteria and indicators for political and economic peer review by
February next year.

According to the latest mandate, the peer review mechanism should also
entail indicators of popular participation in development by groups such as
trade unions, women, the youth, civil society, and the private sector.









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