UNCTAD-Algerian leader condemns Western capitalism

BANGKOK, Feb 18 (AFP)-Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika issued a
passionate attack on the world’s economic superpowers Friday, accusing them
of wiping Africa off the map with a blind pursuit of market capitalism.
 Bouteflika told a major United Nations trade conference here that the
West’s infatuation with global capitalism had “dashed” the hopes of
Africans for a life free of poverty.
 “A new map of the world is being drawn and a continent, Africa, is being
scrubbed out, erased,” he said.
 The West’s desire for economic globalisation, crippling levels of debt and
plunging overseas aid granted by developed countries meant Africa would
remain locked in misery, he said.
 “My message is one of deep sadness and frail hopes that I convey to you on
behalf of Africa,” said Bouteflika, the current head of the Organisation of
African Unity.
 Indifference to the needs of Africa had prompted concern that the “hopes
of developing countries have been dashed,” said Bouteflika who was
protected at the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) by a huge
security operation.
 He claimed the new global economy, with its reverence for open markets,
had seized an”absolute hold of the financial sphere” to promote production.
 Capital gain was now prized above employment, he argued in a keynote
address delivered in Arabic.
 Developing nations had been “pretty well excluded” from consultations
while powerful countries refused to open their markets while “demanding
that the weakest and poorest countries abide by their obligations.”
 While admitting that Africa was handicapped by “ a somewhat warped public
management” system and a wave of conflicts, Bouteflika pleaded for time for
the continent to move towards democracy.
 But he recalled the many ethnic conflicts in the continent were the result
of the “trauma” of colonialism and warned that demands for better human
rights practice and good governance were hampering efforts to knit stable
societies.
 The week-long UNCTAD conference, which ends Saturday, is meeting with a
mandate to shield the world’s poorest people from the possible perils of
globalisation.

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