The article below appeared on the Boston Globe a few weeks ago.
Samba
AFRICAN LEADERS LASH OUT
AT UN, WEST ACCUSED OF KEEPING
CONTINENT IN POVERTY
Author: By John Donnelly, Globe Staff Date:
09/09/2000 Page: A1 Section:
National/Foreign
UNITED NATIONS - Amid a year that has seen intensive
international attention
toward Africa and its daunting list of troubles,
dozens of angry African leaders
fired back this week at Western powers, saying concern
alone is not enough.
As the United Nations millennium summit finished three
days of deliberations and
speeches yesterday, an overriding theme emerged from
African heads of state
who charged that the forces of globalization are
enriching the West anew while
sentencing them to even more misery.
"We were slaves, then there was colonization, and we
are saying that even with
globalization we will never become global slaves
again," President Yahya Jammeh
of Gambia said in an interview in his hotel suite
overlooking Central Park. "It took
African blood, sweat, and tears to build the West, and
now the West, instead of
respecting us, is treating us like dogs."
Several African leaders voiced solidarity with the
grass-roots international
movement against the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank,
suggesting that an alliance was possible.
"From Seattle to Washington, D.C., from Davos to
London, and in many other
places, people have spoken and signaled in no
uncertain terms that the present
world order, particularly in economic, trade, and
development areas, is
unsatisfactory and needs to be reformed," said Anund
Priyay Neewoor, UN
ambassador from the tiny island nation of Mauritius.
"What the people have said in the streets now, the
developing countries have been
saying for many years in various international fora
with little success," he said.
Resentment from Africa is not uncommon at world
events, but this time it came in
a year in which the United Nations held extensive
hearings in January on the
continent's needs. On Thursday, a historic meeting of
the UN Security Council
focused on revamping peacekeeping operations, with
Africa very much in mind.
The Clinton administration, as well, has rhetorically
elevated African policy to a
higher plane than any previous administration. Clinton
traveled twice to the
continent, most recently last month to Nigeria and
Tanzania. And his
administration has advocated debt forgiveness,
increased spending to fight
HIV/AIDS and faster deployment of better-trained UN
peacekeepers to defuse
conflicts.
But at the three-day summit, leader after leader from
African nations attacked the
West, some specifically mentioning the United States.
They said the Western
powers talked a good game about extending the benefits
of globalization to Africa
but then stood by as corporations plundered riches
from the continent.
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa decried the
day-to-day misery of
one-sixth of all people in the world who survive on
less than $1 a day, saying it
should be "offensive" to all leaders at the summit.
The General Assembly, as
expected, passed a resolution yesterday that had
sweeping goals on behalf of the
poor, including lifting an astronomical 600 million
people out of extreme poverty in
15 years.
"The poor of the world stand at the gates of the
comfortable mansions occupied
by each and every king and queen, president, prime
minister, and minister
privileged to attend this unique meeting," Mbeki said.
And J.J. Rawlings, the president of Ghana, singled out
multinational corporations
as nourishing and "thrusting" corruption on Africa.
Rawlings, and other African leaders this week, did not
turn the spotlight on the
role of the continent's rulers in nurturing such
corruption.
Instead, they portrayed themselves as victims of
globalization, burdened by debt,
forced to accept harmful economic terms to secure
World Bank loans, and falling
far behind the rest of the world in technological
advancement.
All week, one of the most forceful voices was Gambia's
Jammeh, who said it was
time that African nations received far better
reimbursement for their natural wealth.
"When you look at Africa today - we are one of the
richest continents in terms of
raw materials - because of the lack of technology and
lack of means of extracting
oil and diamonds and other materials, foreign
companies come and exploit and set
their own terms and say, `Take it or leave it.'
"It is either accept what they offer or you will have
no jobs for people," he said.
"We have no choice."
He also singled out the World Bank's influence. In
Gambia, the World Bank
pushed for privatization of several state industries.
The first was the peanut
industry, which had employed 14,000 people. After the
industry was sold, a
foreign company closed the processing plant and
shipped the peanuts abroad for
processing. Now the industry employs fewer than 700.
"We are now importing peanut oil into the country,"
Jammeh said. "It's ridiculous."
Jammeh, 36, is not on the Clinton administration's
list of promising African leaders.
That is largely due to the way he came to power - a
bloodless military coup in
1994, only six months after Jammeh completed military
police training in Port
McClellan, Ala. Jammeh said he and other young army
officers overthrew the
government of Dawda Jawara because of corruption and
economic stagnation that
resulted in an 84 percent unemployment rate.
After the coup, the United States and the European
Union suspended much of
their trade. In 1996, Jammeh won election as president
in a vote that was
questioned by some international groups, and since
then his government has been
criticized by human rights groups for detaining its
critics, including journalists and
politicians. But he also has built numerous schools
and formed a foundation to
provide better health care.
Still, his relationship with the US government remains
frosty.
One of his priorities this week was to meet with human
rights activists and
encourage them to observe next year's elections. Peter
Takiram Budde, director
of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, said he
appreciated Jammeh's
offer.
"I was surprised and intrigued by the fact that he
didn't want people to come
merely for the elections, but that he wanted them to
come for the process leading
up to them as well," Budde said after spending two
hours with Jammeh.
"We have nothing to hide," the president said.
And yet, perhaps because of his country's human rights
record, or because of
Jammeh's outspoken opposition to the forces of
globalization, his country is having
trouble attracting new businesses. One possibility
arose this week, with the
announcement of a plan for a $5 million investment to
build a flour mill. If terms
are finalized, the deal would create 140 jobs.
Gambia has 1.4 million people. Jammeh understands the
terms of battle. But he
said that he, and others on his continent, would
continue to demand better deals
for Africa.
"We are not afraid of any power, big or small," he
said. "We want to make sure
Africa is respected."
All week long, the president of Africa's smallest
nation wore a traditional white
robe and white slip-on leather shoes.
And everywhere he went, from lunches with the leaders
of the West to the podium
at the General Assembly, Jammeh carried a sword
wrapped in prayer beads. It
was a tip-off, if one were needed, that he was ready
for battle.
SIDEBAR:
SUMMIT TOPICS
GLOBE STAFF CHART
PLEASE REFER TO MICROFILM FOR CHART DATA
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