DAKAR, Sept 22 (AFP) - Bloody events in Ivory Coast and Burundi have
fueled "Afro-pessimism" and cast new doubt on prospects of success for the
New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
The continent's conflict-prone image was reinforced by the failed coup
in Ivory Coast, once a beacon of stability, and by a masssacre in Burundi
reported in the midst of ceasefire negotiations in a civil war that has
dragged on for nearly a decade.
The good intentions behind the NEPAD initiative, seeking Western aid and
investment against pledges of good governance and democratization, are
repeatedly given the lie by reports of continued corruption, political
repression, ethnic unrest, fraudulent elections and human rights
violations.
"Are Africans damned?" asked a Senegalese commentator, noting that
Senegal and Cape Verde were the only two among 15 members of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that have not experienced coups
since gaining independence.
"Why such self-sabotage, such waste?" he asked of the Ivory Coast, whose
record of stability was shattered with a successful coup in December 1999
from which it has yet to recover.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, several
African presidents unveiled their visions of a new Africa that does not
seek handouts from the developed world, but partnerships of mutual
interest.
Among them was Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, at the forefront of
efforts to convince foreign companies to invest in Africa, arguing that the
continent should not be written off because of a few bad apples.
His South African counterpart and co-architect of NEPAD, Thabo Mbeki,
said on the ruling African National Congress (ANC) web site: "Nothing that
the skeptics and our opponents do will stop the realization of the
objectives contained in NEPAD."
Mbeki recalled that progress had been achieved in some peace processes
in Africa. He did not include Somalia, locked in various tribal wars since
1991.
But he did mention the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola, Sierra
Leone, the Comoros Islands, Sudan and Burundi.
Burundi is a small central African state whose population, like that of
its neighbour Rwanda, consists of Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups.
It has been torn since 1993 by a civil war that not even Nelson Mandela,
the much-respected and influential former South African president, has been
able to end.
This week brought news of the massacre of at least 173 people at Gitega
in the centre of Burundi. As in the darkest times of this conflict, most of
the victims were civilians.
The army admitted having opened fire, but stressed that the victims were
either hostages or accomplices of their opponents.
But this week also brought good news. In line with an accord signed in
July in Kinshasa, Rwandan forces began their withdrawal from the DRC, the
vast central African state rent by a conflict which has drawn in half-a-
dozen states.
But clashes have also resumed between Mai Mai militia -- their name
comes from the water with which they sprinkle themselves in the belief this
protects them from bullets -- and rebels of the Congolese Rally for
Democracy (RCD) supported by neighbouring Rwanda.
Then came the Thursday bombshell in Ivory Coast, with several hundred
dead.
On Friday, Amara Essy, speaking on behalf of the newly created African
Union (AU), condemend the attempted coup and reiterated that "peace and
security are indispensable elements in the construction of the African
Union and the implementation of its program, NEPAD."
Essy also vehemently condemned the Gitega massacre.
Africa's Western partners were already in doubt in March about NEPAD's
commitment to its aims, when Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe pushed
ahead controversial land reforms accompanied by violence, arrests, press
restrictions and measures against political opponents.
Meanwhile the island of Madagascar off Africa's east coast descended
into chaos with two embittered rivals challenging each other for the
presidency.
To fight under-development, famine, poverty, disease and illiteracy,
NEPAD has set itself major targets, including good governances of African
states, infrastructure development, modernisation of agriculture, universal
education and health care.
But its absolute priority is peace.
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