Chris McGreal in Johannesburg Wednesday October 24, 2001 The Guardian
Leaders of African states formally launched an ambitious plan to rebuild their continent yesterday through a partnership in which good and accountable government and an end to conflict is rewarded with significantly increased western aid and other help.
A dozen presidents met in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to hail the New African Initiative (NAI) which has received strong backing from Tony Blair and broad promises of support from the EU and the G8 group of leading industrial nations.
But so far there have been no concrete commitments of money to what some call the Marshall Plan for Africa, named after the vast programme of US assistance to western Europe at the end of the second world war.
Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's president, told delegates at the opening of the summit that the initiative was intended to "eradicate extreme poverty in Africa, put the region on the path of accelerated growth and sustainable development, and reverse the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process".
He added: "Within and outside Africa we must put the Afro-pessimists and other cynics to shame by coming together to work for the success of NAI."
The Nigerian president said a priority should be ending conflicts that drag down entire regions.
The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, drew the blueprint for the initiative, with adaptations from Senegal, Nigeria and Algeria.
At its heart lies a deal in which the west provides the money, expertise and economic opportunities, while Africa gets its house in order by curtailing wars, ending human rights abuses and establishing open, accountable governments.
The crisis in Zimbabwe is providing an early test of the willingness of African governments to hold each other accountable.
The test for the developed nations will be their willingness to write off debt, lift trade barriers and provide much more aid to build infrastructure. Despite Mr Blair's declaration of support at last month's Labour party conference, African officials fear that the war against terrorism will distract western attention from African problems. Underlining the point, yesterday's summit was due to have been held at the United Nations in New York but the attacks of September 11 forced its transfer to Nigeria.
The problems undermining African stability were disturbingly close to home for the meeting in Abuja. Ethnic and religious violence continues to shake Nigeria. In parts of the north, which is mainly Muslim, there is a clamour for sharia law; in the south there is growing separatist agitation. In recent days, thousands of people have fled machete attacks between ethnic groups in the central state of Benue.
In South Africa, the homes of hundreds of Zimbabwean migrants living in a squatter camp near Johannesburg were burned by local people angry at outsiders taking scarce jobs. This sort of violence is on the increase in the country.
The main commitments of the plan are that African states must institute:
· Clean, accountable and open government
· An end to gross human rights abuses
· Efforts to stop warring and impose peacekeeping
In return, the west is called on to provide:
· More aid for infrastructure, development and education
· Foreign investment and the lifting of trade barriers that impede African exports