Africa: major goals ... economic recovery, elimination of apartheid.

PositionState-of-the-world review - The Nations Speak

Despite the successful independence process in Namibia, African nations speaking in the general debate remained concerned over what they saw as a potentially explosive situation in southern Africa because of the continuing existence of apartheid, The only hope for peace and stability in the region was its total eradication and replacement by a democratic system, it was often stated.

The international community should remain vigilant with regard to Namibia, many Said, feeling that South Africa might somehow try to undermine the independence process from the inside.

The worsening economic and social situation of the continent was of equal concern to African speakers. Ongoing problems involved toxic waste dumping and other environment related activities, refugees, drought, desertification, famine and poverty, floods and widespread locust infestation. The continent is home to a majority of the world's least developed countries (LDCs).

It was stated that national economies had been gravely weakened by the crippling debt burden of $230 billion, reversing for the worse African living standards. While Africa had made courageous structural adjustment sacrifices, some said, the expected level of international support had not materialized. Such vital sectors as health and education had suffered immeasurably, it was stated. Remunerative prices for commodities had to improve.

Calls were made to extend the UN Programme of Action for the Recovery and Development of Africa beyond 1990. The African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes (AAFSAP) for socio-economic recovery and transformation-unanimously adopted at joint meetings of the Ministers of Planning and Finance of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in April 1989-was seen as a basis for constructive dialogue between African countries and their development partners.

Speedy adoption of a world convention on cross-border transport and dumping of toxic wastes with appropriate penalties was vigorously advocated.

Delegates spoke of movement towards peace in Angola and Mozambique and the Chad-Libya agreement to end their lengthy conflict. Morocco and the POLISARIO Front were urged to agree to the OAU/UN plan for self-determination for Western Sahara. Speakers noted the 1989 treaty establishing the Arab Maghreb Union comprising Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. Normalization of relations between Ethiopia and Somalia was noted. Support was voiced for OAU efforts to mediate the dispute between Senegal and Mauritania.

ALGERIA Foreign Minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali favoured transforming the ideological and military rivalry between the two super-Powers into "a rela - tionship of partners who significantly contribute to the establishment of a genuine international front for world peace". He also said there was "no greater challenge for Africa than that posed by the apartheid regime in all its dimensions". ANGOLA Foreign Minister Pedro de Castro Van Dunem maintained that UNITA (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) continued to be "a destabilizing element, not only internally in Angola, but also in the region as a whole". Peace, he said, was the "patrimony of all mankind, which must fight in a united bloc in order to preserve it". BENIN Daniel Tawema, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, said there could be no peace and no security in the world without the prospects of economic prosperity for all countries and all peoples. "Disarmament should serve development by permitting a significant increase in the resources of countries beset by hunger, disease and poverty." BOTSWANA External Affairs Minister G.K.T Chiepe said that while structural adjustment programmes might be necessary at times, they should not be regarded as "a panacea for all our economic problems, as this attitude sometimes results in the 'cure' being worse than the 'disease'". Hunger, poverty, disease and other social ills remained "the order of the day in third world countries". BURKINA FASO Foreign Minister Prosper Vokouma emphasized that the "defence of human rights begins with the promotion of a just international economic order". Some champions of human rights had enough compassion to defend freedom, but "not enough wisdom to defend human beings made of flesh and blood, not enough wisdom to stop children born and raised in disastrous circumstances from being condemned to a life of delinquency and crime". BURUNDI Cyprien...

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