Davos Club Snubs Africa

Trevor feels lonely in the cold 
 
(Agh shame. All that hard work sucking up to the
bastards in 2002 -- NYC WEF in Feb, Monterrey in
March, Kananaskis in June, WSSD in August, the UN
Heads of State in September -- and then they just
forget all about you...)

(IPS, 28/1/03)
Davos Club Snubs Africa 
Africa-NEPAD 

With only a handful of African officials attending and
no African issues on the agenda, the World Economic
Forum appears to be ignoring 13 percent of the world's
population.

By Emad Mekay 

DAVOS, Switzerland - Despite talk from WEF officials
that this evidently exclusive organization is moving
towards openness and inclusion, African officials and
NGOs here are complaining that the "elitist" gathering
has failed them.

"Africa didn't really shine here," ironised Trevor
Manuel, South African minister of finance.

NGOs attending the Davos Forum echoed that sentiment,
saying the event is not the "catch-all" gathering that
organisers claim. 

"In the consciousness of the participants here, Africa
is very much a side show," says Kumi Naidoo, head of
the U.S.-based NGO, Civicus. 

"As people met here, some 4,000 people a day were
being hospitalised in Africa and dying. It's clear
that at such a global level, we are fairly numb to
this tragedy," he added. 

Among the many snubs Africa received here was the
decision by former U.S. president Bill Clinton to
cancel his presence at a press conference on Africa
today to discuss the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD).

Forum officials said Clinton did not give reasons for
not attending. 

Niall Fitzgerald, CEO of the British-Dutch food and
soap company Unilever also failed to show for the
conference, citing other engagements.

Even at the level of panels and discussion sessions --
the core of the WEF programme -- there were hardly any
devoted to the problems or topics directly related to
Africa, just five out of a total 300 sessions. 

"There is a complete dearth of panels on Africa," said
minister Manuel, whose country is the engine behind
NEPAD, an effort devised by African leaders to give
the continent more say in determining its trade
agenda. 

Manuel said he would have liked to see more debates on
matters like debt relief, market access, health and
HIV/AIDS, as well as on Africa's own utilisation of
its resources. None of theses were on the agenda. 

Naidoo noted in particular the absence of Africa in
the high-profile economic outlook survey presented in
Davos. 

"None of them talked about Africa," he said referring
to the economic forecast discussions here. "They were
all about the U.S. and Europe. China and India were
touched upon. But there was nothing about Africa."

"It is as if Africa doesn't exist," added the US
activist. "This writes off a huge chunk of humanity
and reduces them to mere spectators of the world
economy." 

There are more than 800 million people in Africa, or
13 percent of the world's population. Africa's
population is expected to increase to 1.3 billion by
2020. 

Only three African presidents were invited to Davos:
Benjamin William Mkapa, of Tanzania, Paul Kagame, of
Rwanda, and Joaquim Alberto Chissano, of Mozambique. 

The WEF is a by-invitation-only event, even when it
comes to national officials, said Manuel. No African
leader "could have just said 'oh, I feel like going to
Davos today." 

(Unlike Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who,
uninvited, dropped in on Porto Alegre.) And sitting on
the panels there was hardly anyone from the black
continent discussing some of the WEF's main themes,
such as business, global governance, and values. 

But Manuel, who appeared frustrated at a press
conference later in the day, said that Africa should
keep trying to get commitments from the industrialised
North and its organisations, including WEF, especially
in backing initiatives like NEPAD. 

"Keep the faith," he said. "African heads of states
will continue meeting and they will keep heads of
states from the north committed."

He said African heads of state are to meet in March to
finalise steps towards implementing NEPAD goals like a
peer-review mechanism, increasing intra-Africa trade
and broadening participation from diverse sectors of
African society.