From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: UNITED NATIONS: African leaders give priority to development
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 02:19:03 GMT


Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: UNITED NATIONS: African leaders give priority to development


an inter press service feature

by appan menon

/att editors: the following is a special weekly feature reviewing
major issues discussed in the past week at the united nations
general assembly/

new york, oct 3 (ips) -- by coincidence or design, just as african
nations got their turn to address the u.n. general assembly this
week, the level of interest in the assembly's proceedings tapered
off.

after 134 speakers, including 22 heads of state and 87 foreign
ministers, audience interest is bound to flag. and friday, when
eight of the 10 speakers were from africa, one diplomat said the
''assembly resembled an oau (organisation of african unity)
meeting'' -- african leaders addressing an african gathering.

but there were other reasons for the thin audience. into its
second week of the debate, the number of heads of state addressing
the assembly had dwindled dramatically.

coincendentally, africa was also in the news for happenings
outside the general assembly hall.

the sep. 29-30 elections in angola, the first in its
independent history, became a major topic of interest. for the
united nations, which is ending one of its ''cheapest peacekeeping
operations'', the question is whether peace would hold in the
country once the results were announced.

but what shook the united nations was the murder of an employee
of the u.n. children's fund (unicef) in southern sudan. secretary-
general boutros boutros-ghali said myint maung of myanmar was
engaged in humanitarian work and he blamed the sudanese peoples
liberation army (spla) for the death.

without mentioning the incident, sudan's foreign minister  was
critical of international organisations which helped the spla.

''if preventive diplomacy was used initially for fact-finding,
such a process should...avoid selectivity and the hasty collection
of facts. sudan had suffered a lot of grievances as a result of
miscommunication of facts on the part of media and non-
governmental organisations,'' ali ahmed sahloul said.

the african leaders who addressed the assembly shared concern
over the precarious state of their economies, and they criticised
the structural adjustment policies supervised by the international
monetary fund (imf). (more/ips)

united nations: african leaders give priority to development(2-e)

united nations: african leaders (2)

''because of structural adjustment programmes, the economies of
many countries had been affected, and governments concerned were
almost powerless. the case of africa was particularly serious,''
said abdou diouf, senegal's president.

ghanaian deputy foreign minister mohammed ibn chambas suggested
there should be a ''debt write-off'' as debt re-scheduling had
proved to be of little use.

''african countries continue to part with 10 billion dollars a
year for debt servicing alone -- an expenditure which was several
times higher than the combined expenditures on health and
education,'' chambas said.

many african leaders were critical of the actions of the u.n.
security council.

''depending on their geographic location, certin conflicts did
not seem to merit the same attention from the council,''thomas
sanon, the foreign minister of burkina faso said, obliquely
referring to the tardy u.n. action in somalia.

joining a call for the democratisation of the council, sanon
said some council members considered themselves to be members of
an ''exclusive club''.

putting forward its claim for a seat as a permanent member,
nigeria said the peace-keeping body represented only three of five
regions of the world and, ''seen in a north-south context, four of
the council's members came from the north.''

the council's five permanent members with veto powers
(britain, china, france, russia and the united states), hold
privileged positions as the world war ii victors: a position
described by third world nations as anachronistic.

''nigeria, the most populous african nation with the largest
economic potential and a proven commitment to the cause of world
peace and security, possessed the qualifications to fulfill
africa's aspirations,'' said foreign minister ike omar nwachuku.

suprisingly, none of the african leaders referred to what was
considered a scourge of africa till recently -- the activities of
foreign mercernaries. this is partly because conflicts such as
those in angola and namibia have been resolved and the main
financier of mercernaries, south africa, is undergoing reform.

however, a report this week by the special rapporteur on the
use of mercernaries, enrique ballestros of peru, warns against
complacency. he said the reform process in south africa was
''fraught with pitfalls'' and there were reports that white groups
had set up paramilitary units to oppose democratisation.

''in the face of the mounting violence deployed by those who
oppose the dismantling of apartheid, the international community
must remain vigilant and keep up the pressure against the system
of racial discrimination,'' the report said. (end/ips/ip/am/yjc/92)