South African President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday called on the developed world to work with African nations to help the world’s poorest continent along the path to democracy and economic prosperity.
”Whatever the difficulties and obstacles, we will persist in the effort to achieve Africa’s renaissance,” Mbeki told parliamentary deputies in the lower-house National Assembly on the second day of his state visit to France.
”But it is also clear that it will be extremely difficult for us to achieve this goal of the social and economic renewal of Africa without the support of France and the rest of the developed world,” he added.
The South African president, making his fourth trip to France this year, arrived in Paris on Monday with a full agenda focused on bilateral economic relations, global trade liberalisation and African development.
Mbeki named the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), an African initiative to boost investment and promote good governance, as evidence of homegrown efforts to solve the continent’s woes.
”We have as Africans decided that we must do everything we can to determine our own future,” the South African president said in a 30-minute speech to the National Assembly.
”Integration and unity are matters of critical importance. They are of central relevance to the African struggle to defeat poverty and underdevelopment.
”To free the 800-million Africans from poverty is to create great possibilities for the expansion of the world economy, for the benefit also of those who are better off.”
Mbeki mentioned a host of problems faced by Africa — war, famine, illiteracy and disease — but did not mention the HIV/Aids pandemic by name.
”Millions are ravaged by diseases, which can be cured or managed, but nevertheless envelop helpless millions, imposing avoidable morbidity and early death,” he said.
Mbeki quoted at length from French radical Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the Reign of Terror, drawing a comparison between the French revolution and its aftermath, and the struggle in South Africa to bring an end to apartheid.
”It was therefore inevitable that we, the victims of a pernicious system of racist white minority rule, which considered and treated us as sub-human, would identify with the French Revolution,” he told deputies.
Following up on the warm words he had for President Jacques Chirac after their talks on Monday, the South African president again thanked France for its support for Nepad. Mbeki is one of the main backers of the initiative.
Again quoting Robespierre, Mbeki said he hoped Africa, with the help of the developed world, would soon ”witness the dawn of the bright day of universal happiness.”
Earlier, Mbeki met with French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and French business leaders for talks focused on trade ties and investment opportunities — one of the key themes of his three-day visit.
France was South Africa’s ninth-largest export market in 2002, having imported more than one billion dollars (850-million euros) in goods and services.
France was also the ninth biggest foreign investor in South Africa in 2002, pouring more than $448-million into South Africa’s economy.
Mbeki will wrap up his trip on Wednesday with a speech to the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiaation (Unesco) that is expected to focus on Nepad, and a visit to the French Chamber of Commerce. – Sapa-AFP