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Central Africa: Oxfam Statement
Central Africa: Oxfam Statement
Date distributed (ymd): 971031
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Central Africa
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+ +security/peace+
Summary Contents:
The ten aid agencies that make up Oxfam International have issued a document
calling for an integrated international strategy to address the crisis
in the Great Lakes region. The response of the international community
has often contributed to the crisis rather than aided to resolve it. Oxfam
argues that making the transition from war to peace requires linking all
aspects of international engagement to substantially increased levels of
support and debt relief while fostering respect for human rights.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Oxfam International
October 1997
Oxfam International Advocacy Office
1511 "K" Street, Suite 1044, Washington DC 20005, USA
Tel: 1 202 393 5332; Fax: 1 202 783 8739;
Email: oxfamintdc@igc.org.
Contact: Justin Forsyth (202-393-5332), Lydia Williams (202-783-7305)
Full document:
http://www.oneworld.org/oxfam/policy/cafric/oi_gl_oct97.htm -- no longer available 00/01
The Importance of Engagement:
A Strategy for Reconstruction in the Great Lakes Region
Excerpts from Press Release, October 21, 1997
Oxfam International today (Tuesday 21 October) called upon the leaders
of the UN, IMF, World Bank, the EU, the Organisation of African Unity and
national governments to forge a 'contract of commitment' with Central Africa
linking all aspects of international engagement to a strategy that supports
reconstruction, reduces poverty and fosters respect for human rights.
Oxfam is calling for a plan that offers substantial levels of support
and debt relief while fostering respect for human rights, not the failed
formulas of the past. Political, military, economic and humanitarian policies
to the region should mutually reinforce not undermine one another.
"Only the active participation at the highest level could pull
this off, that is why we appeal directly to Kofi Annan, James Wolfensohn,
Michel Camdessus, Salim A Salim, Aldo Ajello and national governments to
meet urgently to help spearhead a co-ordinated international response that
supports recovery and respect for human rights. Failure to demonstrate
commitment in this way will only further undermine credibility and influence
of the international community with the new breed of political leaders
in the region," said Justin Forsyth, Oxfam International.
As part of this coherent and integrated engagement strategy, that includes
support for reconstruction and human rights, Oxfam International is calling
for a three pronged approach:
- Substantial new aid, which is fast, flexible and focussed on reducing
poverty, curbing excessive military spending, encouraging respect for human
rights and increasing people's stake in peace
- Significant debt relief which goes beyond the present IMF/World Bank
Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative. Deeper and quicker debt
relief will be needed for post-conflict countries.
- High level efforts to support a central African regional conference
to enable regional governments to develop a settlement to the political,
economic and military problems affecting the region.
"This is not just about bigger carrots and bigger sticks but a
coherent and integrated strategy that deals with the new political realities
and breaks away from the bankrupt 'aid-alone' engagement policies of the
past. The past piece-meal approach to the violent events in Central Africa
has led to a regional 'confidence-deficit' with the actions and motivations
of the international community. Instead of being part of the solution international
engagement with the region has often been part of the problem," added
Mr Forsyth.
Executive Summary
The defeat of the late President Mobutu in the former Zaire marked a
historic moment for Africa. Mobutu's demise has removed a critical obstacle
to regional cooperation in the Great Lakes region and beyond. A new axis
is emerging across the continent, linking leaders who seek to break the
corrupt and colonial ties of the past. This inspires new hope for an end
to conflicts in the Great Lakes and provides a chance for like-minded leaders
to collaborate in addressing the region's underlying problems. However,
conflict and human rights abuses continue throughout the Great Lakes. The
need for humanitarian aid persists. Warring parties throughout the region
customarily violate international humanitarian law and the protection it
offers to civilians. In the new Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.Congo)
in mid 1997, UNHCR maintained that 200,000 refugees were still unaccounted
for. Unknown numbers are feared dead, deprived of life-saving assistance,
or killed by troops. In Burundi, it is estimated that one in every nine
people is displaced. Between 100 and 200 refugees flee into Tanzania each
day, to join more than 300,000 refugees from D.R.Congo and Burundi. Violent
conflict persists alongside the new opportunities for development. The
region is half at peace and half at war.
There are reasons to be cautious, to wait and assess the direction of
regional events. The region's problems are complex, and there are no simple
solutions. However, in this paper, Oxfam International urges the international
community - governments, the UN, the EU, the World Bank, the IMF, NGOs,
and civil society - to engage with the people and leaders of the region
to help them take advantage of the end of the Mobutu era. We argue that
it is vital to engage swiftly with the governments of the region, and demonstrate
support for their people's needs. Failure to do so, as in Rwanda's case
following the genocide of 1994, will serve only to undermine further the
credibility and influence of the international community.
Oxfam International has worked in the region for more than thirty years.
Our work spans humanitarian relief, reconstruction, development, and advocacy,
working with partners to support their efforts to build peace, justice,
and stability. The lives of those we work with have been marred by poverty
and conflict and by the international policies that contribute to them.
These include trade policies that penalize poor countries, international
support for an evidently corrupt President Mobutu, the failure to prevent
or halt the genocide in Rwanda, the failure to separate bona fide refugees
from genocidaires in the camps in Zaire and Tanzania, and the failure to
stem the flow of arms to genocidaires. We therefore appeal to the international
community to learn from past policy failures and act to help repair the
damage. Substantial assistance for reconstruction is required to reduce
poverty and to help the region turn away from conflict and towards peace.
However, aid alone is not enough. Given the depth of poverty, the prevalence
of violent conflict, and the scale of human rights violations in the Great
Lakes, we urge the international community to develop an integrated approach
with the governments of the region, linking all aspects of international
engagement to a strategy that reduces poverty, averts conflict, and fosters
respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. The international
community should demonstrate the seriousness of their concerns by varying
the degrees of assistance in response to explicit triggers in a way that
is both transparent and consistent. Political, economic, military, and
humanitarian policies should mutually reinforce rather than undermine one
another. For example, TNCs should share and echo Foreign Ministers' concerns
about human rights; new aid should not just be recycled for debt payments;
and programs to support demobilization and decommissioning of weapons should
not be undermined by continued arms sales.
Oxfam International calls for unprecedented coordination between the
regional governments, the OAU, the UN, the IMF and World Bank, the EU,
and bilateral donors, in conjunction with civil society, in pursuit of
a coherent approach to build on hopes for peace and avert further descent
into war. The development of a coordinated and coherent strategy, pursued
by all the actors, that links the different issues, will take significant
political will. This is a huge challenge, because the record of the international
community in this respect is poor. Nonetheless, the international community
should now remedy past failures with renewed alertness to poverty, the
violation of human rights, and a greater commitment to act to prevent conflict.
The human and economic costs of not doing so are too great to contemplate.
Oxfam proposes the following as elements of a coherent and coordinated
international strategy for the region:
- AID: provide resources for recovery and development
Donors and the IFIs can best reduce risks of further conflict by:
Providing substantial new aid focused on reducing poverty and increasing
people's stake in peace. In the short term, priorities should include restoring
livelihoods and rehabilitating social and physical infrastructure. Over
the longer term, the region requires assistance to generate growth with
equity, in order to address the underlying causes of conflict. This requires
collaboration with grassroots organizations, local NGOs, and local and
national authorities.
Providing sufficient resources to enable regional governments to implement
policies that ensure access to, and equity in, basic health care and education.
Providing medium-term support for recurrent expenditure, rather than
imposing limits that unduly constrain the provision of health-care and
education. Short-term monetary stabilization should not be prioritized
above social investment which is fundamental to recovery and long-term
development.
Developing reconstruction funding to provide aid that is flexible and
fast-disbursing. Close coordination among donors should minimize funding
gaps and the pressure on incipient administrations. Agreement between donors
and regional governments on mutual expectations should avoid protracted
approval, procurement, and disbursement procedures.
Accompanying reconstruction aid with simultaneous cost-effective measures
to build governments' capacity for aid absorption.
Encouraging progress towards the reduction of excessive military expenditure
by prioritizing aid for governments that promote poverty-reduction.
Elaborating internationally agreed criteria for carrying out 'conflict
impact assessments' on all interventions in situations prone to conflict.
The criteria for such assessments should be based on the evaluation of
past policies.
2. DEBT: provide substantial and quick debt relief beyond existing mechanisms
This could be achieved through the following measures:
A meeting of the Paris Club, IMF, and World Bank to decide whether to
write off the debts of Rwanda and D.R.Congo, or to develop a new mechanism
that goes beyond HIPC (note 1) to provide earlier and deeper debt relief
for countries emerging from conflict.
Collaboration between the IMF, World Bank, and G8 governments to adopt
measures to retrieve Mobutu's ill-gotten fortune, including freezing bank
accounts and seizing assets.
In return for debt relief, regional governments, in collaboration with
local NGOs, civil society groups, and donors, to make clear commitments
to use resources from debt relief for poverty- reduction programs.
3. SECURITY: uphold the right to protection from violence
Measures to achieve this include the following:
Donor governments to provide assistance to regional governments' programs
for the demobilization of soldiers and decommissioning of weapons.
The regional governments to intensify efforts to build national, accountable,
and professional armies which will ensure the security of all their citizens.
The UN, EU, and OAU to adopt a restrictive international arms code to
limit the supply of arms (including small arms) to governments responsible
for human rights abuses, including specific measures to address illicit
arms flows.
EU member states to uphold their agreements under the program for preventing
and combating illicit trafficking in conventional arms.
4. JUSTICE: reinvigorate international efforts to end impunity
This could be achieved through:
The provision of substantial support from donor governments for regional
efforts to rebuild the judiciary in Rwanda and to reform the judiciary
in Burundi and D.R.Congo.
Measures by the regional governments to denounce, investigate, and punish
extra-judicial killings.
Improved cooperation between the international community and the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to bring criminals to justice, complying with
UNSC Resolution 978 on arresting and extraditing suspects in, and outside,
the region.
5. POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION: support the region to devise its own solutions
Oxfam recommends the following measures:
Regional governments to strengthen structures of participation and decision-making,
from the local to the regional level, to increase people's say in their
future. In D.R. Congo, this will lead to free and fair elections by April
1999 as announced by President Kabila.
Donor governments, the EU, UN, OAU, IFIs, and NGOs to underpin all their
interventions with measures to entrench and expand the right of all people
to participate fully in discussions and decisions that affect their lives,
in particular devising ways to seek out the views, and strengthen the voices
of the powerless and the poor.
6. REGIONAL AGREEMENTS: support a sustained regional process
To support the efforts of the governments of the region already underway:
Oxfam urges the UN/OAU Special Representative Mohamed Sahnoun to convene
a Great Lakes regional conference to mark the renewed commitment to regional
cooperation, and to enable the regional governments to develop a strategy
for cooperation that allows for the coordination of their current initiatives.
Agenda items could include promoting the free movement of goods and people
in the region, boosting trade, maximizing the use of the region's resources,
and curbing the circulation of arms. This process should also link elements
of civil society, such as women's groups, small businesses, and religious
leaders, and enable them to share their concerns and priorities with governments.
7. INVESTMENT: reduce poverty, avoid conflict, and promote human rights
This could be achieved by measures including the following:
The inclusion of social and environmental obligations in bilateral investment
protection and promotion agreements (IPPAs).
The development of voluntary codes of conduct by TNCs, with independent
monitoring and verification of internationally accepted social and environmental
standards. Any collaboration in official aid programs should be contingent
on the adoption of an agreed code of conduct.
Concerted action by foreign investors and the international community
to promote respect for human rights.
The establishment by OECD governments of a formal mechanism for consultation
with the OAU to ensure that the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment
(MAI) will allow governments to regulate investment in accordance with
national development priorities, maximizing the benefits to host populations.
8. TRADE: support the diversification of the region's economy
Measures to achieve this could include the following:
Collaboration between regional governments, donor governments, and the
IFIs to pursue the diversification of regional exports, taking care to
protect each country's comparative advantage in relation to other less-developed
countries (LDCs).
International support for policies that increase off-farm activities
and create jobs outside the agricultural sector, to raise rural incomes
and protect food security.
Support from donor governments to address the supply-side constraints
on trade by increasing aid for health-care, education, infrastructure,
and technology transfers, to rehabilitate the rural economy and ailing
enterprises.
Action by OECD countries to make rules of origin more flexible, and
to apply zero tariffs for the products of LDCs, in order to improve market
access, and allow diversification into value-added products.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational affiliate of the Washington
Office on Africa. APIC's primary objective is to widen the policy debate
in the United States around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa,
by concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant information and
analysis usable by a wide range of groups and individuals.
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