African Diplomacy Observer

As scheduled, President Bush met with the DRC President, Joseph Kabila on October 26, 2007. During that meeting, held in the White House’s Oval Office, Mr. Bush congratulated President Kabila for garnering 58 percent of the suffrage during the last presidential elections, he assessed as having been free and fair.

They also talked about challenges ahead such as the need to consolidate the gains of the ongoing peace process that led to the general elections. Among these challenges remain the economic development of the DRC, the security and stability of the country that involve, among other, the reform of the DRC security sector. In that regard, President Kabila emphasized the need for a continued support by the United States in order to achieve these challenges.

The instability in the Eastern part of the country was also addressed; particularly the need to make sure that the government’s reach extends throughout the entire country and that there is stability throughout the country.

Source: White House’s Office of the Press Secretary

Regional integration in Africa has been permanently undermined by a number of institutional, policy, financial, technical, social, historical and political obstacles. At the institutional level, despite the multiplicity, some might say inflation, of Regional Economic Communities (REC) and Sub-regional Organizations (SRO), the economic and political integration of the continent, be they at sub-regional and regional levels, have so far resulted into few sustainable, effective and efficient achievements, regarding notably objectives and goals set up, expectations expressed and challenges faced.

Many have already been said on the effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of existing institutional integration mechanisms, exemplified by the work been undertaken by REC and SRO. In a short note, Nelson Alusala, researcher at the South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies (ISS), addresses the state of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and came back to recent developments involving it. The author evoked some of the difficulties undermining the work of the ECCAS, namely withdrawal of some members and "divided loyalties" that according to him, "pose a significant threat to the viability of ECCAS.

See Nelson Alusala’s Note

On 27 September 2007, the Secretary General of the Francophonie, Abdou Diouf, addressed the audience in Tunis, Tunisia, in the framework of the African Development Bank (ADB)’s Eminent Speakers Program on the theme "Improving Africa’s Perspectives in a Globalized World: the Role of Regional Integration".

On this occasion, Mr. Diouf shared "his worries, hopes and convictions concerning Africa, especially in the light of key challenge of regional integration". Mr. Diouf started his address by highlighting the increasing marginalization of the African continent and the importance and efforts so far made in the area of regional integration. In that regard, he acknowledged the following facts: "Africa with 10% of the world’s population and the third continent in terms of land area, has remained on the sidelines of globalization. Its relative share in world trade and investment has actually declined over thirty years, Africa’s participation in world exports fell from 3.5% in 1970 to 2% today".

Mr. Diouf underlined "efforts made and milestones reached in recent years" with regard to regional integration in Africa and said that "integration is a continuous and long process since it engenders far-ranging economic, political, social and cultural changes". The Secretary General of the Francophonie also emphasized that "Africa’s regional integration should not be in service of globalization but in service of the continent’s development". He added that "regional integration is not an institutional gadget, a new economic panacea, neither is it a new way of masking the weakness of fragile States. It is a method to build - effectively, methodically, non-belligerently and though negotiation - spaces torn apart by recent history, stifled by references imposed from outside and stuck in the automatized use of sovereignty."

Challenges posed by the phenomenon of the globalization and the changed nature of current international relations were also addressed and discussed by the speaker, as well as their implications and impacts on most African states that are not well fitted to face this reality, due notably to the weaknesses that characterized them, the brain drain they are suffering from, raw materials price fluctuations, worsening terms of trade, weakness of currencies, lack of diversification of economies, etc.

Among the realities that hampered economic and social development of Africa, the speaker cited the absence of positive policy and mutual agreements at the continental level to supervise and regulate the movement of Africans that could help to offset the shortage of skills and capacity throughout the continent.

To address some of these difficulties, the speaker proposed the following: " by increasing intra-regional trade, regional communities could offer three-fold growth prospects: improving the attraction of members countries to foreign investors; facilitating specialization and acquisition of comparative advantages; offering a global approach to one of the current main problems facing products from poor countries, namely the issue of traceability, standards and non-tariff barriers."

Mr. Diouf also reviewed some attempts at strengthening Africa’s regional integration: Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and ended his address by the following invitation: "Africa will not succeed if each State, often the fruit of circumstances and without deep roots, falls back on a fallacious heritage and marginalizes itself in the name of sovereignty. To prevent that from happening, we must find the middle ground between violently rejecting the Other - neighbor or foreign partner - and passive resignation before the forces of globalization."

Abdou Diouf’s address

The Canadian Ministry of Defense organized a high level training on demining for 25 peace soldiers pertaining to 12 African countries to prepare them for their future deployment and assignments in the framework of the UN-AU Hybrid operation in Darfur. This training was organized for this contingent of peace soldiers of the African Union (AU) in Nairobi, Kenya and was delivered by Canadian military within the framework of the Canada Foreign Policy and Military Diplomacy.

Unit Commandants from Algeria, Benin, Egypt, Mali, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia participated in this training.

Commandant Mike Calnan of the Canadian Ministry of Defense indicated that this exercise, codenamed "Blue Bonnet", envisioned to train and prepare officers of the rank of Captain and Commandant to face challenges of operations in situations similar to Darfur. According to him, the "Tactical Operation’s Staff Course is grounded in the context of the global response to the crisis in the region of Darfur and in efforts at restoring peace in that region through peacekeeping training. He also made clear that this training should give the participants basic necessaries competencies to efficiently take part to peacekeeping operations in violent environments."

Also in the context of this training, AU soldiers were due to be initiated to the efficient use of media through notably live interviews.

Source: AngolaPress

Portuguese Minister of Defense, Nuno Severino Teixeira, carried out a-four-day-official visit of work to Angola in the framework of the two countries bilateral relations in the area of military cooperation. During this visit that lasted from 14-17 October 2007, the Portuguese military delegation was expected to have official talks on Monday 15 October 2007 with its counterpart from Angola, headed by the Angola Minister of Defense, General Kundi Paihama. The same day, a reception of the delegation by the first Vice-president of the National Assembly, João Lourenço, was scheduled.

On 16 October, the Portuguese Minister visited a military camp where are located special forces in the North of the capital, Luanda where he was supposed to inspect ongoing projects in that base of the Angola Armed Forces (FAA) in the framework of the Military Technical Commission that comprised Portugal.

The Portuguese Minister of Defense was also due to take part to a colloquium on "Europe-Africa and Challenges to International Security".

Source: AngolaPress

According to the White House, US President is due to welcome Presidents of Liberia and the DRC respectively on October 18 and 26, 2007. With the President of Liberia, Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf, President Bush will address "her nation’s accomplishments nearly two years after Liberia’s historic democratic election". They will also discuss cooperation in the areas of education, reconstruction, trade and investment, security sector reform and debt relief. The US President will finally seize this opportunity to reiterate his country commitment to social, economic, and democratic progress in Liberia.

With th DRC President, Joseph Kabila, President Bush will discuss the successes of the newly elected Kabila Government after last year elections and the remaining challenges to secure Congo. They will also discuss ways to further increase bilateral cooperation on security sector reform and economic reconstruction in Eastern Congo.

Source: White House Office of the Press Secretary’s Releases on the US President Meetings with the Liberia and DRC Presidents.

Ivorian Prime Minister, Guilaume Soro, met with the diplomatic corps to Côte d’Ivoire on October 5. During two hours, the Prime Minister addressed recent political evolutions in the country, particularly the implementation of the political agreement signed in Ouagadougou early this year, on March 4, 2007.

According to Ambassadors who attended that meeting, the Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to the full implementation of that political agreement and informed them on progress made towards it, notably with the launching of the phase of identification of future voters. At the end of that meeting, Ambassadors expressed their satisfaction and reaffirmed their full support to Côte d’Ivoire in this particularly challenging process.

Source: Notre Voie

British Minister for International Cooperation, Mrs. Shriti Vadera, travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo on October 4, 2007 for a three-day official visit during which, she was expected to discuss the British Government project to assist the DRC Government in establishing a durable peace and reducing poverty. During this visit, the British Minister was also expected to meet with the Head of States, Joseph Kabila, and the Prime Minister, Antoine Gizenza, the Governor of Kinshasa, André Kimbuta and other members of the Government and of the Parliament.

In the same vein, the Minister was due to meet with members of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), the international community and to have talks on the reform of the security sector and on the assistance to the Congolese Government for the implementation of projects aim at improving governance. After her stay in Kinshasa, Mrs. Vadera, was expected to travel on Saturday, 6 October to Lubumbashi to visit mining companies and a project relating to the reform of the justice.

Mrs. Vadera is responsible for the British Government’s efforts to alleviate poverty worldwide. For that purpose, her department benefits from a budget amounting to USD 2,5 million dedicated to support to Africa’s development.

Source: Afriquenligne.fr citing a communiqué from the British Embassy to the DRC.