Work together to beat poverty: Annan

LUSAKA (ZAMBIA), JULY 9. The U.N. Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, told African leaders on Monday they needed courage and leadership to rebuild the continent, a task he compared to Europe's reconstruction after the devastation of the two World Wars.

In the text of a speech to be delivered at the opening session of the last Organization of African Unity summit, Mr. Annan urged African leaders to shake off their deep divisions and work together to overcome the poverty, wars and health crises that plague the continent. The three-day summit that opened on Monday signals the end of the 38-year-old OAU and the beginning of a yearlong transition into the African Union, envisioned as a far stronger and tighter body.

Plans for the Union, loosely modelled on the European Union, include an African central bank, a court of justice, a single currency and a parliament. The Union was first proposed in 1999 by the Libyan leader, Muamar Gadhafi.

The transition will challenge all African leaders, Mr. Annan said.

``This historic effort will require leadership, courage and a willingness to depart from the ways of the past, if it is to do for Africa what the European Union has done for Europe,'' Mr. Annan said in his prepared text.

``That, Excellencies, should be our aim - to rebuild, as Europe did, after a series of devastating wars, uniting across old divisions to build a continent characterised by peace, cooperation, economic progress and the rule of law.'' Africa also ``must reject the ways of the past, and commit itself to building a future of democratic governance subject to the rule of law,'' he said. ``Such a future is within our reach, I am convinced. But only on one condition: that we end Africa's conflicts, without which no amount of aid or trade, assistance or advice, will make the difference.''

The OAU Secretary-General, Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, said the proposed African Union would create ``an enhanced form of cooperation and integration'' necessary to meet the new challenges of a changing continent and a changing world. ``This should be a turning point for our continent and our people,'' said Mr. Salim on Monday. However, he warned that commitment was meaningless without action.

The African Union would require far more funding and resources than the OAU had, and it remained unclear how that money was to be raised.

Many analysts questioned whether the new body would ever reach the lofty goals set out in its charter.

Earlier Monday the leaders of six African nations met Mr. Annan and the UNAIDS head, Mr. Peter Piot, to discuss efforts to fight the AIDS pandemic racing across Africa and to officially launch the Leadership AIDS Watch for Africa.

The group comprised the Nigerian President, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, the Rwandan President, Mr. Paul Kagame, the Malian President, Mr. Alpha Oumar Konare, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Meles Zenawi, the Kenyan President, Mr. Daniel Arap Moi and the Botswanan President, Mr. Festus Mogae.

- AP, Reuters

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