Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-15-Speech-4-126"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2003-05-15"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Democratic Republic of the Congo – the Ituri region2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20030515.7.4-126"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2003-05-15-Speech-4-1272
lpv:speaker	lp:Bashir Khanbhai2
lpv:spoken text	"Mr President, it seems that Africa is neglected by the UN and the rest of the world. Two tribes, the Hemas and the Lendys have been fighting in the town of Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hundreds of people have been injured. Many people have been killed and yet, despite the presence of French troops and UN troops in DRC, they are still fighting, they are still killing and there is much trouble and displacement of the population. The key to all this, as I have said many times before in Parliament, is that until rural areas in Africa have security in terms of land, the economy, rural assets and rural development, there will always be conflict. There will be no democracy in Africa until people have something they can call their own, a stake in the local economies. We are trying to encourage democracy in these countries. Democracy cannot filter from the presidential palace down to the rural areas. It has to grow from rural areas and until we improve the economies of the rural areas, until we provide security for these people through land tenure, through police, a chamber of commerce, political representation, local schools, local hospitals – assets that they can call their own – conflict will continue. We seem to turn a blind eye to this. I have been an MEP now for four years. I have lived in Africa for many years. My family has been there for 170 years and I know what it is like in the rural areas. It is about time the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers recognise that Africa is not like the US or Europe, where democracy can be understood. You knock on any mud hut in any part of Africa and tell the inhabitant that you have come from the European Parliament. Tell him: 'here are your rights, rights for your women, rights for your children, rights for you to assemble, to worship, to have democracy in your parliament.' As I found out with Mr Goebbels and Mr Van den Bos when we went to Ethiopia, these people ask only for water, seed, peace and security. At the moment they have no stake in their economies. Any rebel leader can come along and say: 'I will give you a hundred dollars, come with me, let us go and plunder, let us go and loot, let us go and fight', and they of course fall prey to that. We see this in Uganda, we see this in Somalia, we see this in Ethiopia and Eritrea, we see it in Kenya, we see it in Central Africa."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	member; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (2002-02-06--2004-07-19)3 unknown; Conservative and Unionist Party (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; EPP-ED (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Development and Cooperation (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; Delegation to the EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees (2002-03-07--2004-07-19)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Khanbhai (PPE-DE )."1

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