Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-11-Speech-2-147"
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"en.20000411.6.2-147"2
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"Mr President, wanting to achieve relations on the basis of partnership between the old continent and Africa means first of all putting a halt to the present system which operates to benefit the great powers and the corrupt elite of the south.
The continent of Africa is ravaged by epidemics such as the AIDS epidemic and by wars that are conspicuous, or sometimes forgotten. Antipersonnel mines continue to kill innocent people, arms of all kinds proliferate and fall into the hands of child-soldiers. The number of undernourished people in black Africa rose from 90 million in 1970 to 180 million in 1995. The figures speak for themselves. Time seems to have stood still between the Biafra famine thirty years ago and the one which is once again devastating Ethiopia. Illiteracy and unemployment affect the vast majority of young people on the African continent.
So it would be a mistake to think, today, that three quarters of the planet, three quarters of the human race, are going to carry on living in this sort of poverty without causing some serious instability at world level. We must also do away with aid policies, which are equivalent to giving fish to people living on the bank of the river, as the saying goes, instead of helping them to make fishing rods. The result is there is never enough fish and there are increasing numbers of people fighting over the leftovers.
Moreover, the IMF ordered ultraliberal policies, supposedly for structural adjustment. These are policies that have never worked anywhere. Quite the opposite. I do not know of a single example of a country which made any progress by applying their directives. In all its negotiations, the European Union should also demand fighting against corruption, certainly, and for democracy but, in return, African countries can also demand that the friends of Le Pen, Haider and Martinez should stop making regular racist attacks on their populations resident in Europe.
We agree that we cannot carry on supporting dictators in the name of
. We must support democrats unreservedly. From this point of view, what has taken place in Senegal sends out a strong message, proving that Africa is not automatically condemned to conflict, coups d’état or tribal warfare.
There is an imperative need for a new policy, based on codevelopment, conflict prevention, and the rejection of the dictates of the financial markets. Obviously, this necessitates cancelling the 350 billion dollars of debt which is strangling any development in these States.
Finally, Mr President, Europe too made its wealth from colonialism and slavery. Europe thus has a moral debt towards Africa. Part of our wealth came from the colonial plundering inflicted on Africa. Acknowledging that slavery was a crime against humanity would be an important gesture."@en1
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