AU chief stresses interdependence of peace, food security

ADDIS ABABA, July 5, 2004 (Xinhua) — African Union (AU) Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare stressed here Monday the interdependence between the efforts to maintain peace and security and the fight against hunger on the continent.

Africa needs to act fast on conflicts which “brings down economic and social development levels of the continent,” said Konare, who has been actively engaged in bringing Sudanese parties to peace talks, at the United Nations’ seminar on agricultural development and food security which was held in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Monday.

He said conflicts severely compromised the capacity of some African countries to the extent that they can’t “absorb the economic shocks.”

The chairman said with “wars, conflicts, anti-personal landmines, rapes, pillaging, and refugees, Africa cannot confront the problem of food productivity.”

Largely dependent on agriculture, Africa now counts on the sector to provide about 17 percent of gross domestic product, 57 percent of employment, and 11 percent of export.

However, the continent’s agriculture is much devastated by incessant conflicts, lack of water management and technology, and lack of capital input, which leaves about 26 percent of Africans living in a situation of chronic malnutrition, according to a recent Food and Agriculture Organization report.

And the situation is deteriorating. Konare said conflicts such as western Sudan’s Darfur crisis have added two million refugees to Africa’s last year figure of seven million displaced, with the newly added being largely farmers.

He called on the Sudanese government to ensure that “the humanitarian agencies can do their work,” and make sure they can return to their places of origin as early as possible.

Konare said the AU’s approach to addressing problems including food on the continent is to ensure security, which include not only resolving pressing crisis, but also “planning for the long term.”

Konare has just returned two days ago from a sit-down with the Sudanese parties involved in the Darfur crisis in Chad’s capital Ndjamena, in which the AU is looking to ensure a ceasefire in the region where over 10,000 were killed and one million displaced since the indigenous revolt against the Khartoum government broke out in February 2003.

The AU’s long-term strategy to ensure peace include an African Standby force, a Council of the Wise to provide consultancy and an early warning system.