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africaVolume 46, No. 2

May-July 2006

I N D I A N C O U N C I L F O R C U L T U R A L R E L A T I O N S

Q U A R T E R L Y

! Post-9/11 Africa’s security challenge

! AU and the challenge of peace

! Women’s role in peace-building

! India and Francophone Africa

! New bounce in India-Libya ties

! In Conversation: Nana Akuffo-Addo

! Conference on African Literature

Indian Council for Cultural RelationsAzad Bhavan

Indraprastha EstateNew Delhi - 110 002

E-mail: [email protected] with the Registrar of Newspapers of India

Regd No. 14380/61

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Indian Journal of African AffairsVolume 46 No. 2, May-July 2006

INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONSNEW DELHI

africaQ U A R T E R L Y

A F R I C A Q U A R T E R L Y

CII CONCLAVE: ON INDIA-AFRICA PROJECT PARTNERSHIP

After successes in Lusaka and Addis Ababa, theConfederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Conclave

on India-Africa Project Partnership, ‘India –– APartner of Choice’, was held in Accra, Ghana.

conte

nts

A NEW BOUNCE IN INDIA-LIBYA TIESA. K. Pasha maps out the contours of emerging economic cooperation between India and Libya as the latter breaks with a past marred by the U.S. sanctions and enters a new phase of economic modernisation andpolitical stability.

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FRANCOPHONE AFRICA ANDITS RELATIONS WITH INDIA

Vidhan Pathak outlines India’s growingties with Francophone West Africa and

points out how the two sides can collaborate on a range of issues such as

U.N. reforms, energy security and the fight

against poverty.

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WOMEN’S ROLE IN PEACEBUILDING

Nivedita Ray writes about women’s predicament in conflict situations and the need for including them in peacemaking

efforts, especially in the context of the peaceprocess in Sudan.

CONFERENCE OF THE AFRICANLITERATURE ASSOCIATION

Nandini C. Sen writes about the 32nd African LiteratureAssociation (ALA) conference –– held in Accra, Ghana,from May 17 to 21, which brought together the pick of theliterati from all over the world –– the Americas, Europe,Japan, China, several African nations, the Caribbean andbeyond –– to brainstorm on African literature.

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BOOK EXTRACT

Rajeev Sharma, in his book ‘Global Jihad: CurrentPatterns & Future Trends’, has a chapter that focuses onthe African continent and how it could emerge as ahotbed of terrorism.

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DOWN MEMORY LANE:

Ashish Aggarwal recalls a carefree childhood in Gindri,near Jos in Nigeria.

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SECURITY CHALLENGES IN POST-9/11 AFRICARuchita Beri writes about the growing strategicsignificance of the African continent and theemerging security challenges facing African countries in post-9/11 world.

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AFRICAN UNION AND THECHALLENGE OF PEACEJamal Moosa delves deep into the causes of violent conflicts that afflict the continent and outlines the role of the African Union in promotingsustainable peace and development.

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IN CONVERSATION:

With Ghana Foreign Minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo about India’s developmental model.

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BOOKS & IDEAS62

DOCUMENTS66

INCREDIBLE INDIA76

CONTRIBUTORS78

6 May-July 2006


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The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), founded in 1950 to strength-en cultural ties and promote understanding between India and other countries, func-tions under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. As part of itseffort, the Council publishes, apart from books, six periodicals in five languages ––English quarterlies (Indian Horizons and Africa Quarterly), Hindi Quarterly(Gagananchal), Arabic Quarterly (Thaqafat-ul-Hind), Spanish bi-annual (Papeles de laIndia) and French bi-annual (Recontre Avec l’Inde).

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The EditorAfrica Quarterly


Indraprastha EstateNew Delhi-110 002

E-mail: [email protected]

Printed and Published byPavan K. Varma

Director-GeneralIndian Council for Cultural Relations

Azad Bhavan, Indraprastha EstateNew Delhi - 110002

Editor:Manish Chand

Cover Photo:James Warwick Getty Images

ISBN 0001-9828

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May-July 2006

PPost 9/11, no country can live in isolation or pre-tend any more that conflicts, civil wars and pan-demics that stalk Africa are not their concern. Asinternational linkages of terrorism become evi-dent and war thirst spills the borders in the con-

tinent, there is an increasing realisation that the world needs totake a closer look at security structures for Africa and developan enduring stake in the continent’s stability and prosperity.

If you are not convinced, consider these grim statistics.There are nearly 9.5 million refugees displaced by numerousconflicts in Africa. According to the Institute of DevelopmentStudies, no less than 28 sub-Saharan African states have beenat war since 1980. And as for hundreds of thousands of peo-ple slaughtered in this mindless blood-lust, there are really noprecise figures, but some experts say the total casualties couldexceed those of the two world wars.

Africa, in short, is becoming, in the words of Prof. AdebayoAdedeji, one of Africa’s foremost proponents of regional inte-gration, a continent “at war with itself, with war-torn politiesand pauperised and divided societies”.

But can we afford an Africa at war with itself? Can we leaveAfrica alone to contend with the thousand ills it is heir to? Theanswer is clearly a resounding “no”, and that is why we havedecided to focus in this issue of Africa Quarterly on the mean-ing of African security for the world and the challenges ofconflict-resolution and peace-building in the continent.

In her article ‘Security challenges in post 9/11 Africa’,Ruchita Beri analyses the growing strategic significance ofAfrica, specially for the U.S., which is worried about the ris-ing number of failed states in the continent that are fast becom-ing breeding grounds for international terrorism.

“The erosion of state power and its capacity to govern, theexistence of a large number of weapons, the emergence ofresource wars (over oil, diamonds), the impact of factors likeHIV/AIDS have been responsible for this state of affairs,” shewrites.

In his article ‘AU and the challenge of peace’, Jamal Moosadigs deeper into the causes of violent conflicts and outlines therole of the African Union in promoting sustainable peace anddevelopment. He notes approvingly of the continent’s effortsin trying to engage the rest of the world in becoming a part-ner in its “sustainable peace and development”, but ends hisarticle with a warning that the failure to do so will lead to “areal possibility of the collapse of more African states that wouldpose a threat not only to the African states, but also to globalpeace and security”.

Rajeev Sharma takes the argument a step further and arguesthat instead of shutting down Al Qaeda cells, the internation-

al community should adopt a more holistic approach to addressthe continent’s core problems, including sharpening ethnicand religious fissures, economic deprivation, fragile gover-nance, weak democracy and pervasive human rights abusesthat create fertile conditions for terrorism to flourish and pros-per. He points out the dangers of the radicalisation of AfricanIslam and its consequences for global security and argues thatit’s time the world’s interest in Africa moved beyond aid pol-itics.

Caught in this mesh of violent conflicts are the voices ofwomen and children –– the worst sufferers in a war-like situ-ation. In a sensitive account of women’s predicament in con-flict situations, Nivedita Ray makes a forceful case for includ-ing them in peacemaking efforts, especially in the context ofthe peace process in Sudan.

Against the backdrop of growing concerns about Africaemerging as a soft belly of international terrorism, A.K. Pashatells a fascinating story of Libya’s progression over threedecades from a country branded as a rogue state and an objectof US. .sanctions to its leader Muammar Qadhafi’s dramaticrenunciation of terrorism and his embrace by the U.S. Pashathen links up the rise of a new reform-minded Libya to betterties with India –– one of the few countries that criticised theU.S. bombings of Tripoli and Qadhafi’s house in 1986.

Which brings us to another encouraging story about India’sgrowing engagement with Francophone West Africa as thecountry gets ready to open new missions and accelerate eco-nomic and energy ties with the region. It is this theme VidhanPathak amplifies in his article that maps out a growing con-vergence of interests and stepped-up collaboration betweenIndia and West Africa across a broad spectrum of areas asdiverse as U.N. reforms, energy security and the fight againstpoverty.

It’s not just in West Africa India is generating enthusiasm,but what is energising is a new image of India –– a hub of cut-ting-edge technologies and new business opportunities –– thatmost African countries are looking at as a role model to emu-late. As Ghana foreign minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo says: “We see India is going down the path all of us wantto go down.”

“It’s uplifting to see that an open democratic state like Indiacan make a very good effort at social and economic develop-ment. It’s a very big encouragement for us in the continent,”he says, kindling hope for an Africa freed from the curse of civilwars and chronic economic distress occupying its rightful placeon the United Nations high table.

–– Manish Chand

Why African security matters to the world■■ From the Editor’s Desk

8 May-July 2006

N E W S & E V E N T S

AAfter successes in Lusaka and Addis Ababa, theConfederation of Indian Industry’s (CII)Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership,‘India –– A Partner of Choice’, was held inAccra, Ghana, from May 25 to 27. The Indian

delegation was led by Minister of State for External AffairsAnand Sharma, while the CII’s 48-member team, led by TataInternational Chairman Syamal Gupta, was the largest-everindustry delegation to have visited any African country.

Ghana has excited Indian investors and project exporters fora number of years now. The last four years have seen bilater-al trade figures almost double, especially in sectors such aspharmaceuticals. Interest has been further fuelled by theenabling environment created by the government in Accra. A“Presidential initiative” has been launched to pump growth insectors that have been laggards, even as Ghana has lookedtoward India for help with technology, especially for projectsin rural electrification and water management. Indeed, Ghana’s‘Look East’ policy has really been a ‘Look at India’ policy.

For Indian business, potentially lucrative areas are naturalgas, hydropower projects, fruit and vegetable farming, foodprocessing (including fish canning), production of agro-chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and information technology.Tourism is another area that is generating income for Ghanawith opportunities in tourist accommodation, particularlybeach resorts; tourist transportation; catering enterprises; eco-tourism projects; night life and leisure; and services.

India has been a proactive partner to west African countries.

With the launch of the TEAM-9 initiative in 2003, India wasidentified as a strategic partner to these nations. A concessionalline of credit of $5 million was offered by New Delhi for pro-jects to be taken up under the TEAM-9 umbrella.

Ghana has been witnessing an economic resurgence ofsorts. FDI flows into the country have increased from $59million in 2002 to $139 million in 2004. And real gross domes-tic product (GDP) growth remained buoyant at 4.3 percentdue to a strong showing by the services sector.

It is against this background that the recent conclave inAccra was held, and the focus was on discussing the involve-ment of west African nations in furthering the strategic part-nership with India. The presence Minister Sharma, of ShashiTripathi, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA),and Navdeep Suri, Joint Secretary, MEA, underlined NewDelhi’s commitment to building stronger relations with Ghanaas well as the west African region as a whole.

In his inaugural speech at the conclave, Ghana’s PresidentJ.A. Kufour stressed on the need for developing strong systemsto promote the partnership on a long-term basis, while CIIteam head Gupta identified critical sectors of cooperationwhere India has strengths and would be in a position to shareappropriate and adaptable technologies with west Africa.

The Accra conclave was truly representative, attractingeleven delegations from the region, comprising some 100 par-ticipants. Apart from these, there were more than 480 partic-ipants from Ghana alone. In all, nearly 600 African business-men, senior government officials, bankers and financial insti-

CII Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership

Ghana’s President J.A. Kufour and Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma at the opening of the CII Conclave on ‘India-AfricaProject Partnership: India –– A Partner of Choice’, in Accra on May 25.

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May-July 2006

tutions were involved in discussionson projects valued at $14 billion.

Speakers at the event focused onspecific opportunities and projects.The Indian participants gave presen-tations on their project capabilitieswhile the west African representa-tives spoke of the enabling environ-ments and the opportunities forinvestment in their respective coun-tries. A session on various aspects offinancing projects in the region wasparticularly useful.

One of the highlights of the con-clave was signing of a $250 millionconcessional line of credit (LOC) toEBID (ECOWAS Bank) –– yet another incentive for Indianproject exporters to work in the region. The LOC is notrestricted to TEAM-9 nations and is available to all countriesof the west African region that are members of EBID. Thelending rate of the LOC will be 5 percent.

At a session on project finance, Joint Secretary Suri reaf-firmed the government’s commitment to follow transparentmethods of assessing projects put forth by African govern-ments. He urged EBID to keep aside a part of the funds underthe present LOC)for private sector projects.

One-on-one meetings followed the conclave discussions,allowing the Indian participants to meet with prospective part-ners for their projects. Later, at a reception hosted by the HighCommissioner of India to Ghana, representatives of Indianindustry had another opportunity to interact with local indus-try members, a large number of whom are Indians settled inthe country. A TEAM-9 ministerial interaction with the busi-ness community ensured networking opportunities for Indianindustry.

On May 26, a stone-laying ceremony was held for thePresidential Office Complex –– a project that is being imple-mented by the Shapoorji Pallonji group under an LOC of theGovernment of India.

Ghana has been on the radar screen of Indian industry as asafe country for investments. Apprehensions about Africancountries, however misplaced, have been one of the critical fac-tors for low investments in the region. The stability that Ghana

as a country has shown is commend-able.

Ghana is the first country to sub-ject itself to a peer review to assess thecountry’s stability under NEPAD. Ithas shown an impressive track recordin terms of stability –– both in its pol-itics as well as its currency. Thestrong democratic values displayedby the peaceful transition of powerand the re-election of the presentgovernment have reassured the glob-al community of the country’s com-mitment to peace. It is one of the fewAfrican countries with a history ofpeaceful coexistence amongst the

various tribes. India and Ghana were both colonised by theBritish and thus share a historic bond that is now developinginto a sustainable partnership expected to mutually benefit thetwo countries.

Competitive labor costs, plentiful agricultural resourcesand abundant marine resources, free transfer of profits, divi-dends and capital, quota-free access to EU and the U.S. mar-kets, access to sizeable markets in west Africa, Europe and theAmericas are some of the advantages Ghana offers to foreigninvestors.

As a gateway to west Africa, Ghana is in a position of advan-tage. It will benefit both countries if they take proactive initia-tives. India can help Ghana develop systems and capacities topromote local value-addition to the abundant naturalresources, make available goods and services at affordableprices, particularly for the semi-urban population, augmentlocal production to meet the demands of the growing middleclass and reduce dependence on imports, and generateemployment through replication of the Indian model in agri-culture and SMEs.

The enormous strides made by the Indian technology andmanufacturing sectors over the last decade now enables themto provide appropriate solutions. Indian technology and pro-ject goods are now increasingly being recognised in the Africancountries as more suitable and sustainable in the context oftheir current state of development. ■

–– Shipra Tripathi

Competitive labor costs, plentiful agricultural resources

and abundant marine resources,free transfer of profits, dividendsand capital, quota-free access to EU and the U.S. markets,

access to sizeable markets inwest Africa, Europe and theAmericas are some of the

advantages Ghana offers to foreign investors.

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, centre, Shashi Tripathi, Secretary (West) inthe Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), second from left, and Navdeep Suri, Joint Secretary, MEA,left, at the CII conclave in Accra, Ghana.

10 May-July 2006


SSouth African Indian PaddyPadayachee has firmly entren-ched himself as a singer of note,

especially in English and Tamil gospelmusic, both locally and internationally.After first performing at age 11 inPietermaritzburg, Padayachee has forthe past 21 years notched up a numberof firsts to his credit.

“My mother was my inspiration formy Tamil singing, but I also have a pas-sion for old Hindi songs,” Padayacheesaid. “With pop music, you can’t touchpeople’s lives and bring them closer toGod. I started gospel singing in 1984;since then I have done eight albums inAmerica, including some with theworld’s leading black gospel singers.”

In 1987, Padayachee became thefirst Indian artist to perform to an audi-ence of 35,000 people at the Voor-trekkerhoogte Stadium in Pretoria,defying threats from many localAfrikaners who opposed what they sawas an infringement on their heartlandby black artists.

“I was also the first local singer tofeature in a Tamil song on the SouthAfrican television programme GospelGold and featured regularly on variousgospel music programmes on TV.”

But while he has achieved morefame for his gospel music, Padayacheesaid his first love remained Indianmusic. He admitted to understandingHindi better than Tamil, even though

he speaks both languages enough to getby. “I’ve done a lot of songs where Itake very popular Hindi golden oldietunes and put Tamil lyrics to them. Tome, Hindi is the most romantic lan-guage in the world, so when you crossHindi tunes with Tamil lyrics you getthe best of both worlds. At the momentI’m looking for a female singer I canrecord duets with, to add to the 27albums I have done so far.”

He is also involved in otherChristian activities and teaches once amonth in his church.

“One of the things I would still liketo do is to tutor young musicians, andperhaps host a gospel music radioshow,” he said. ■■

South African Indian gospel singer loves Hindi and Tamil

IIndia and Mauritius on May 8discussed steps to intensifytheir burgeoning political andeconomic relations in diverseareas, including technology,

energy and tourism. Mauritius Vice President Abdool

Raouf Bundhun met Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam and discussed with themthe entire gamut of bilateral and globalissues, including energy, business andinvestment, and enhanced technologi-cal cooperation.

Mauritius vice president arrived inNew Delhi on May 7 for a week-longvisit.

Bundhun, who was presented thePravasi Bharatiya Divas award this yearat the annual conclave of overseasIndians, also met Minister of State forExternal Affairs Anand Sharma and dis-cussed bilateral and regional issues.

The Indian Ocean island is home toa nearly 800,000-strong Indian diaspora.

Bundhun’s visit comes nearly twomonths after the visit of Kalam to theIndian Ocean island during which thetwo countries signed a memorandum ofunderstanding on exploration andexploitation of hydrocarbon andpetroleum resources in the ExclusiveEconomic Zone of Mauritius.

The two countries had also signed anMoU for the participation of Mauritius inthe Pan African e-network project thatseeks to digitally connect 53 countries ofthe African Union. India and Mauritiusare engaged in talks to finalise the

Comprehensive Economic CooperationAgreement to boost business and invest-ment between them. About a third of thetotal FDI into India is routed throughMauritius because of an avoidance ofdouble taxation agreement. ■■

Mauritius vice president meets Manmohan, KalamMauritius Vice President Abdool RaoufBundhun with Prime Minister ManmohanSingh, in New Delhi on May 8.

II ndia strengthened ties with Malawi,a land-locked country in southeast-

ern Africa, by offering it assistance in arange of developmental and economicareas, including energy, manpowertraining and information technology.

Malawi Foreign Minister DaviesKatsonga held talks with Minister ofState for External Affairs Anand

Sharma on bilateral and global issues. Sharma thanked Malawi for its sup-

port for India’s candidature for perma-nent membership of United NationsSecurity Council.

“India also welcomed Malawi’s deci-sion to open a diplomatic mission in NewDelhi,” Ministry of External Affairsspokesperson Navtej Sarna said. ■■

India promises assistance for Malawi’s development

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AAngola has reiterated its“strong support” forIndia’s candidature for apermanent seat in anexpanded U.N. Security

Council and sought accelerated eco-nomic and energy ties with the risingAsian power.

Angolan Foreign Minister JoaoBernardo De Miranda, who was in NewDelhi on a four-day visit, met Ministerof State for External Affairs AnandSharma on May 10 and discussed bilat-eral and global issues, includingenhanced cooperation in the fields ofbusiness, energy and technology.

The two ministers also discussed theimplementation of the Pan-African e-Network (PAN), being built withIndia’s help, that seeks to bridge the dig-ital divide by connecting 53 countries ofthe African Union.

A protocol for consultations betweenthe Indian Ministry of External Affairsand the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ofAngola was signed by the two ministersafter the talks.

India’s state-run Oil and Natural GasCorporation (ONGC) is also planninga joint venture with Angola’s nationaloil company Sonangol to do projects intheir country, official sources said.

“In view of India’s growing econom-ic stature, its position as the largestdemocracy in the world and its trackrecord of contributing to the promotion

of international peace and security, theRepublic of Angola has promised itsstrong support to India’s candidature forpermanent membership of the UnitedNations Security Council,” said a JointStatement issued at the end of the talksbetween the two countries.

Miranda also met with Commerceand Industry Minister Kamal Nath andPetroleum and Natural Gas MinisterMurli Deora during his India visit. Healso held a meeting with a cross-sectionof Indian businessmen at an interactionarranged by the Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII) and visited thepremises of leading companies engagedin diverse sectors, including software,automobiles, agricultural equipment,transportation, railways, energy andmining.

The Angolan delegation alsoexpressed deep appreciation for variouslines of credit extended by India, includ-ing $40 million line for the rehabilitationof Angolan railways, $10 million for pur-chase of tractors and $5 million for theagriculture sector, a statement by theMinistry of External Affairs said.

The two countries also agreed, inprinciple, to sign agreements for the pro-motion and protection of investmentsand the creation of a bilateral commis-sion for cultural, technical, scientific andeconomic cooperation and between theGovernment of Indian and the Angolangovernment. ■■

Angola backs India for U.N. Security Council seat

BBuoyed by the brisk sales of its vehicles in just 18months since beginning operations in South Africa,India’s multi-utility vehicle maker Mahindra &

Mahindra is looking to increase investment in the country.Expressing confidence in South

Africa’s vehicle market, where the com-pany has sold 2,622 vehicles in 18months, it launched the Scorpio Pik Uprange of vans.

The firm’s managing director AnandMahindra said in Pretoria: “We considerthe South African market so important that the new modelrange is being launched here even before it is available in itshome market (in India).”

The new Scorpio range will not replace the Mahindra

Bolero vehicles that have proved extremely popular for therugged South African conditions but is intended to be a lux-ury model aimed at the leisure market.

The Mahindra Group is a $3.2-billion conglomerate andhas interests in automobiles, farm equip-ment, automotive technology, financial,infrastructure development and telecom.

Mahindra said his company wouldlook “aggressively” for business in SouthAfrica in all areas of operations ––Mahindra Intertrade; Mahindra and

Mahindra Financial Services; automotive components, ITand telecom wing Tech Mahindra and Bristlecone; andinfrastructure development through Mahindra Gesco,Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India. ■■

Mahindra & Mahindra to up investment in South Africa

II ndia on May 10 proposed forminga joint venture with Angolan

national oil company Sonangol forexploration in the oil-rich Africancountry as well as other countries.

Petroleum and Natural GasMinister Murli Deora made the pro-posal during a meeting with AngolanMinister of External Relations JoaoBernardo de Miranda in New Delhi.

“We discussed the possibility of afruitful cooperation,” the Angolanminister told the media here.

A Petroleum Ministry official said:“We have proposed a joint venture inexploration with the Angolan oilcompany on a 50-50 percent basis orcase-by-case basis in activities both inAngola, India and other countries.”

Besides exploration, India is at pre-sent engaged in a $40-million railwayproject in Angola.

“The possibilities for investmentin Angola are diverse. We are offeringopportunities in agriculture, educa-tion, science and technology, energyand tourism. We are going to establishcontact with Indian industries tostudy these opportunities,” theAngolan minister said. ■■

India proposes jointoil exploration with Angola

12 May-July 2006


EEthiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi views closertrade relations between Africa and India as a signifi-cant driving force for economic change in his conti-

nent. “India’s extraordinary economic achievements serve asa valuable lesson for Africa,” Zenawi was quoted as saying bythe official Ethiopian News Agency.

Speaking at the inauguration of the first of four regionalIndian-Africa Business Partnership Conclaves for EasternAfrica in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian leader stated that hiscountry was ready to draw benefit from “this grand India-Africa partnership project”, the report said.

The three-day eastern Africa business conclave brought

together leading Indian business groupswith their African counterparts fromEthiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda,Tanzania, Sudan and Somalia to look intotwo-way trade prospects and investmentand joint-venture opportunities forIndian entrepreneurs in the seven coun-tries of the region.

He said his country wanted to workclosely with Indian investors and was ready “to revamp invest-ments in such sectors as infrastructure, agriculture, agro-indus-try and in other labour-intensive fields”. ■■

Good prospects for Africa-India trade relations: Zenawi

PPresident Olusegun Obasanjo wants India to establishstrategic partnership with Nigeria. At an audiencewith a delegation of the National Thermal Power

Corporation of India (NTPC) led by the Indian HighCommissioner to Nigeria Harihara Viswanathan, at the StateHouse, Abuja, on May 11, the President noted that Nigeria,being the most populous nation in Africa, was in a better posi-tion to partner with India.

“If you get it right in Nigeria with one quarter of Africa;spopulation, you are likely to get it right on the continent,” hesaid. President Obasanjo who noted India’s head start overNigeria in technological achievements.

The President urged the Indian delegation to also consider

investing in other sectors of the economy, notably the rail-ways and solid minerals, in addition to its current interest inpower.

He established a committee headed by the Minister ofPower and Steel Liyel Imoke to represent the Nigerian gov-ernment interests in the proposed Strategic Partnership withIndia and submit the first progress report within threemonths.

The National Thermal Power Corporation of India,owned by the Indian Government and which generates onequarter of that country’s power needs, indicated interest ingenerating power in Nigeria using coal and gas as well as par-ticipating in the rural electrification programme. ■■

IIndia’s new Africa diplomacyrevolving around trade andtechnology is set to receive afillip when Prime MinisterManmohan Singh goes to

South Africa and Tanzania on bilateralvisits in September.

Manmohan Singh will go to SouthAfrica to launch the year-long celebra-tions to mark the 100th anniversary ofthe launch of Satyagraha, MahatmaGandhi’s passive resistance movementagainst colonial oppression.

Exact dates of the visit are still beingfinalised, official sources said.

Elaborate preparations are on by bothsides to commemorate this historicoccasion that epitomises the commonstruggle against colonialism and imperi-alist oppression.

The events being planned for this

historic event include a global celebra-tion on Satyagraha, a multimedia pre-sentation on Gandhi and his non-vio-lent movement and a dance-drama onthe man that India reveres as the Fatherof the Nation.

Visits by South African PresidentThabo Mbeki, who last visited Indiathree years ago, and the iconic leaderNelson Mandela –– a self-confessedadmirer of Gandhi and his non-violentmethods –– are also on the cards.

“It’s a huge, momentous year forIndia and South Africa relations. Indiahad given an ordinary lawyer calledMohandas Karamchand Gandhi toSouth Africa, but we gave backMahatma to India,” South African HighCommissioner Francis Moloi said.

The Prime Minister’s visit to SouthAfrica and Tanzania will underscore thegrowing importance of Africa –– therepository of vast mineral and energyresources –– in India’s strategic world-view as it steps up its campaign for a per-manent seat in the U.N. SecurityCouncil. ■■

Manmohan Singh to visit S. Africa, Tanzania

Anand Sharma

Nigerian President Obasanjo seeks strategic partnership with India

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IIn a significant boost to India’s campaign for a per-manent seat in the U.N. Security Council, the 15countries comprising the Economic Community ofWest African States (ECOWAS) in April stronglybacked New Delhi’s ambitions.

“We support India’s candidature for a seat in the SecurityCouncil. Each ECOWAS country has expressed its will tosupport India,” said Aichatou Mindaoudou, chairperson ofthe council of ministers of ECOWAS.

“ECOWAS countries have done all they could and willcontinue to do so within the African Union to achieve thatobjective,” Mindaoudou told reporters at the HyderabadHouse in NewDelhi.

Mindaoudou wasleading the first high-level visit fromECOWAS to India,which has observer status at the regionalforum. The visit underscored the grow-ing economic and strategic relationsbetween the two sides.

“In the African Union, there is nocountry that is opposed to India’s SecurityCouncil bid. We will find a position tocollaborate with India on U.N. reforms,”stressed Mindaoudou, who is alsoNiger’s Minister for Foreign Affairs andCooperation and African Integration.

ECOWAS’s backing opened the pos-sibility for a harmonisation of the posi-tions of the G4 countries –– India, Brazil,Germany and Japan –– and the 53-mem-ber African Union on U.N. reforms.

India, on its part, reiterated its supportfor Africa’s U.N. aspirations.

The enthusiastic endorsement ofIndia’s Security Council ambitions byECOWAS is significant, as the regional grouping comprisespredominantly Francophone Islamic countries.

“Every vote counts. Besides, India has yet to build a strongpresence in West Africa. That’s why their support is so cru-cial,” said a diplomat who did not want to be named.

ECOWAS, a regional organisation comprising 15 nationsincluding Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana, was formed in 1975 toachieve economic integration and shared development so asto form a unified economic zone in West Africa. Later, itsscope was enhanced to include socio-political interaction andsecurity issues.

India and ECOWAS have decided to expand their eco-nomic and technological cooperation in several areas, includ-ing infrastructure development. India’s Minister of State for

External AffairsAnand Sharma, whoheld delegation-leveltalks with theECOWAS team,announced an addi-

tional line of credit of $250 million to theECOWAS Bank for Investment andDevelopment.

The delegation met President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam and Finance Minister P.Chidambaram. The ECOWAS team alsomet with Prime Minister ManmohanSingh –– a meeting that underlined thehigh importance India attaches to rela-tions with this regional bloc.

“Both sides underlined the immensepotential for increased economic coop-eration, particularly in sectors such asrailways, telecommunications, agricul-ture, small and medium enterprises andIT,” said a Joint Statement issued afterthe talks.

Bilateral trade with the ECOWASregion currently stands at $2.11 billionand accounts for 27 percent of India’s

total exports to Africa, and 18 percent of the country’s totalimports from the continent. ■■

West African countries back India for Security Council

ECOWAS, a regionalorganisation comprising

15 nations includingNigeria, Senegal andGhana, was formed in

1975 to achieve economicintegration and shared

development so as to forma unified economic zone in

West Africa. Later, itsscope was enhanced toinclude socio-political

interaction and securityissues.

SSouth African Muslims in early May rallied to a call toassist in the renovation of a Muslim shrine in India ata celebration in Johannesburg to mark the birth

anniversary of Prophet Mohammed.The annual three-day Meelad-un-Nabie function at the

Saaberie Chisty mosque in the huge and mainly Indian town-ship of Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, attracted more than3,000 people. Participants from India, Pakistan and Britaindelivered discourses during the event.

As the event progressed, a fund-raising drive for restoringthe Kichocha Sharif shrine in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, of the

Muslim saint Hazrat Khawaja Shamsuddin Turk was alsolaunched, with 16,000 rands (Rs. 120,000) eventually beingraised from the public and well-wishers. The shrine’s Ghazi-e-Millat Allama Sayed Mohammed Hashimi Mia led theprayers at the event.

The venue was filled to capacity as recitals in praise of theProphet were read, led by Hafiz Wasim Abbas from Lahore inPakistan. As has become the tradition at the event, theDastaarbandi (graduation ceremony) of young boys who havespent time at the Zia-ul-Uloom run on the premises was partof the event. ■■

South African Muslims raise funds for Lucknow shrine

14 May-July 2006


TThe 32nd AfricanLiterature Association(ALA) conference ––held in Accra, Ghana,from May 17 to 21 ––

was the Mecca of writers, poets andscholars of African literature.

The pick of the literati came from allover the world –– the U.S., the U.K.,Germany, Norway, Mexico, Japan,China, France, Canada, Nigeria,Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone,Kenya, Ghana, Togo, Benin, SouthAfrica, Mali, Senegal, Zimbabwe, theCaribbean and beyond to brainstorm onAfrican literature.

They were either students of Africanliterature, scholars, writers and journal-ists or culture aficionados. The ALAconference was co-hosted by theCODESRIA African HumanitiesInstitute Programme, University ofGhana, and the Institute of African andAfrican-American Affairs, New YorkUniversity. The theme of the ALAmeeting and conference was ‘Pan-Africanism in the 21st Century:Generations in Creative dialogue’.

The African Literary Association is anon-profit body open to scholars, teach-ers and writers from every country. It is

an American association existing pri-marily to facilitate the attempts by aworldwide audience to appreciate theefforts of African writers and artists. Itholds its annual conference in Africaonce in five years. Ghana had been thehost in 1994 as well.

The three conveners of the meetingand conference had their hands full forthe six days it lasted. They wereProfessor Kofi Anyidoho, director,African Humanities Institute and headof the English Department of theUniversity of Ghana, who was runningup and down to ensure that things wenton smoothly; Professor ManthiaDiawara, director, Institute of AfricanAffairs, New York University, who, likethe former, put his hands on the deck;and Professor Awam Amkpa, academicdirector, NYU-in-Ghana, who was piv-otal to efficient logistics. Their work wascomplemented by Esi Sutherland-Addy,the daughter of late Ghanaian play-wright Efua Sutherland, who headed thePlanning Committee.

The Nigerian presence was felt verystrongly and also the discussion centeredaround why ALA was never hosted inNigeria. Accra seemed the perfect placeto host an event of this magnitude as it

is a beautiful city with neat and cleanroads. The people are extremely warmand friendly. The Royal Palm Beachhotel opens out into the Atlantic Oceanwith the most panoramic view everimaginable.

As early as 6.30 a.m. on May 17, par-ticipants had already started trooping tothe venue. By 7 a.m., the registrationexercise had started, and it went con-currently with other events scheduledfor the day.

The official opening ceremony tookoff at 8 a.m. Kofi Anyidoho, one of theconveners, introduced the chairman ofthe occasion, Prof. N.C.B. Tagoe, actingvice chancellor, University of Ghana,who made a brief acceptance speech.Afterwards, Prof. Yaw Nyarko, viceprovost, read a welcome statement forGlobal and Multicultural Affairs, NewYork University. In her statement, theoutgoing ALA President, Prof. DebraBoyd, expressed delight at being able tobe back once again “in the aromas of ourancestor for a season of intellectual andcultural enrichment”. She reaffirmedthe association’s commitment to pan-Africanism and to the power of literaryart as a miraculous weapon in the strug-gle against oppression, just as it holds

Conference of the African Literature AssociationDelegates take a tea break during the African Literature Association conference in Accra, Ghana, from May 17 to 21, that was attended by ahost of African writers and scholars was well as Africa scholars from across the globe.

15


May-July 2006

fast to the dream of a free and prosper-ous Africa where genocide and pesti-lence are no more.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Pan-Africanism in the 21st Century:Generation in Creative Dialogue’, shenoted that it provides an opportunity forthe return of African intellectuals, schol-ars and writers who have been dislocat-ed through diverse forms of exile toreturn home. Besides, it was a realisationof a dream for many of the African dias-pora’s children who have longed to bereunited and reconnected to their roots.

The Ghanaian government was rep-resented by Prof. Adzei Bekoe, chair-man, Council of State and former vice-chancellor, University of Ghana, who,in his official opening address, high-lighted the charms of literature, its sheerexhilaration and beauty of self-expres-sion and its amazing capacity to carrythe deepest of feelings and thoughts.He said further that the theme of thisyear’s meeting and conference res-onates in Ghana on the eve of thecountry’s 50th independenceanniversary in 2007. The pan-Africanist thought of CaselyHayford, he said, was influenced bythe pan-Africanist thinking ofEdward Blyden, W.E.D Dubois,among others.

The ALA conference hostedabout 200 scholars from variousnations. Paper reading sessions wereparallel and very often one would seeparticipants concentrating on theirbrochures to see which session theywould attend next. The days were a flur-ry of attending as many sessions of paperreading as one could and then joiningthe groups for the plenary sessions.

The panels were varied and rich inscholarship. Each panel had three to fourspeakers each. A lively discussion wouldfollow the paper readings. The panelsaddressed multiple issues relating to PanAfricanism. A few titles are mentionedwhich go on to show the richness anddiversity of the issues addressed:‘African Diaspora and AfricanConnections’, ‘African DramaticLiterature: Developments in the Last 50years of the 20th Century’,‘Homelessness, Marginalisation, andHybridity’, ‘Integration, Family and

Creativity’, ‘The Question of Criticismin African Literature Today’, ‘WomenWriting, Human Rights: An Agenda forGender in Africa’, and so on. Some pan-els were devoted to women authors.There was a panel on Ama Ata Aidooand on Flora Nwapa. There were pan-els on drama, music and poetry: Theintegral part of African ethos.

The plenary sessions had the authorsreading out or performing from theirtexts. Since the African poetry traditionis rooted in performance, it was inter-esting seeing the fluidity of the writtenword into orature and vice versa. Aninformal discussion would follow as theauthors responded to the scholars. Thediscussion was animated and full ofhumour which added to the beauty ofthe interaction .The first plenary session,entitled ‘Pan-Africanism in the 21st

Century: The Long View of History’,was immensely interesting. The pan-elists were renowned Ghanaian writerKofi Awoonor and Veronique Tadjo.

The award-winning Ivorian writer.Tadjo, in her speech on pan-Africanism,remarked that Africa has never been sodivided before, with conflicts raging onin many countries and with strong,dividing ethnic components. She iden-tified the linguistic factor as an obstacleto African unification. The genius ofAwoonor and his genial baritone tookthe session to another exciting level. Hetraced the origin of pan-Africanism tothe descendants of African slaves in theWest and the challenges along the way,affirming that the construction of anindependent Africa through its univer-sities, journalists, various institutions ––economic and cultural –– have becomea single objective which must push pan-

African ideals beyond 1956.He enlightened the audience that late

Kwame Nkrumah’s first push for a uni-fication programme was not for anyAnglophone Africa, but with Guineaand Mali, before it blossomed. Thus, heflayed African intellectuals who havefallen to the Anglophone-Francophonedichotomy, describing the division asfrivolous. Commenting on the linguis-tic barriers to pan-Africanism, the cele-brated poet said that there is nothingwrong in using English language as amedium of communication in Africa,harping on the fact that we must cometo terms with the reality that English isa unifying factor in Anglophone Africa.

Prof. Kofi Anyadiho, Awoonor’scountryman, rose to contest the view ofAwoonor on the use of indigenous lan-guage in writing literature, citing Wole

Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Okotp’Bitek as writers whose mastery oftheir local languages has impacted ontheir mastery of literature in English.As Soyinka is hardly seen in literaryfunctions nowadays, Osundareseems to be stepping into his shoes.The manner he marshalled hispoints drew great applause from theaudience. He attributed Africa’sinability to achieve a perfect pan-Africanism to the inability of the peo-ples of Africa to solve their internalproblems.According to Prof. Molara

Ogundipe, if Africans must perpetratetheir indigenous languages they mustwrite first in indigenous languages andthen translate into European languages.Onookome Okome charged the literarycommunity to take African popular lit-erature seriously, especially Africanfilms. Monica Ekpong, in her contribu-tion to the language question, empha-sised the unity in our mother tongue,citing the similarities between Akranlanguage in Ghana with Igbo, Efik,Ejegam and other Nigerian languages.John Muran from Sierra Leone, in hiscontribution, stressed on the need forparents to direct their children on cul-tural norms, the clothes they wear andthe music they dance to in order to teachtheir children to respect African cultureand pan-Africanism.

The second plenary session on May

The pick of the literati came fromall over the world –– the U.S., theU.K., Germany, Norway, Mexico,Japan, China, France, Canada–– and across Africa and the

Caribbean and beyond to brainstorm on the continent’s

literature at the African LiteratureAssociation conference.

16 May-July 2006


19, entitled ‘Recurrent Predicaments ofthe African Global Family’, engagedwith the language issue once again. Thepanelists included eminent guest writersNiyi Osundare, Lewis Nkosi and Ngugiwa Thingo. The noted Kenyan in exileNgugi stuck to his guns on the inge-nious language paradigm, berating theconspiracy of Africans in wholehearted-ly patronising foreign languages to thedetriment of their own languages Helamented Africa’s loss of its own lan-guages. Osundare commented on themisrepresentation of Africans inHollywood and popular fiction. Heaverred that for Africans to employ a lan-guage policy successfully, they musthave to cultivate the people, noting thatthe problems are not insoluble.

The 32nd ALA meeting and confer-ence was not all about literary discourse.The welcome reception at W.E.B.Memorial Centre for Pan AfricanCulture afforded participants the oppor-tunity to behold the beautiful scenery ofthe city and also dance to Ghanaianhighlife music. There was a dramatisa-tion of the late Efua Sutherland’s ‘TheMarriage of Anansewa’ at La Palm BeachRoyal Hotel. The actors were from thedrama class in the university and need-less to say they were fantastic.

One evening, participants were takento PAWA (Pan African WritersAssociation) House, venue for theFonlon Nicholas Prize Award ceremo-ny. Chaired by Professor AtukweiOkhai, secretary general of the associa-

tion, Femi Osofisan of Nigeria wasawarded this year’s prize for his contri-butions to African literature and humanrights. Prof. Tejumola Olaniyan ofUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S.who read his citation, described him asthe best dramatist from Africa after WoleSoyinka and Dennis Brutus.

Music interludes by Wolomei bandlivened the night, which also featuredreadings by Ghanaian and internationalpoets, as well as the presentation of thefirst ever edition of African LiteratureToday by the editor, Prof. ErnestEmenyonu, and the publisher of theAfrican edition, Heinemann Edu-cational Books, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Ghana’s Vice President Ali Mahatmawas the special guest at the conferencebanquet. With the Sappers Band pro-viding highlife music, participantsdanced freely with the unassuming vicepresident.

The event marked the end of theone-year tenure of ALA President DebraBoyd. The Sierra Leonean scholar,Eustace Palmer, was sworn in as the

32nd president of the association withthe traditional pomp. The last day of theliterary gathering was marked by a one-day tour of Akosombo, with a Volta LakeCruise with buffet on the Dodi Princess.

The conference brought out the PanAfricanism in not merely about Africanscholars and researchers.

A Slovene scholar presented on thepresence of African Literature inSlovenia while from India (in a paperpresented by this writer) it was a com-parison of Ngugi’s protest writing withthat of the Bengali writer MahaswetaDevi. The conference achieved what ithad set out to achieve –– a confluence ofliteratures without boundaries and thebridging of secessionism through liter-ature. As the delegates parted ways therewas the last-minute exchange of visitingcards and a fervent wish to meet eachother soon. Several promises to write foreach other’s literary magazines and awish echoed by almost everyone –– wewill meet again for sure in the next ALAconference. ■■

–– Nandini C. Sen

Photo above, delegates registering for theconference on the opening day, May 17.Photo right, the author, right, with one of thedelegates.

17


May-July 2006

DDjibouti on June 21became theeleventh countryto sign the ambi-tious India-assist-

ed Pan-African Network (PAN) thataims to bridge the digital divide anddispense tele-education and tele-medicine to 53 countries of theAfrican Union (AU).

The agreement was signedbetween Djibouti and theTelecommunications Consultants(India) Limited (TCIL) at the IndianEmbassy in Addis Ababa. India’s ambas-sador to Ethiopia Gurjit Singh was alsopresent at this event which showcasedIndia’s IT prowess and a new partnershipwith Africa on the basis of technology andempowerment.

Eleven countries in Africa have signedthe agreements with the TCIL: BurkinaFaso, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti,Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Mauritius,Tanzania, Senegal and Seychelles. Manyother countries of Africa have shownenthusiasm for the project that promisesto transform lives of ordinary Africans.

The PAN, the brainchild of PresidentA.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will be connected bya satellite and fibre optical network toprovide tele-medicine, tele-educationand VVIP connectivity to 53 countries ofthe AU. It is likely to revolutionise com-munications and accelerate communication throughout Africaand enhance the goodwill that exists for India in Africa.

The total project cost of PAN is estimated to be about $ 105

million, which will be a grant fromthe Indian government. The IndianMinistry of External Affairs isresponsible for the project, whileTCIL is the implementing agency.Each country of Africa is expected tosign a country agreement with TCILto participate in this project. The hubfor the network will be located inSenegal.

“Bids have also been received bythe AU Commission to host the fiveregional leading universities and fiveRegional super-speciality hospitals

(SSHs) of the network in Africa,” said apress release from the Indian Embassy inAddid Ababa.

The network will consist of fiveregional universities, 53 learning centers,five regional super-speciality hospitalsand 53 remote hospitals in all countries ofAfrica. There will be six universities andfive super-speciality hospitals from Indialinked to the network. The six Indianeducational institutions include theIndian Institutes of Science, IndiraGandhi National Open University(IGNOU), Universities of Madras,Mumbai and Calcutta, and the IndianInstitutes of Technology (IITs).

A pilot project has already been start-ed in Ethiopia, which will be the firstbeneficiary of the project in Africa. Thenodal centers for tele-education and tele-

medicine will be located at the Addis Ababa University and theBlack Lion Hospital respectively, with remote centers atAlemaya University and Nekempt Hospital. ■■

Djibouti joins India-assisted Pan-African Network

The PAN, the brainchild ofPresident A.P.J. Abdul

Kalam, will be connectedby a satellite and fibre opti-cal network to provide tele-medicine, tele-educationand VVIP connectivity to

53 countries of the AU. It islikely to revolutionise com-munications and acceler-

ate communicationthroughout Africa and

enhance the goodwill thatexists for India in Africa.

IIndia on May 21 offered to empow-er Africa by promoting tele-educa-tion in the continent through a

landmark fibre optic Pan-AfricanNetwork (PAN) that seeks to bridge thedigital divide between 53 countries ofthe African Union.

India will fully support and help inthe promotion of e-learning in Africa,said Indian Minister of State for HumanResource Development Mohammad AliAshraf Fatmi, who was on a visit toEthiopia.

The minister provided a detailed

map of theIndian strategyfor introducingand disseminat-ing tele-educa-tion at the ple-nary session oftheInternationalConference on

ICT for Development, Education andTraining –– the first event for buildinge-learning capacities in Africa.

Fatmi shared the Indian experience

in the development of ICT infrastruc-ture, training of teachers to use ICT foreducation and internet connectivity withAfrican delegates at the conference.

The e-conference, which focused onbuilding capacities for tele-education,was attended by nearly 800 participantsfrom 30 countries

The PAN, the brainchild ofPresident A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is likely torevolutionise and accelerate communi-cations throughout the Africa andenhance the goodwill that exists forIndia in the continent. ■■

Conference on ICT development, education and training

M.A.A. Fatmi

India and Francophone Africa together con-stitute the most vital segment of the devel-oping world. The imperatives of South-South Cooperation make it necessary thatIndia-Francophone Africa cooperation isstrengthened and deepened. Increasedexchanges between developing countrieswould help to diversify the pattern of theireconomic linkages, strengthen multilateral

approaches and increase their bargaining leverage with theNorth, particularly in the present age of globalisation. Indiaand Francophone African countries could be partners in theongoing battle toovercome povertyand underdevelop-ment.

There are 25French-speakingcountries in Africaand the term“FrancophoneAfrica” is generallyused to denote thosecountries where asubstantial numberof its populationspeak French. It cur-rently includes notonly the formerFrench colonies butalso the formerBelgium territories–– Zaire, Rwanda,Burundi –– andBritish territorieslike Mauritius andSeychelles. Frenchculture is deeplyrooted and distinc-

tive in these countries. The present study concentrates onIndia’s relations with Francophone West African states, whichincludes nine countries. As Francophone West Africa coversthe major part of Francophone Africa, it is also a typical studyof India’s relations with Francophone Africa.

Political and Diplomatic Relations

The essence of India’s political-diplomatic relations withFrancophone West African countries needs to be underscoredin the changing global context. In fact, the political-diplomat-ic ties between India and Francophone West African countries

in the era of liber-alisation, privatisa-tion and globalisa-tion in the 1990shave acquired adistinct economicbasis as it is thepolitical economyof globalisationthat is stimulatingforms of political,diplomatic, strate-gic and economicdiplomacy in thisperiod. India andthese countries areactively engaged intheir socio-eco-nomic develop-ment by initiatingreforms in theireconomy and poli-ty in this changedworld environ-ment.

India has full-fledged resident

18 May-July 2006

I N F O C U S

Vidhan Pathak outlines India’s growing ties with Francophone WestAfrica –– a hitherto neglected area in New Delhi’s diplomacy –– andpoints out how the two sides can collaborate on a range of issues

such as U.N. reforms, energy security and the fight against poverty.

FRANCOPHONEAfrica and India

FrancophoneWest Africa

FRANCOPHONE WEST AFRICA: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea,Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.Francophone North Africa: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.FRANCOPHONE CENTRAL AFRICA: Burundi, Chad, Cameroon, Congo Republic,Central African Republic, Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo), Gabon andRwanda.HORN OF AFRICA: Djibouti.Indian Ocean states: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles.

19


May-July 2006

diplomatic missions in only three Francophone West Africanstates with concurrent accreditation in the remaining coun-tries. Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire), Senegal and Burkina Fasohave Indian missions, while only Senegal and Burkina Fasohave their resident missions in New Delhi. Thus, the diplo-matic representation between India and Francophone WestAfrica currently stands at a low level.1 However, in the late1980s and 1990s, a significant thrust was given to the promo-tion of relations with Francophone West African countries.India has so far shied away from this region but all this ischanging because of the economic growth these countries arewitnessing. As members of the third world fora like Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Group of 77 (G-77), G-15,etc., they share common views on almost every internationalissue and are committed to strengthening their relationship inthe genuine spirit of South-South Cooperation. FrancophoneWest African countries hold immense opportunities of mutu-ally beneficial economic collaborations and strategic cooper-ation with India in the changing global environment. Althoughthe intensity of the relationshipbetween India and the FrancophoneWest African states seems limited,the effort to strengthen politicalunderstanding and expand econom-ic cooperation between them hasyielded results.

Foreign Policy Perspective

There is a comprehensive shiftand many changes in the foreign pol-icy of India and Francophone WestAfrican countries from the earlierdecades of 1970s and 1980s to the1990s. These countries had remainedthe unexplored part of India’s eco-nomic strategy and its foreign policyconsiderations. However, India has finally begun to acknowl-edge that these countries are a part of its extended neigh-bourhood. This is well reflected from the increasing level ofbilateral interactions, visits and agreements between both theregions in recent years. This was also at the heart of the ‘FocusAfrica’ programme and ‘Team-9’ initiative launched by Indiain 2004. Thus, India’s search for new sources of energy andpolitical influence has washed up on the remote shores ofFrancophone West Africa where Indian foreign policy reachhad been notable for its absence.

The ‘Team-9’ initiative is expected to diversify sources ofIndia’s energy security. Thus, India’s ‘Team-9’ initiative pointsto a renewed focus on the region, which offers a huge strate-gic potential. In terms of multilateral diplomacy, these coun-tries have always been important. They form a very importantvoting bloc in global fora. India is seeking their support in itscandidature for permanent membership of U.N. SecurityCouncil, in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and otherinternational organisations. Most of these countries haveextended their support for India’s candidature for a permanent

seat in the U.N. Security Council. India’s recent opening tothe countries of Francophone West Africa has consolidatedwith the progress in bilateral relations with countries likeSenegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo.

A wide-ranging political dialogue with several key coun-tries in the region also displays a considerable degree of under-standing of India’s security interests. The countries ofFrancophone West Africa are now receiving greater attentionin India’s foreign policy consideration with the establishmentof a high-level inter-ministerial coordination board for thesub-region.2

The policy shift is also echoed across Francophone WestAfrican countries as most of these countries are looking forpartnerships to ameliorate their economic misery and thinkthat India can play a significant role in their economic rejuve-nation.

The new image of India in the 1990s –– a leader in theinformation technology (IT) industry, biotechnology andtelecommunications –– has attracted these countries to India.

Francophone West African statesneed appropriate technology, equip-ment and machinery at low cost andother assistance for their economicdevelopment, and for this Indiacould be a viable partner for thesecountries. Thus, both India andFrancophone West African countriesneed each other due to their owndevelopmental needs and concerns.A sense of common cause and ashared future is an unbreakable linkbetween India and the FrancophoneWest African countries which willextend to facing the new and emerg-ing challenges confronting them inthe new millennium.

The new developing partnershipbetween India and these countries reflects their similar world-view and potential for substantial economic cooperationbetween them. They are conscious of the fact that any jointaction, position, views and partnership they share have widerimplications.

Almost all the Francophone West African countries havetaken a stand against internationalisation of the Kashmir issue,which they want to see settled under the Simla Agreement.3

Among these countries, Senegal enjoys an excellent relation-ship with India.

Senegal has identical views with India on a number ofinternational issues, particularly relating to third world devel-opment. Their cooperation in the UNCTAD, the NAM, theU.N., the G-77 and other international fora is well docu-mented. So pleased are the Senegalese with their new foundIndia connections that they want other Francophone WestAfrican countries to turn to Delhi for the technology andinvestment they once sourced from Paris. Senegal has alsoextended its support to India’s candidature in the election tovarious U.N. bodies. It has always supported a dialogue

The political-diplomatic tiesbetween India and FrancophoneWest African countries in the era

of liberalisation, privatisationand globalisation in the 1990s

have acquired a distinct economic basis as it is the

political economy of globalisation that is stimulatingforms of political, diplomatic,

strategic and economic diplomacy in this period.

20 May-July 2006

I N F O C U S

between India and Pakistan on Kashmir.4

Burkina Faso, since its independence in 1960, has main-tained friendly relations with India. Both countries share incommon their adherence to non-alignment, their belief inthe value of democracy and justice, their commitment toSouth-South Cooperation for developing countries.5

During the then Indian Prime Minister P.V. NarasimhaRao’s visit to Burkina Faso in November 1995, India receivedemphatic commitment of support for its bid for a SecurityCouncil seat from Burkina Faso and reiteration that theKashmir dispute between India and Pakistan should beresolved within the framework of the Simla Agreement.

But an even more important gain from India’s point of viewwas a tacit commitment on the part of the Government ofBurkina Faso to promote New Delhi’s interests in severalneighbouring Francophone countries where Burkina Faso’sPresident Compaore through ethnic ties wields considerableinfluence.6 Ivory Coast is also eager to contribute to the devel-opment of the third world and is keen to develop strong linkswith India.

Areas of Cooperation

India and Francophone West African countries need toanchor their role in international affairs in the 21st centurybased on commitment to fundamental principles aimed atpromoting economic and social well-being of the people of theSouth. The two sides share a common objective in building ajust and equitable world order with a strong focus on devel-opmental issues.

They have identified several areas and issues, which deservesolidarity among the developing world. There is broad agree-ment between them on the need for a restructuring and revi-talisation of the U.N. This is an important issue where India-Francophone West Africa cooperation can play vital role forthe reform and the restructuring of the U.N. and its SecurityCouncil. It should truly reflect the diversity of our universeand ensure equity among the nations in the exercise of powerwithin the system of international relations in general and theSecurity Council in particular.

Revitalising NAM is yet another area in which Indo-Francophone West African countries’ cooperation can play aconstructive role. It is important that NAM generates new, rel-evant agenda items to place on the tables of multilateral fora,such as the WTO, around the world. There is a joint com-mitment between India and the countries of FrancophoneWest Africa to strengthen the NAM as the ideal vehicle foradvancing the collective interests of the developing countries.7

There can be no development without peace and security andno security without economic development and a policy pro-moting human rights and civil society.

Security, peace and human rights form a three-prongedapproach in building a common future. Commitment to theprotection of environment, prohibition of nuclear prolifera-tion, arms-control, drug trafficking, terrorism, are funda-mental issues that bind both sides. Strengthening of regionaland inter-regional cooperation is vital to counter pervasive

globalisation. India and Francophone West African countrieshave to take cognizance of the increasing importance ofregional economic blocs.

Tackling the debt problem is another issue on which Indo-Francophone West African countries’ cooperation can play auseful role. More than 20 African countries have debt burdens,which are regarded by the World Bank as unsustainable. Thus,India and Francophone West African countries must cooper-ate and collaborate in the 21st century to face crucial challengesfacing the third world countries, particularly in regard to bring-ing about functioning democracy, stimulating growth in theeconomy, developing a strong human rights culture and meet-ing the socio-economic needs of their citizens.

Further, India could assist Francophone West Africancountries in maintaining peace and security in the region withits rich experience of peacekeeping and peace building in Africaunder the U.N. flag. Indian troops have taken part in some ofthe most risky operations in Africa, including those in Egypt,Congo, Somalia and Rwanda.

Over the years, India provided a cumulative total of 50,000troops to 29 U.N. peacekeeping operations.8 India is keenlywatching the conflict resolution experiments in FrancophoneWest African region. The Treaty of Lagos, establishingECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States),formally assigned the community with the responsibility ofpreventing and settling regional conflicts.

The ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) is thepeacekeeping arm of ECOWAS and is seeking internationalsupport to enable it to train and equip the 15 battalions oftroops pledged by member-states as standby units for its peace-keeping force. The training of the composite units will facil-itate their effectiveness in peacekeeping, humanitarian assis-tance and other missions for which they could be deployed.9

Trade Relations

From the Indian point of view, there is an imperative needto enlarge its share of the world trade, which has been gath-ering increasing momentum due to trade reforms and therapid integration of the world economies. India is committedto raise its share in world trade and bring itself into the majorworld exporter’s league. Therefore, there is a need to diversi-fy to new areas and markets as it could no longer depend onlyon its traditional trading partners and Francophone WestAfrican countries could be a crucial area of India’s exportthrust.

From the perspective of Francophone West African coun-tries, India could also become a major trading partner of thesecountries due to complementarities in their economies. Inthis fast changing environment of globalisation, these coun-tries are trying to bring about fundamental restructuring oftheir economies and want to integrate with the global society.They want stronger linkages with more economic partners.The Indian experience of economic development could pro-vide them the much-needed stimulus for their economicdevelopment.

Trends in trade show that there is an increase in the level

21


May-July 2006

of trade between both the regions inthe 1990s in comparison to earlierdecades. Francophone West Africaregion is already emerging as one ofIndia’s important trade partners.Furthermore, it is worthwhile tonote that Senegal and Ivory Coast,which are comparatively more devel-oped than other economies of theFrancophone West Africa region,have an edge in trade relations withIndia. The overall trend in tradebetween India and these states augurswell for the development of India’strade with Francophone Africanregion as a whole.

Exports

During the 25-year period under review by this work, therewas a very sharp increase in India’s exports to the nine coun-tries of Francophone West Africa from Rs. 16.17 crore in the1976-77 to Rs. 1,055.1 crore in 2000-2001 (see Table-1 on thefollowing page). However, considering the potential that thisregion offers, the Indian presence in this region is still insignif-icant.

During the period of 1976-77 to 1981-82, India’s export tothe Francophone West Africa region increased from Rs. 16.17crore to Rs. 55.54 crore. But there was decline in the exportsfrom Rs. 31.52 crore in 1982-83 to Rs. 12.93 crore in 1985-86

with this region due to the deepen-ing economic crisis in FrancophoneWest African states like in the rest ofAfrica, which adversely affected theircapacity to import.10 In 1982-83,Francophone West African states hada negative rate of growth of GDPover the previous year. In IvoryCoast, one of India’s important trad-ing partners, the negative growth ratewas as high as 4.4 percent in 1982-83.11 However, there was a reversalof trend, and India’s export againstarted rising in the following yearsand finally touched the figure of Rs.1,055.1 crore in 2000-2001. This isindeed a remarkable achievement inpromoting exports in a region where

a good number of barriers had to be crossed. Benin, Senegaland Ivory Coast are relatively important clients of India in thisregion.

Francophone West Africa has 7.46 percent of share inIndia’s export to Sub-Saharan Africa during 1985-86 and itrose to 9.90 percent in 1986-87, nearly remained the same in1987-88 at 9.18 percent and then declined to 6.47 percent in1989-90. It again increases with 7.83 percent in 1990-91 to 8.06percent in 1991-92. After slightly declining to 7.07 percent in1992-93 it rose to 11.63 percent in 1993-94. It again slipped to5.53 percent in 1994-95 and rose in 1995-96 to 9.45 percentof the India’s export to Sub-Saharan Africa. It was 8.05 per-

Indian peacekeeping troops with children at a camp in strife-torn Rwanda.

Indian troops have taken part insome of the most risky opera-

tions in Africa, including those in Egypt, Congo,Somalia and Rwanda. Over the

years, India provided a cumulative total of 50,000 troops

to 29 U.N. peacekeeping operations. India is keenly

watching the conflict resolutionexperiments in Francophone

West African region.

22 May-July 2006

I N F O C U S

Direction oof IIndian TTrade

Year Direction of Trade Exports Imports Total Trade Balance1985-86 India’s trade with world 10,895 19,658 30,553 -8,763

India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 173.18 310.13 483.31 -136.95India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 12.93 57.10 70.03 -44.17Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 1.58% 1.57% 1.58% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 7.46% 18.41% 14.48% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.11% 0.29% 0.22% -

1986-87 India’s trade with world 12,452 20,096 32,548 -7644India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 208.98 315.79 524.77 -106.81India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 20.7 84.7 105.4 -64Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 1.67% 1.57% 1.61% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 9.90% 26.82% 20.08% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.16% 0.42% 0.32% -

1987-88 India’s trade with world 15,674 22,244 37,918 -6,570India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 252.27 407.58 659.85 -155.31India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 23.16 68.07 91.23 -21.75Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 1.60% 1.83% 1.74% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 9.18% 16.70% 13.82% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.14% 0.30% 0.24% -

1988-89 India’s trade with world 20,232 28,235 48,467 -8,003India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 339.55 500.89 840.44 -161.33India’s trade with Francophone West Africa NA NA NA NASub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 1.67% 1.77% 1.73% -Francophone West Africa’s share in NA NA NA -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade NA NA NA -



1991-92 India’s trade with world 44,042 47,851 91,893 -3,809India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 1,056.07 1,111.44 2,167.51 -55.37India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 85.15 310.00 395.18 -224.85Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 2.39% 2.32% 2.35% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 8.06% 27.89% 18.23% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.19% 0.64% 0.43% -

1992-93 India’s trade with world 53,688 63,375 1,17,063 -9,686India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 1,580.47 2,608.28 4,188.75 -1,027.81India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 111.82 306.52 418.26 -194.7Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 2.94% 4.11% 3.57% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 7.07% 11.75% 9.92% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.20% 0.48% 0.35% -

1993-94 India’s trade with world 69,751 73,101 1,42,852 -3,350India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 1,987.14 3,556.82 5,543.96 -1,569.60

in Rs. Crores

23


May-July 2006

cent in 1996-97, 7.68 percent in 1997-98, 11.59 percent in1998-99 and 9.44 percent in 1999-2000.

Table- 2 reveals that during 1985-86 to 1999-2000, India’sexport to Francophone West Africa never touched the 1 per-cent mark and it remained below half percent of its export tothe world during the period of analysis. However, exportincreased in value terms throughout the period from Rs. 16.17crore in 1976-77 to Rs. 647.42 crore in 1999-2000, except inthe years 1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1985-86 when itshowed a declining trend.

Imports

Going by the trend, there was an enormous increase in theimports from this region over the last 25 years. India’s importsfrom Francophone West African region are, however, con-fined to a limited number of countries. The slow growth ofIndian imports from the Francophone West Africa region canbe partly attributed to this.

However, there is indeed a significant development in traderelations between India and Francophone West Africa region

Year Direction of Trade Exports Imports Total Trade BalanceIndia’s trade with Francophone West Africa 231.26 171.32 402.58 +59.94Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 2.84% 4.86% 3.88% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 11.63% 4.81% 7.18% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.33% 0.23% 0.28% -

1994-95 India’s trade with world 82,674 89,971 1,72,645 -7,297India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 2,671.48 2,700.31 5,371.79 -28.83India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 147.74 159.12 306.86 -11.38Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 3.23% 3.00% 3.11% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 5.53% 5.89% 5.81% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.17% 0.17% 0.17% -

1995-96 India’s trade with world 1,06,353 1,22,678 2,29,031 -16,325India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 4,873.42 2,805.46 7,678.88 +2,067.96India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 460.97 273.54 734.51 +187.43Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 4.58% 2.28% 3.35% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 9.45% 9.75% 9.56% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.43% 0.22% 0.32% -

1996-97 India’s trade with world 1,18,817 1,38,920 2,57,737 -20,103India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 4,829.24 10,402.83 15,232.07India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 388.88 307.35 696.23 +81.53Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 4.06% 7.48% 5.90% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 8.05% 2.95% 5.42% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.32% 0.22% 0.27% -

1997-98 India’s trade with world 1,30,101 1,54,176 2,84,277 -24,076India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 5,818.52 8,393.54 14,212.06India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 446.91 436.68 883.59 +10.23Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 4.47% 5.44% 4.99% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 7.68% 5.20% 6.66% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.34% 0.28% 0.31% -

1998-99 India’s trade with world 1,39,753 1,78,332 3,18,085 -38,579India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 7,240.26 13,663.25 20,903.51India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 839.72 689.85 1,529.57 +149.87Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 5.18% 7.66% 6.57% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 11.59% 5.04% 7.31% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.60% 0.38% 0.48% -

1999-00 India’s trade with world 1,59,561 2,15,236 3,74,797 -55,675India’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa 6,857.63 18,611.17 25,468.8India’s trade with Francophone West Africa 647.42 1161.58 1809.00 -514.16Sub-Saharan Africa’s share in India’s trade with world 4.29% 8.64% 6.79% -Francophone West Africa’s share in 9.44% 6.24% 7.10% -India’s trade with Sub-Saharan AfricaFrancophone West Africa’s share in India’s total trade 0.40% 0.53% 0.48% -

in Rs. Crores

Source: DGCIS, Statistics of Foreign Trade of India, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, various issues.

24 May-July 2006

I N F O C U S

in the period of 1976-2001 as a whole. Francophone West Africa has the share of 18.41 percent in

India’s import from Sub-Saharan Africa during 1985-86 andit rose to 26.82 percent in 1986-87 (Table-2). It declined to16.70 percent in 1987-88 and again rose to 26.33 percent in1989-90 and slightly increased to 26.73 percent in 1990-91. Itfurther increased to 27.89 percent in 1991-92 but declinedsubstantially to 11.75 percent in 1992-93 and again to 4.81 per-cent in 1993-94 due to declining demand of traditional itemsof Francophone West Africa in India. It increased to 5.89 per-cent in 1994-95 to 9.75 percent in 1995-96 but again declinedto 2.95 percent in 1996-97, lowest in the period of 1985-86 to1999-2000.

The share of Francophone West Africa in India’s importsfrom Sub-Saharan Africa has been showing growth from1997-98 onwards: 5.20 percent in 1997-98, 5.04 percent in1998-99, and 6.24 percent in 1999-2000. There is fluctuationin terms of percentage share of Francophone West Africa inIndia’s total import from world, there is a steady growth interms of value as well as in percentage. The imports fromFrancophone West Africa to India increased from Rs. 57.10crore in 1985-86 to Rs. 1,161.58 crore in 1999-2000 with thesteady increase in terms of percentage, i.e from 0.29 percentin 1985-86 to 0.53 percent in 1999-2000 except in the years1987-88 (0.30 percent), 1990-91 (0.41 percent), 1992-93 (0.48percent), 1993-94 (0.23 percent) and 1994-95 (0.17 percent)when it declined slightly from the previous years. Ivory Coastwas the leading supplier to India with exports of the value ofRs. 422.39 crore in 1999-2000 and Rs. 562.39 crore in 2000-2001. Senegal was the second leading supplier to India in 1999-2000 with exports of the value of Rs. 378.34 crore to India. But

Benin became the second leading supplier to India in 2000-2001 with exports of the value of Rs. 237.93 crore to India,ahead of Senegal’s Rs. 202.55 crore.

Several reasons are responsible for the weak performanceof Francophone West African states in trade relations withIndia. Firstly, the narrow range of commodities. Secondly, thefragile economic base of Francophone West Africaneconomies is a major bottleneck in increasing the trade rela-tions between the two regions. However, with the growth ofthese economies in recent years, there is expectation ofimprovement in trade ties. Thirdly, the monopoly of Franceon trade of these states creates hindrance in the trade relationsbetween India and Francophone West African states.Furthermore, it is worthwhile to note that two economies ofthis region, Senegal and Ivory Coast, are comparatively devel-oped than other economies of the Francophone West Africaregion and have an edge in trade relations with India from thisregion.

Trade Balance

During the period 1976-77 to 1982-83, India had tradesurplus with Francophone West Africa region. It was Rs. 7.30crore in 1976-77, Rs. 44.54 crore in 1981-82 and Rs. 26.04crore in1982-83 in India’s favour. This was due to consider-able increase in exports to Ivory Coast. However, the trend wasreversed after 1983-84. It was a Rs. 8.92 crore trade deficit forIndia in 1983-84 and Rs. 35.69 crore in 1985-86. It was Rs.123.92 crore in 1989-90 and reached the figure of Rs. 224.85crore in 1991-92 with a sudden rise in imports from Senegal.The trend has reversed again with the trade surplus for India

India’s TTrade wwith FFrancophone WWest AAfrica ((1976-11981)

S.No Country 1976-77 1979-80 1980-1981

Export Import Total Export Import Total Export Import Total

Trade Trade Trade

1. Senegal 15.08 - 15.08 0.47,84 4.19,20 4.66 0.16,70 6.07,48 6.23

2. Ivory Coast 0.03 - 0.03 0.79,67 2.17,25 2.96 4.25,25 0.32,04 4.57

3. Burkina Faso 0.07 0.656 0.726 0.04,37 - .043 0.01,27 - 0.01

4. Mali 0.84 7.539 8.37 0.42,91 0.02,08 .449 0.13,75 0.01,26 0.14

5. Guinea 0.00 - - 1.30,50 4.91,45 6.21 0.31,84 0.55 0.04,27

6. Mauritania 0.35 - 0.35 3.58,07 0.0013 3.58 1.94,69 0.01,21 1.95

7. Togo - - - 0.0080,69 - .0080 0.66,84 - 0.66

8. Benin 0.39 0.581 0.971 24.16,59 - 24.16 39.67,58 - 39.67

9. Niger 0.17 - 0.17 0.30,34 - .30 0.25,99 - 0.25

Total 16.17 8.77 24.94 31.06 11.29 42.37 47.31 6.72 54.03

in Rs. Crore

Source: DGCIS, Statistics of Foreign Trade of India, Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India, various issues.

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May-July 2006

in 1993-94 of Rs. 59.94 crore. Except for the year 1994-95, inthe next four years the balance of trade was in India’s favour,with the trade surplus of Rs. 187.43 crore in 1995-96, Rs.81.53 crore in 1996-97, Rs. 10.23 crore in 1997-98 and Rs.149.87 crore in 1998-99. However, there was again a tradedeficit for India in 1999-2000 with the figure of Rs. 514.16crore and Rs. 142.62 crore in 2000-2001 due to rise in importsfrom Ivory Coast and Benin.

Trading Commodities

An analysis of the commodity structure of exports andimports by major groups can provide further insight intoIndia’s trade relations with Francophone West African coun-tries. Manufactured goods consisting of leather, leather man-ufactured goods, chemicals and related products, engineeringgoods, articles of iron or steel, textiles and industrial machin-ery and other manufactured goods top India’s export list toFrancophone West Africa. Although there are fluctuationsfrom year to year, a giant share in the export list of India tothese countries comprise these items. Other principal itemsexported to Francophone West Africa include pharmaceuticalproducts, vehicles and transport equipment. Agricultural andallied products are next to the manufactured goods in the listof Indian exports to these countries. Among all the agriculturalproducts, cereals, cotton and rubber are the largest export-earning commodities.

From Francophone West Africa, traditional exports suchas cocoa, coffee and palm oil are still favourites on India’simport list. There is also growth in non-traditional primaryexports such as pineapples and rubber. Among other agricul-tural products fruits, nuts (groundnuts/peanuts), etc., havealso a vital share in the import list to India. Other principalitems imported by India from Francophone West Africainclude cotton, oil seeds, grains and other plants. Among otherfavourites from the Francophone West Africa region are man-ufactured goods such as chemicals, organic and inorganic,wood and articles with metals, salt, sulphur, stones and oresand minerals. Thus, it is evident from the commodity patternof Indo-Francophone West African trade relations that value-added products are finding place in the export and import listsof these countries; however, traditional items are stillfavourites in the export and import lists of these counties andIndia.

Constraints on Trade Relations

There are some factors which cast a shadow on promotingtrade and economic relations between India and this region.They are: ■■ French language: The French language used in these coun-tries for business correspondence, government administra-tion and in technical standards is considered a big constraintby Indian businessmen in approaching the market of thesecountries since Indian businessmen mainly use English intheir communication. Further, there is a notion that the smallsize of the market and the commercial gains that will come

from the modest volume of business may not be commensu-rate with the cost involved in translation of various details andcommunications in French. Due to these reasons, there is alack of interest in tapping the Francophone West African statesmarket for opportunity.12

■■ Keen international competition: A number of developedcountries including France, Belgium, Italy, the U.S., Germanyand the Netherlands have a strong foothold in these countries.A rapid survey of India’s potential exports to these countriesshows that India may face stiff competition from France andChina. The latter, in fact, has launched an aggressive tradedrive in this region. Beijing is expected to offer competitionto India in this region’s market for a wide range of goods fromtextiles to engineering goods. ■■ Slow pace of reforms and political instability: Higher inci-dence of civil strife, macro-economic instability, modestprogress made both in liberalisation and privatisation haveaffected Indian trade with this region. ■■ No serious studies about the region: To formulate a prop-er policy for fruitful relations with this region, there is a needto build up data banks and teams of experts.■■ Other problems relate to the limited purchasing power ofpeople of the region and costly domestic credit; high freightrates and longer shipping times and inadequate after-sales ser-vice and lack of durable arrangements for ensuring supply ofspare parts.■■ Attractive credit terms offered by the European firms, espe-cially the French firms, who have historical links with thesecountries in contrast with the tendency of Indian firms toinsist on LC terms of payment and their reluctance to supplyon credit terms of payment.13

■■ Indians prefers short-term supply contracts rather than long-term joint ventures with local partners.■■ Due to the absence of diaspora factor (persons of Indian ori-gin, or PIOs) in these former French colonies, the informa-tion outlets, both direct and indirect, have been relativelyfewer, which meant inadequate information about businessopportunities. A more high-profile publicity for India seemsan imperative need. The only media exposure of India to theFrancophone African states seems to be through the culturaljournal Rencontre avec l ’Inde, brought out by the Indian Councilfor Cultural Relations (ICCR).14

■■ Production and other economic cooperation: The produc-tion cooperation between India and these countries is muchbelow the immense potential for such cooperation in varioussectors. Francophone West African states offer a lot of scopefor Indian investment in various sectors of their economies.Relatively a poor country in the region, Burkina Faso is pur-suing its case for developmental cooperation with India, whichhas resulted in agricultural cooperation and other forms oftechnical cooperation between the two countries.

The economics of India and Francophone West Africancountries are complementary, and, therefore they stand togain from increased trade and greater economic cooperation.Francophone West African states are growth-oriented emerg-ing economies and they have all the potential to become astrong trade partner of India in the African region. For India,

26 May-July 2006

I N F O C U S

they can be both a good market for export of products and ser-vices as also good partners for joint ventures and collaborativeventures. They offer tremendous business opportunities toIndia entrepreneurs. The scope for economic cooperationbetween India and these countries is, indeed, vast. This is dueto several reasons. Firstly, India and these countries are mov-ing on the path of economic liberalisation and encouragingforeign investment. Secondly, India, due to industrial andtechnological development, has much to offer to these coun-tries. Thirdly, controlled inflation rate and comparatively self-sustained economy of India and growth-oriented economiesof these states. Fourthly, Francophone West African states aredeveloping in terms of infrastructure and healthy financialsectors. All these factors have raised the Indo-FrancophoneWest African states’ economic relations to a new height.Production complementarities are an evidence of the poten-tial of economic cooperation between the two regions. But itwas found that Indo-Francophone West African states jointventures, compared with India’s worldwide spread, joint ven-tures and even other regions of Africa, have as yet just scratchedthe surface.

Investments and Joint Ventures

It was only in the mid-1980s that India opened her JVAaccount in the Francophone West Africa with the setting upof a project in Senegal. An efficient Indian company in thepublic sector is collaborating with the Senegalese governmentin the field of fertilisers and phosphoric acid.15 There are asmany as five Indian joint ventures and wholly-owned sub-sidiaries in the Francophone West Africa region. There arethree joint ventures in Senegal, one in Guinea and one whol-ly owned subsidiary in Ivory Coast up to year 2000 (See Table-3).Thus, it is clear that the region has not attracted too manyIndian joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries. Therewere more than 2,000 Indian joint ventures and wholly-ownedsubsidiaries operating worldwide and out of them, there wereonly five in the Francophone West African region during theperiod under study. Although countries like Mauritius, SouthAfrica, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania were importantdestinations for Indian investment in the continent of Africaduring the period, the Francophone West African region didnot attract much Indian investments.

In fact, India should take concrete steps in identifying pro-jects in consultation with Francophone West African states so

that this useful area of collaboration is extended further, bothin width and depth. One can think of establishing a big jointventure like a textile complex in Burkina Faso or Mali, whichcould cater to the requirements of the neighbouring land-locked countries like Niger and Chad as well.16 Indo-Francophone West African joint ventures will necessarily leadto larger trade between India and Francophone West Africancountries and thereby larger Indo-African trade.17

Economic and Technological Cooperation:

India is assisting Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ivory Coast andother countries of Francophone West Africa through grantassistance and technological cooperation programmes in var-ious sectors of their economy. India has promoted severaldemonstration projects in these countries financed throughgrant assistance.

A project for the establishment of an Entrepreneur andTechnology Development Centre was undertaken in Senegal.The Government of India also reiterated its commitment toparticipate in the Sahel Railway Project in Burkina Faso.18

India assisted Togo in rural development by gifting waterpumps, sewing machines, corn grinding mills, and Tatamobile ambulances worth Rs. 3.26 crore and, in Mali, a drillingrig gifted by India was installed and commissioned. India gift-ed seven heavy-duty photocopiers to Burkina Faso for use dur-ing the OAU Summit in 1998. On November 7-10, 1998, thefoundation was laid for the project of Industries Chimique DuSenegal in which Iffco is an equity partner. A delegation organ-ised by the Exim Bank of India and the Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII) visited Cote d’Ivoire and also had dis-cussions with the Abidjan-based African Development Bankin May 1998.

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, hasinitiated a process of streamlining and strengthening the IndianTechnical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme toprovide it more focus and value and make it an effectiveinstrument of South-South Cooperation.19 The ITECProjects completed or under process in Francophone WestAfrica are: Computerisation of the Senegalese PrimeMinister’s Office in Dakar completed in August 1996; In Mali,15 tool kits were supplied in June-July 1996; 200 hand pumpssupplied in June-July 1996; a proposal for supply of 200 dieselpumps; supply of photo-voltaic solar system to Mali; a projectfor supply of drilling rig and agricultural equipment (manual

IInnddiiaann JJooiinntt VVeennttuurreess && WWhhoollllyy OOwwnneedd SSuubbssiiddiiaarriieess iinn FFrraannccoopphhoonnee WWeesstt AAffrriiccaa

Year Country Joint Venture Wholly Owned Subsidiary Total Equity

1995 Senegal 1 - 1 4,514.3

1995 Guinea 1 - 1 152.4

1998 Senegal 2 - 2 22,238.20

1998 Ivory Coast - 1 1 11.00

(Equity in US $’000)

Source: Indian Investment Centre, New Delhi.

27


May-July 2006

rickshaws and hand weeders); work started on establishmentof Entrepreneur and Technical Development Centre (ETDC)in Dakar under G-15 for the Government of Senegal in 1997-98; feasibility study by Indian Dairy Association for a DairyDevelopment Project in Senegal in July-August 1997; feasi-bility study for setting up of a incense stick (agarbatti in Hindi)project was conducted in May 1997; supply of a drilling rig andits accessories to Mali; feasibility study for establishment of apoultry vaccine laboratory and Solar Photovoltaic system sup-plied in 1997-98 to Mali; an expert from DCSSI conducted afeasibility study for setting up of coir industry in Benin; in1997-98, 45 diesel pumps and 350 sewing machines were sup-plied to Ivory Coast; the Indian Farmers Project was launchedin October 1999 in Burkina Faso; equipment for five PrimaryHealth Centres was also supplied. Under ITEC slots wereutilised by Senegal (13), Ivory Coast (10), Burkina Faso (10),Guinea (5), Niger (5) and Benin (5) till November 2000.Under the Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan(SCAAP) slots were utilised by Senegal (33), Ivory Coast (5),Burkina Faso (15), Guinea (5), Niger (5), Mali (5) and Benin(5) till November 1998. Under ADR, diesel water pumps andsewing machine were provided by India to Ivory Coast.20

Agricultural Cooperation

India’s recent opening to the countries of FrancophoneWest Africa was further consolidated with the progress inbilateral agricultural and rural development projects beingundertaken in Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal. A team of agri-culture experts visited Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo inAugust and September 1996 with a view to formulating spe-cific programmes of agricultural cooperation with these coun-tries.21 A two-member team from IVRI/ICAR visited Malifrom September 28-October 7, 1996, to conduct a feasibilitystudy for setting up a Poultry Vaccine Laboratory in Mali anda three-member team from Gujarat Tractors Corporation Ltd.visited Senegal, Ivory Coast and Togo during July-August1996 to explore possibilities for mutual cooperation in thefield of agriculture.

India’s relations with the countries of Francophone WestAfrica made substantial progress during the year 1997-98. Asmanifestations of its commitment to South-SouthCooperation, India has promoted several demonstration pro-jects in these countries financed through grant assistance. AnAgricultural Development Project was undertaken in Senegal.Earlier, a similar Agricultural Development Project was alsoundertaken in Burkina Faso. Farmers from Punjab weredeployed in Burkina Faso for the agricultural demonstrationproject. India sent six farmers to Burkina Faso in Octoberunder the Indo-Burkina Farmers’ Project to assist and traintheir Burknabe counterparts in mechanised farming to pro-duce quality seeds. This project has successfully taken off.The Government of India also reiterated its commitment toassist Burkina Faso in its programme of livestock develop-ment.22

Senegalese Prime Minister Habib Thiam received 100Indian tractors in May 1998 as part of the Agriculture

Development Project being set up with India’s assistance. It isin an advanced stage of implementation. An Indian projectdirector is supervising the remaining part of the project, whichis aimed at providing expertise and equipment to Senegal todevelop rice farming and to cultivate better variety of cotton.India also provided emergency relief assistance in the form ofrice and medicines to Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger.

Human Resource Development

In continuation of an established tradition, India extendedassistance in the form of machinery, manpower and humanresource development to the Francophone West African coun-tries in various crucial sectors. India sent six farmers to BurkinaFaso in October under the Indo-Burkina Farmers Project toassist and train their Burknabe counterparts in mechanisedfarming to produce quality seeds. An Entrepreneurial Trainingand Development Centre (ETDC), built with Indian techni-cal and financial assistance under G-15 at an estimated cost of$4.49 million by HMT (I) to provide technical training in var-ious vocational fields, was handed over to the Government ofSenegal on June 16, 2000. Indian Trade PromotionOrganisation (ITPO) also participated in the 14th DakarInternational Trade Fair held from November 23 toDecember 5, 2000.23 Many trainees from the FrancophoneWest African region are coming to India for training in sever-al fields, including computer education, diplomacy, telecom-munications, etc.

In recent years, growing demands have been made toMinistry of External Affairs, Government of India, throughthe ITEC programme to transfer knowledge and skills gainedunder India’s green revolution, by developing countries, espe-cially in Africa. The first experiment in transferring such tech-nology was launched in Burkina Faso in October 1999 withstart of a pilot farmers project. India’s engagement in eco-nomic, industrial and technological cooperation with thecountries of Francophone West Africa continues to growsteadily. India also continued to strengthen cooperation in thefield of human resource development through the provisionof training slots, deputation of experts and supply of equip-ment under the ITEC Programme and SCAAP.24

Sectors for Indian Investment

India, with its experience of over 50 years of industrialgrowth, has attained expertise in certain important sectors andhas comparative advantage to do investment business any-where in the world. These sectors are agriculture, infrastruc-ture like communication, irrigation, housing, health and smalland medium scale industries. Thus, in the area of productioncooperation, a number of areas have been identified.■■ Agricultural Cooperation: In the field of production coop-eration, top priority should be given to agriculture. Agricultureis not confined just to production of agricultural products butincludes supply of fertilisers, irrigation, storage, communica-tion, etc. Francophone West African countries have vast fer-tile land, untapped, undeveloped and unharvested, which

28 May-July 2006

I N F O C U S

could be utilised for food production to enable them to attainself-sufficiency in food. India is in a position to offer appro-priate technology and training to the agriculturists in thesecountries. India has got the necessary expertise on seed farm,soil testing and irrigation. India can easily supply farm imple-ments, pesticides and other agricultural inputs. However, thecountry and the region-specific identification of specific Indiantechnologies were yet to be undertaken along with the ques-tion of supportive prices and suitable marketing strategy. Infact, joint ventures in the area of agriculture could be estab-lished between Indian parties and parties in these countries forthe production of maize, rice, wheat, beans, pulses, oil seeds,groundnuts, sunflowers, etc., away food crops and coffee, cot-ton, cashew, tobacco and tea among cash crops with buy-backarrangements on the part of the Indian parties. Diary farmingis another such area. India’s experience in setting up agricul-ture-related institutes and universities could also be very use-ful for establishing such institutions in some bigger countriesand regional institutes in the smaller ones.■■ Energy Cooperation: The Francophone West Africa regionis also becoming an attractive source of energy in recent years.A lot of the new, proven reserves of oil and gas have beenfound in the Western part of the African continent. These oilreserves are located in the Gulf of Guinea (offshore Benin,Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana), in the Atlantic Ocean (offshoreMauritania and Senegal) and in landlocked Niger. There arealso significant reserves of natural gas in Francophone WestAfrica. It contains approximately 32 percent of Africa’s natu-ral gas reserves. Field discoveries have been confirmed andreserves have been proven in Benin (43 Bcf); Cote d’Ivoire (1.1trillion cubic feet, Tcf); and Senegal (106 Bcf). Thus, oil- andgas-producing countries of this region have potential to coop-erate with India in the energy sector based on a larger sharedperspective. They can provide an additional source for India’slong-term energy security whereas Indian technological exper-tise and functional experiences in the oil and gas sectors arecompatible to the production pattern of this region. Thisregion provides an opportunity for India to evolve a broad-based, sustainable cooperation with the region, based onemerging dynamics of the global energy security and multi-plicity of shared interests.■■ Rural and Small-Scale Industries: The rural and small-scaleindustries sector is another area of Indian specialisation. Sincethe Francophone West African states’ economies are amenableto spatial inequalities, this sector has a vital role in building uprural-urban linkages as also to help with an inexpensive,inward-looking, low-cost, labour-intensive development pro-cess. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are being regard-ed as important to the job creation. This could not onlystrengthen the industrial base of these countries but also pro-vide employment and income-generation opportunities to theactive working population, which is at present unemployed.India could assist these countries in establishing small-scaleindustries (SSIs) in the field of agro-processing like sugar-cane, forestry products, consumer durables and the light elec-trical and electronics industries. India can also set up indus-tries in other sectors such as oil refining, food processing and

preservation, hotel, mineral processing, small cement plants,granite and marbles. All these activities help in creating gain-ful employment and can increase the income for these coun-tries –– particularly for those who live in the rural areas. Indiacould help in prospecting, exploration and development ofmines and could provide a good market for many of the min-erals, as well. India’s assistance could be helpful in the con-struction, completion and maintenance of their projects.25

■■ Information Technology: India has an internationally recog-nised and growing expertise in the IT sector. It is one majorspecific sector in which there is a huge scope for expansion interms of cooperation between Indian and the FrancophoneWest African companies. India has offered technical trainingto these countries under the ITEC, which was established in1964. This involved technical training, consultancy servicesand project assistance.■■ Transport and Communication: Most of the FrancophoneWest African countries are interested in improving their basicinfrastructure in the transport sector, shipping and port facil-ities, and they would welcome any help rendered in theseareas. India with its experience of not only developing domes-tic infrastructure but also of completing a number of turnkeyjobs in in the Middle East can do a lot to help these countries.Thus, other areas such as airports, telecommunications, fran-chising, tourism, computers, software and peripherals, health-care services and equipment, pharmaceuticals, security andsafety equipment, water treatment equipment, industrialchemicals and packaging equipment, etc., also offer great busi-ness prospects.■■ Housing: Housing has emerged as a promising area of coop-eration between the two regions. India has proven expertisein low-cost housing.■■ Others: Indians could provide assistance in the field of tech-no-economic surveys, planning, preparation of feasibility anddetailed project reports, entrepreneurship development andmanagerial assistance. Certain other sectors which are consideras the promising for doing business are airports, telecommu-nication, franchising tourism, pharmaceuticals, water treat-ment equipment and industrial chemicals, etc.

Multilateral Cooperation

Multilateral fora such as NAM, G-77 and G-15 have beenplaying important roles in the promotion of economic coop-eration between India and these countries over the years.These fora are useful in strengthening the regional and inter-national cooperation among the member-countries, whichalso indirectly promotes bilateral economic cooperation.Francophone West Africa is moving towards economic inte-gration through a number of regional and sub-regional organ-isations like ECOWAS. India is trying to strengthen institu-tional linkages with these regional and sub-regional groups inFrancophone West Africa in recognition of the trend towardsregional and global economic integration.26 The regionalcooperative movements have emerged as an effective responseto encounter the challenges of globalisation all over the world.Subsequently, the role of the dominant regional powers such

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May-July 2006

REFERENCES

1. For detail see, Government of India, Ministry of ExternalAffairs official website, http://meaindia.nic.in, also see, T.G.Ramamurthi, ‘India’s Relations with Francophone AfricanStates’, Africa Quarterly (New Delhi), vol. 34, no. 1 (1994),p. 40.2. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 2000-2001 (New Delhi, 2001), p. 51.3. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 1995-96 (New Delhi, 1996), pp. 51-57.4. The Times of India (New Delhi), March 1, 2004. 5. Embassy of Burkina Faso, Burkina Faso for Business(New Delhi, 2001), p. 8.6. The Times of India (New Delhi), November 6, 1995.7. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 1997-98 (New Delhi, 1998), p. 63.8. Inaugural Address by Vasundhara Raje, Minister of Statefor External Affairs, at International Seminar on U.N.Peacekeeping on March 17-19, 1999 in New Delhi.9. For detail see, http://www.ecowas.info/ecodef.htm and alsosee, www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/ecowas.html10. Daleep Singh, ‘India’s Economic Relations withFrancophone Africa 1965-2000: Hope and Scope’, AfricaQuarterly, vol. 41, no. 4, (2001), p. 17.11. Daleep Singh, ‘Indo-Francophone African EconomicRelations: Retrospect and Prospect’, in R.R. Ramchandani,ed., ‘India-Africa Relations’ (New Delhi, KalingaPublications, 1990), vol.1, p. 248.12. Singh, n. 49, p. 248.

13. ‘Engineering Export Promotion Council Report, IvoryCoast: Potentials and Prospects for India’ (New Delhi,2002), p. 94.14. T.G. Ramamurthi, ‘India’s Relations with FrancophoneAfrican States’, Africa Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 1 (1994), p. 43. 15. Daleep Singh, ‘India’s Economic Relations in theFrancophone Africa’, in Virinder Grover, ed., ‘InternationalRelations and Foreign Policy of India’ (New Delhi, Deep& Deep Publications, 1992), p. 343.16. Singh, n.48, p. 23.17. R.L Varshney, ‘India’s Production Cooperation withAfrican Countries and International Finance’, in R.R.Ramchandani, ed., ‘India-Africa Relations’ (Delhi, KalingaPublications, 1990), p. 207. 18. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 1997-98 (New Delhi, 1998), p. 61.19. ibid, p. 58.20. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 1998-99 (New Delhi, 1999), pp.168-69. 21. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 1996-97 (New Delhi, 1997), p. 53.22. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 1997-98 (New Delhi, 1998), p. 61.23. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 2000-01 (New Delhi, 2001), p. 51.24. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 1999-2000 (New Delhi, 2000), p. 50.25. Varshney, n. 18, p. 204. 26. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs,Annual Report, 1997-98 (New Delhi, 1998), p. 58.

as India in promoting cooperative movements increases at theregional levels. Thus, through the consolidation of coopera-tion between them at regional level, they will be betterequipped to face the challenges of globalisation.

Conclusion

The change in the inner dynamics and composition of thepolity and economy of India as well as Francophone WestAfrican countries is favourable and conducive for enhancedeconomic cooperation between the two regions. FrancophoneWest Africa, after decades of ruinous conflicts and economicstagnation, is about to turn the corner. Democracy is nowblooming in these countries in the wave of multi-party elec-tions sweeping across the continent of Africa in the 1990s.Further, India and almost all the countries of FrancophoneWest Africa have implemented economic liberalisation in theirrespective economies.

In the changed world scenario, Francophone West Africancountries are fast integrating with the other economies of theworld and this augurs well for a beneficial partnership betweenIndia and these countries. Further, it is observed that the eco-nomic partnership between India and Francophone West

African countries has steadily expanded in the 1990s. BothIndia and these countries are likely to benefit significantlyfrom the comprehensive economic cooperation as they havelarge economic potential in sizable number of sectors.Therefore, economic cooperation in the framework of South-South Cooperation and in the larger framework of globalisa-tion could be the most enduring approach for attaining steadygrowth in their economies.

India and several countries of Francophone West Africahave benefited from liberalisation and regional cooperation butthe magnitude differs from one country to another. Moreover,economic indicators of India and a number of these countriesare strong, which is, in fact, conducive for a meaningful eco-nomic cooperation initiative between them. For fully exploit-ing the economic potential, there is a need for a broad eco-nomic partnership between India and these countries by usingvarious approaches simultaneously, such as bilateralism,regionalism and multilateral processes. There is also a need forintegrating monetary and financial issues in expanding tradeand economic cooperation between them. Thus, a positivepolicy initiative is needed for expanding the economic coop-eration between India and Francophone West African coun-tries.

30 May-July 2006

I N C O N V E R S A T I O N

Q: What’s the image of India in Africa these days? Do you think

India-Africa relations are changing with changing times?

A: The image of India in Africa is very positive. People are see-ing India as one of the developing countries that is making realprogress. India’s ICT development is something that has gen-erated great interest and admiration in our country. We seeIndia is going down the path all of us wantto go down. Within a generation, therehas been an extraordinary transformationand India is today emerging as a firstworld economy. That’s very remarkable.

It’s an example specifically for coun-tries like ours which have British colonialheritage. The Indian experience is spe-cially interesting because of the sharedhistory and common laws. It’s uplifting tosee that an open, democratic state likeIndia can make a very good effort at socialand economic development. It’s a verybig encouragement for us in the conti-nent. Q: In what ways can India and Africa col-

laborate in the crucial arena of U.N.

reforms and expansion of the U.N.

Security Council?

A: The collaboration (between Africa andIndia) is there. To some extent, people’sattention so far was focused on otheraspects of the U.N. reforms. Now all thatis concluded. We now have to focus onthe last remaining issue, which is theSecurity Council expansion.

We in Ghana are very much in favourof U.N. reforms and expansion of theSecurity Council.

We believe that the Security Council,as it is today, is not reflective of the timeswe live in. It is not reflective of the glob-al realities of today. Even British PrimeMinister (Tony Blair) has said that and

that’s what major nations like Japan and India are saying. Q: Do you see hope for a consensus in the AU on the issue?

A: I was very much involved in the making of the consensus.To the extent consensus stays, I would like it very much.

But reforms are more important than the consenus. Africa,like other continents of the world, is divided over the matter.

Let the reforms go forward and let peo-ple make their individual decisions. Butto have consensus as a drag on thereforms process is not a desirableapproach. The consensus was to ask foran expansion of the Security Councilwhere Africa will have two permanentseats. That’s where our sympathies lie.Q: Are you are saying that Africa should

not be targeted for a lack of consensus on the

UNSC expansion?

A: Absolutely. All the other continentsare divided on the issue. There is divisionin Europe; there is division in Asia; thereis division in Latin America. It’s not fairto target Africa. We are still working forconsensus, but regardless of that we stillhave to go forward. Q: What kind of economic and business

ties do you see developing between India

and Ghana on the one hand, and India

and Africa on the other hand?

A: There is a great deal of enthusiasm inthe Indian business community aboutinvesting in Ghana and in Africa. It’s veryencouraging. I want to assure all Indiansof the safety of their investment in Ghana.Indian businessmen can hope to do busi-ness in circumstances very familiar totheirs.

Our economy is ready for a take-offand our institutions are in good shape.Q: China has made rapid strides in pene-

trating Africa economically. How do you

Ghana Foreign Minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo speaks to Manish Chand about growing admiration in Africa for India’s

developmental model, the possibilities of collaboration in U.N. reformsand the need for adding economic content to the NAM.

‘BUSINESS circumstancesare similar in India, Africa’

‘India’s ICT development issomething that has

generated great interest andadmiration in our country. Wesee India is going down the

path all of us want to godown. Within a generation,

there has been an extraordinary transformationand India is today emerging

as a first world economy.That’s very remarkable.’

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May-July 2006

compare your experience with China to that of India?

A: We don’t see them as rivals. We see them as complemen-tary. They are doing different things in different areas. Q: How do you see the prospects of a revival of the Non-Aligned

Movement? What role do you see for India and Africa in this

process? Do you think it’s time to move beyond NAM?

A: We are certainly moving beyond NAM. To the extentNAM was time-specific, it responded to the situation of thecold war. Now with the collapse of Communism, the focushas shifted. The focus is now very much on economic devel-opment. What various peoples of Asia and Africa need to dois to take the benefit of globalisation.

The scale of economic activities in the G-77 countries is

so huge that it will allow NAM to have a much bigger eco-nomic agenda.

We should not restrict the NAM to just the political part.So there is going to be reform, rejuvenation and restructur-ing of the NAM. That is the process that is going on now. Thiswas evident at the ministerial meeting in Malaysia recently andthis will be one of the defining themes at the NAM summitin Havana.Q: What’s your idea of African resurgence and renewal?

A: The efforts we are making to improve our governance andsystems and the steps taken by us to accelerate economicgrowth form the basis of the African resurgence.

There are lots of business oppor-tunities in Ghana. TheGovernment of Ghana is pro-

viding facilities and incentives to attractFDI from abroad. The government isalso trying to develop Ghana as the“Gateway to West Africa” where Ghanais already a leader in economic (andsocial) development. The present gov-ernment aspires to usher in the “GoldenAge” of business for Ghana with thethrust on developing the Ghanaian pri-vate sector as the engine of growth forthe economy. It is important to statehere that on several occasions the gov-ernment has emphasised the need forGhana to look to India for appropriatetechnology. Some important sectors forbusiness and trade include agricultureand ago-based industries, establishmentof small-scale units to produce itemsfor export, construction material andother items, development of infrastruc-ture, rail network, power, telecommu-nication and IT sector, health sector,and the petroleum sector.

Indian Public Sector EnterprisesThere are only a few Government of

India enterprises operating in Ghana.TCIL has been operat-ing in Ghana for thepast several years intelecommunicationsand has been awardedseveral large contractsover the last few years,and has recently been

awarded contracts amounting to $60million by Ghana Telecom. RITES hashad a long involvement in the railwaysector, and there are prospects for futureinvolvement in this sector as a result ofthe government’s plan to rehabilitateand expand the rail network. Under ini-tiatives taken by the High Commission,some public-sector enterprises haveregistered their interest as suppliers andconsultants for various projects in irri-gation, power and other sectors. Anumber of Indian professionals are alsoin the country, either on direct deputa-tion or through sponsorship of bodieslike U.N. agencies, World Bank, etc.

Private-Sector CompaniesThe Indian private sector is steadily

increasing its presence in Ghana. SomeIndian companies that have stationedtheir representatives in Ghana areNIIT, Tata Ghana Ltd., Maruti Ltd.,Eskay Therapeutics Ltd., TorrentPharmaceuticals, UnichemLaboratories Ltd., Wockhardt Ltd.,Tablet India, Intas Pharmaceuticals,Shalina Laboratories and Core CareHealth India. In fact, about 70 Indianpharmaceutical firms have got their

products registered in Ghana and areselling through local agents. Indianpharmaceutical products now accountfor about 50 percent of Ghana’s phar-maceutical imports. There are someNRIs and PIOs in Ghana who havelarge businesses importing chiefly fromChina, India, Korea and Taiwan.

Commodities Traded:Our major exports to Ghana include

cotton yarn fabrics, drugs and pharma-ceuticals, machinery/instruments, min-eral fuel/oil/ waxes/bituminous sub-stances (accounting for about 50 per-cent of total exports). Others includetransport equipment, tractors, chemi-cals, clothing, plastic and linoleumproducts, paper and wood products,electronics, glassware, ceramics, semi-finished iron and steel, rubber products,transport equipment, marine products,sports goods, machine tools, cosmet-ics/toiletries, etc.

Imports from Ghana include ediblefruit and nuts (accounts for about 60percent of total imports), metal ores andscrap (21 percent), wood (mainly teak)and wood products (10 percent).Others include oil seeds, cotton raw

(and waste), and pre-cious and semi pre-cious stones. Recently,Indian companiesarranged the firstdirect purchase ofgold, diamonds andcocoa from Ghana.

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05Total Trade 88.7 128.0 212.8 337.3Exports to Ghana 68.5 109.0 180.1 291.8Imports from Ghana 20.2 19.0 32.7 45.5Trade Balance +48.3 +90.0 +147.4 +246.3Source: Ministry of External Affairs

Business and trade opportunities for Indian firms in Ghana

INDO-GHANA TRADE (in $ million)

On May 15, 2006, the UnitedStates decided to restore fulldiplomatic ties with Libya after abreak of more than 25 years. TheU.S. also removed Libya from aState Department list of statessponsoring terrorism. Further-more, Libya will also be omittedfrom the annual certification of

countries not “cooperating fully with the U.S. anti-terrorismefforts”. It must be recalled that theU.S. had closed its embassy inTripoli in 1980 and had declaredLibyan leader Muammar Qadhafi asone of the world’s most dangerousmen and Libya a supporter of inter-national terrorism. Relationsbetween Libya and the U.S. deterio-rated sharply after Ronald Reaganbecame U.S. president in 1981. He,in his second term, ordered thebombing of Tripoli in 1986.

The factors which propelled theU.S. to take the lead against Libya,how it mobilised other countriesaround the world, and especially inthe U.N. –– which imposed sanc-tions on Libya on April 15, 1992 ––how Libya counter-mobilised theAfrican countries, especially to chal-lenge the U.N. sanctions, and howthe sanctions were eased and suspended form the subject ofthis article.

Qadhafi’s decision in December 2003 to renounce terror-ism and destroy long-range missiles and weapons of massdestruction (WMDs), the controversy over the PanAm flightbombing over Lockerbie in 1988 –– for which Libya wasblamed –– and the Libyan decision to accept responsibility forit and pay compensation even as it handed over two Libyan

suspects who were put on trial, and the gradual rapprochementwith the U.S. and the West also form the subject of this arti-cle, which is divided into three parts.

Part one gives a brief historical background of Libya-U.S.relations since Qadhafi came to power in 1969, up to 2005. Parttwo highlights the background to Indo-Libyan ties, especial-ly the political aspects and past economic ties. The final sec-tion looks at the prospects of emerging economic cooperationbetween India and Libya, especially in the backdrop of theU.S.-Libyan rapprochement, higher oil prices and revenues,

Libyan plans for the diversificationof its economy away from its heavyreliance on the petroleum sector,market economy reforms and otherLibyan liberalisation measures whichoffer immense prospects for greaterIndo-Libyan economic cooperation.

Libya and the U.S.

The overthrow of the Libyanmonarchy by Qadhafi in September1969 and the expulsion of the U.S.from the huge Wheelus Air Base wasa blow to the Americans. He soonafter sought and got higher oil pricesand increased Libyan participation inthe oil companies. He also strident-ly opposed all U.S. attempts to bringabout partial agreements on theArab-Israeli conflict (AIC). The

views of the U.S. and Libya on major world issues divergedwidely and relations between them remained considerablystrained under the administrations of successive U.S.Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

The Reagan administration very early identified Libya as amain perpetrator of state-sponsored international terrorismand made determined efforts to bring down Qadhafi’s regime.He had been accused of involvement in terrorist activities as

32 May-July 2006

D I P L O M A C Y

A.K. Pasha maps out the contours of emerging economic cooperationbetween India and Libya as the latter breaks with a past marred

by the U.S. sanctions and enters a new phase of economic modernisation and political stability.

A new bounce inINDIA-LIBYA ties

Libya could learn somethingfrom India, especially its

democratic culture; its mixedeconomy could be used a

model for a Libya thirsting foreconomic success; and its

secularism could be held as mirror for harmony, peace and

stability for Libyan society.Clearly, there are tangible

mutual gains in acceleratedIndia-Libya engagement in many

areas, including trade and economic relations.

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May-July 2006

early as 1972 when he hosted asummit of different organisations,permitted hijacked planes to landin Libya, established camps totrain guerrillas in techniques forregime change and liquidatingLibyan dissidents abroad.

The U.S. put Libya on theState Department’s list of stateswhich sponsor international ter-rorism. Qadhafi was painted inthe darkest colours as an interna-tional terrorist. To quote formerU.S. Secretary of State AlexanderHaig: “I don’t have to tell you that wein the West are increasingly con-cerned about Qadhafi’s lawless activ-ity in a direct military sense and in hissupport for bloodshed and terrorismworldwide.” Haig also told the U.S.House Foreign Affairs Committeethat Qadhafi has been funding, spon-soring, paying and harbouring ter-rorist groups to conduct activitiesagainst the lives and well being ofAmerican diplomats and facilities.Senior U.S. officials dubbed Qadhafia “menace”, a “lunatic”, a sponsor ofinternational terrorism and the mostdangerous man in the world. Typicalof such descriptions was the onemade by Senator Daniel PatrickMoynihan: “We are not going toallow a murderer to be the head ofstate and go about murdering otherpeople.” Former U.S. President George Bush Senior referredto Qadhafi as “the world’s principal terrorist and trainer of ter-rorists”.

Libya’s guilt was largely pre-determined. On the long listof alleged Libyan involvement in terrorism, the Reaganadministration did not provide any hard evidence. Libyan sup-port and close interaction with some Palestinian leaders wastaken as sufficient reason. The U.S. left little doubt about itsdetermination to eliminate Qadhafi who, for Haig, was “acancer that has to be removed”.

Qadhafi alleged that the “U.S. tried to assassinate me, topoison my food and they tried many things to do this. The CIAspared no efforts to kill me”. No evidence was brought forthin the so-called hit team story, and the whole drama wasintended to prepare the ground for the removal of Qadhafi.According to a report, the origin of the hit team came fromMossad, leading one to wonder whether the Israelis had rea-sons of their own to exacerbate the U.S. -Libyan conflict.

In fact, some U.S. officials felt that the Reagan adminis-tration was making too much public noise on the matter.Senator Paul Tsongas remarked: “There are doubts aroundhere. It’s not so much whether there is evidence, but why the

administration is making such abig deal about it.” SenatorChristopher Dodd also stated: “Ifthat’s all there is, we are beingbombarded with a lot of hype. Ineed more evidence.” Finally, oneReagan official ruefully said: “Weare extremely frustrated that wecan’t catch even one Libyan ter-rorist. We have no smoking gun.”

In making a case againstQadhafi, the Reagan administra-tion brought a document in early1986 entitled, ‘Libya under

Qadhafi: A Pattern of Aggression’.The document, described as a StateDepartment study, contained alengthy list of alleged Libyan acts ofviolence directed by Qadhafi.Without giving a single instance orevidence, the document claimed thatQadhafi uses terrorism as one of theprimary instruments of Libyan for-eign policy.

To implement its policy, the U.S.identified Libyan oil revenues as theprincipal source, where it could hurtQadhafi. Reagan campaigned hard inCongress to stop this commerce in“tainted oil”. On October 21, 1981,the U.S. Senate voted for a ban of allimports of Libyan Oil. In the Senate,Edward Kennedy articulated theU.S. feelings as follows:

“It is immoral and inexcusablefor the U.S. to pay billions of dollars a year for Libyan oil.The fact of the matter is our dollar speaks much louderthan words. Now is the time for the U.S. to take firm andclear action. Oil from Libya is tainted with the blood ofLibyan terror, Libyan murder and Libyan assassination.Unquestionably, Libya stands in violation of the most fun-damental canons of decency and justice in the world.”

Reagan also took several other economic measures, all ofwhich were intended to undermine the Libyan economy andultimately spark off disaffection among the Libyan people.The anger, he calculated, could then easily be used againstQadhafi to pave the way for his removal.

It must be remembered that Libya did not become theobject of U.S. military attack because it posed a serious threatto the strategic interests of Washington. It was purposely cho-sen due to its weakness and also because it was easy for the U.S.to attack Libya as it entailed quick victory without huge casu-alties. According to one writer, the only way Qadhafi couldretaliate was through terrorist actions, that too on foreign soil,which would further assist the U.S. goal of isolating the coun-try.

The Reagan administration adopted such varied anti-

The Reagan administrationadopted such varied anti-Libyanmeasures as organising a coupwhich flopped, increasing arms

sales to Libya’s neighbours,enhancing its naval presence in

the Mediterranean Sea, encouraging Israel and Egypt intheir anti-Libyan activities, andholding joint military exercises

with Egypt near the Libyan border. All of these measuresseparately and cumulatively

exerted pressure on Qadhafi.

Muammar Qadhafi Ronald Reagan

34 May-July 2006

D I P L O M A C Y

Libyan measures as organising a coup which flopped, increas-ing arms sales to Libya’s neighbours, enhancing its naval pres-ence in the Mediterranean Sea, encouraging Israel and Egyptin their anti-Libyan activities, and holding joint military exer-cises with Egypt near the Libyan border. All of these measuresseparately and cumulatively exerted pressure on Qadhafi. U.S.hostility and military threats took a menacing dimension whenit conducted naval and air exercises very near the Libyan coastin the Gulf of Sirte. Reagan sought to deliberately provokeQadhafi into creating a casus belli when he asserted: “Americahas the muscle to back up its words. We could not go onrecognising this violation of international waters and we weregoing to plan out maneuvers as we would have planned themwithout that rule, without his (Qadhafi’s) artificial line.”

The plot to ambush Qadhafi via Sudan, the increased mil-itary aid to the Hissene Habre government in Chad and thefrequent dispatch of its naval armada to the Libyan coast andfinally the U.S. military air attacks on Tripoli and Benghazion April 14, 1986, are some of the instances of the unsuccess-ful attempts to deal a death blow tothe Qadhafi regime and Libya –– acountry so militarily unequal to asuper power.

The U.S. action against Libya hasto be seen in the context of widerU.S. design towards Libya. The so-called Libyan terrorist activities wereused as a pretext by the U.S. to “jus-tify foreign policy initiatives whichmay otherwise be unwelcome by theU.S. public and world community”.

When asked for his understand-ing of terrorism, Qadhafi replied:“We put the production of nuclearweapons at the top of the list of ter-rorist activities. As long as the bigpowers continue to manufactureatomic weapons, it means they arecontinuing to terrorise the world;also the development of militarybases on other countries’ territories, also developing navalfleets around the world. This is one reason why the U.S. is atop terrorist force in the world.”

When Qadhafi challenged Reagan to produce evidence, theU.S. President merely said: “We have the evidence and he(Qadhafi) knows it.” Soon after the April 14, 1986, U.S. attackon Libya, Reagan said: “This pre-emptive action... not onlydiminishes Colonel Qadhafi’s capacity to export terror (butalso) it will provide him with incentives to alter his behavior...self-defense is not only a right, it is our duty.”

Reagan, however, did not have smooth sailing in the U.S.His administration encountered serious difficulties in its cam-paign against Qadhafi. Its theory of Qadhafi’s support to ter-rorism was hard to sell to a sceptical Congress. Alluding to theU.S. raid on Libya, Andrew Young, former U.S. ambassadorto the U.N., said: “It is not manliness but evidence of a sickmind.” Carter said: “I think in the long run it will be (acknowl-

edged) to be a mistake.” Senator Lowell Weicker, who wasopenly critical of the U.S. raid, said: “Mr. Reagan violatedboth the War Powers Act and the constitution in so far asengaging in a military operation.”

Anthony Cordesman concluded that U.S. air raid had beena failure and suggested that the U.S. should press hard for theresolution of the Palestine issue, which he viewed as the rootof terrorism: “To most of the Third World, the (U.S.) actionhas done nothing but demonstrate that Colonel Qadhafi canattack a U.S. fleet and get away with it. It has not discreditedthe Libyan strongman. It had discredited America. He is themouse that roared. We are the cat that failed to catch him. Weshould attack the roots of terrorism by pressuring hard for apeace settlement in the Middle East.”

Completely frustrated in his attempts to overthrowQadhafi during the 1986 bombing of Libya, Reagan, whocame under world-wide condemnation, used the veto to killthe U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the airraid on Libya. U.K. and France also vetoed it.

Towards the end of his secondterm, Reagan made his last attempt tooverthrow Qadhafi, this time accus-ing him of manufacturing chemicalweapons at a factory in Rabta nearTripoli. Again violating the territori-al waters in the Gulf of Sirte, the U.S.shot down two Libyan planes.

Following in the footsteps of theReagan and Bush administrations,President Bill Clinton intensified hisefforts to overthrow Qadhafi, thistime using the U.N. as a tool to por-tray scattered Libyan political vio-lence as state-sponsored terrorism.The first incident was the Lockerbieissue. On December 21, 1988, a PanAmerican World Airways jumbo jetFlight 103 traveling from London toNew York exploded over Lockerbie,Scotland, killing 243 passengers and

crew. Initially, Iran and Syria were blamed for the bombing.Secondly, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August1990, more than a million Libyans supported Iraq and therewere anti-U.S. demonstrations and Qadhafi himself took partin them. Qadhafi suggested the idea of a plebiscite in Kuwaitto determine the type of government, which was found unac-ceptable and hostile by the Al Sabah ruling family. Not onlythe U.S. and the West but Saudi Arabia also rejected the idea.

What did happen was the widening of the gap betweenLibya and the West, specially the U.S. On November 14,1991, the U.S. announced that two Libyan nationals were tobe charged with complicity in the Lockerbie bombings andthat Washington would take steps against them so that Libyahands them over for trial.

Qadhafi made several conciliatory moves, which involvedthe U.N., Arab League and so on, including Libya’s willing-ness to send Libyan judges to the U.S., the U.K. and France

Qadhafi made several conciliatory moves, which

involved the U.N., Arab League and so on, includingLibya’s willingness to send

Libyan judges to the U.S., theUnited Kingdom and France to

discuss the Lockerbie case. But at the same time, Qadhafi

expressed doubts whether the two Libyans would get a fairtrial abroad. Unfortunately, the

U.K., France and the U.S. rejected these overtures.

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May-July 2006

to discuss the Lockerbie case. But at the same time, Qadhafiexpressed doubts whether the two Libyans would get a fair trialabroad. Unfortunately the U.K., France and the U.S. reject-ed all overtures from Libya.

It was in this backdrop of determined Western attempts toprejudge Libyan guilt and hold Libya solely responsible thaton January 20, 1992, the UNSC unanimously adoptedResolution 731, which was a blow to Libya. Unable to preventthe West from pursuing its hidden agenda, Libya approachedthe International Court of Justice (ICJ) on March 26, 1993.Libya urged the court to declare that Libya had not breachedits legal obligations. It was obvious that whichever way theworld court decided, the U.S. and the United Kingdom weredetermined to punish Libya directly or through the UnitedNations

In an attempt to delay the U.N. action against Libya, theArab League on March 1992 called on the UNSC to await theICJ ruling on the issue. But the West had its way in the UNSCand Resolution 748 was passed on March 31, 1992, allowingLibya until the end of April 15, 1992,to hand over the two accusedLibyans. The resolution was passedby a vote of 10 in favour with noneagainst and five abstentions ––China, India, Morocco, Zimbabweand Cape Verde.

Again Libya expressed its readi-ness to cooperate with the U.N. in amanner that would not damageLibyan sovereignty or violate inter-national law. In Libyan perceptionthe impasse was due to a rejection ofall attempts to achieve a neutral andfair investigation and again it fearedthat the ground was being preparedfor further punitive action againstLibya.

Among all the UNSC members,only China had declared publiclythat it would not support the newmandatory resolution. India and two others hoped that U.N.sanctions would be the last resort if peaceful methods werefutile. India also argued that the UNSC could have waited forthe ICJ’s decision before proceeding as there was no greaturgency. India again argued strongly that the resolution oughtto have been passed under Chapter VI of the U.N. charter ––which requires it to seek negotiated solutions to disputesthrough various mechanisms for conciliation or mediation ––and not under Chapter VII –– which empowers it to takepunitive action. According to one Indian writer: “This was inline with India’s traditional outlook towards the U.N. as aninstrument of negotiation and moderation, rather than coer-cion and dictation.”

Despite these reservations, what is important was the adop-tion of the new UNSC resolution. China had been pressurednot to veto the resolution, with the U.S. “leaning heavily onPeking by threatening to withdraw its MFN trading partners

statue... other Third World countries on the council had theirarms twisted in similar fashion”.

It is interesting to note that the UN Security Councildecided “that the Libyan government must now comply with-out any further delay” with Resolution 731 of January 21,1992. Libya was asked to do all this by April 15, 1992, failingwhich it would be binding on all states to impose sanctions onLibya. The adoption of U.N. Security Council Resolution 748clearly indicated the extent to which the West would go for aregime change in Libya. It signalled new heights of Westernhostility towards Libya and an indication of harsher steps tofollow.

The manner and speed with which the U.S. mobilised theU.N. Security Council clearly indicated Washington’s impa-tience with the Qadhafi regime. Actually, the U.S. movehelped Qadhafi to consolidate his base with the country andtighten his grip on power. Most Libyans were convinced thatthe West, after subjugating Iraq, wanted to gain control ofLibyan oil.

The U.S. insistence on U.N.sanctions against Libya soon afterhaving crippled Iraq revealed the realface of the U.S. to the Arab masses,especially in view of the U.S. refusalto coerce Israel to withdraw from alloccupied Arab lands. It must bestressed that the U.S. move, far fromdiscrediting the Qadhafi regime, infact enhanced his legitimacy andhelped him consolidate his hold onpower. To the Libyans, Americandouble standards and hypocrisy wereobvious and this only fueled anti-American sentiments all over theMuslim world.

The U.S.-led U.N. sanctionsimposed on Libya on April 15, 1992,remained in place for more than adecade. Qadhafi, through his exten-sive contacts in Africa, mobilised

through the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and laterthe Africa Union (AU, established in 2001), support for Libyaagainst the unjust sanctions.

Libya, through its shrewd diplomacy, began to mount achallenge to the sanctions. The OAU at many summits urgedthe U.N. to lift or suspend or ease the sanctions on Libya. Atone stage it became public that several African countries werewilling to breach U.N. sanctions. The U.S. realised the impli-cations and began to work towards its suspension. Libya wasalso persuaded to hand over two of its citizens to face trial out-side the country.

Soon Libya reconciled to the trial in Europe and handedover in August 2003 the two suspects with imprisonment forone of the suspects when he was found guilty. Subsequently,Libya agreed to pay several billion U.S. dollars to the victims,with Qadhafi accepting responsibility for the Lockerbie bomb-ing.

In September 1986, then PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi met

Qadhafi in Harare, Zimbabwe,during the Non-Aligned

Movement summit. Economiccooperation between India and

Libya was booming, with Indian companies

executing projects worth over $2 billion and over 40,000Indians enjoying well-paid

jobs. These included doctors,nurses, engineers, university

professors

36 May-July 2006

D I P L O M A C Y

For Qadhafi, the comingto power of the neo-conteam in the U.S. in 2001 andthe policy of George W.Bush after 9/11, togetherwith the solidarity of TonyBlair of Britain and ArielSharon of Israel, representeddanger. More significantly,the U.S. invasion of Iraq inMarch 2003 and lack ofcountervailing support toLibya from Russia or Chinaand his own isolation in theArab world propelled him towork for rapprochementwith the West. No wonder,Qadhafi, in a stunning deci-sion in December 2003,decided to publiclyrenounce terrorism and agreed todestroy long-range missiles andweapons of mass destruction. Healso abandoned Libya’s quest fornuclear weapons and gave up Libya’snuclear programme.

Soon after this unprecedentedLibyan initiative, the West, especial-ly the United Kingdom and the U.S.,worked to lift the U.N. sanctions onLibya. Prime Minister Tony Blairvisited Libya and other Western lead-ers followed him, thereby endingTripoli’s isolation and boycott. In thetense standoff over Lockerbie, Libyahad to ultimately make several con-cessions and at the same time theWest also realised the futility of itspolicy towards Libya.

Indo-Libyan Ties

During the Ottoman rule, many Libyan scholars came toIndia. The Italian rule interrupted these contacts. Al Hillal,Maulana Azad’s newspaper, exposed Italian brutality againstinnocent Libyans. With Italy’s defeat in the Second WorldWar, Libya came under U.N. rule. India, along with othernon-aligned countries, worked hard at the U.N. and otherforas to get independence for Libya. Soon after Independencein 1956, Libya came to be ruled by a monarchy. King Idrisremained in power until September 1, 1969, when the monar-chy was overthrown and Qadhafi came to power. Soon after,in 1969, diplomatic ties were established between India andLibya.

Oil was discovered in Libya in 1959, changing the basiceconomic structure of the country and boosting income from£L 56 million in 1959 to £L 660 million in 1967. Its per capi-

ta income rose from £L 40 to£L 400, which was the high-est in Africa. Even though anOil Resources Law waspassed in 1958 under which70 percent of oil revenue wasrequired to be invested fordevelopmental purposes, yetthe country remained large-ly backward and had toimport about one-fourth ofits food requirements.

As far as Indo-Libyantrade was concerned, during1961-62 India’s exports wereRs. 3 million and in 1963-64Rs. 61 million; in 1964-65Rs. 6 million; in 1965-66India imported from Libyagoods worth Rs. 7 million

and exported goods worth Rs. 6.2million; in 1966-67 India exportedgoods for Rs. 6.9 million; in 1967-68India exported good for Rs. 11.3 mil-lion; in 1968-69 Indian exports wereat Rs. 14.5 million and during 1969-70 Rs. 12.4 million.

India exported to Libya textiles,engineering goods, cotton manufac-turers, footwear, spices, coir yarn,jute products, tobacco, mica, and soon.

If we take India’s exports of engi-neering goods to Libya, the followingemerges between 1964-69. During1964-65, Rs. 7.31 million; 1965-66Rs. 11.96 million; 1966-67 Rs. 9.14million; 1967-68 Rs. 15.28 millionand during 1968-69 Rs. 2.8 million.

Until the 1969 Libyan revolution,the regime of King Idris was pro-Western with huge basesoffered to the United Kingdom and the U.S. The 1967 Arab-Israeli war due to which the Suez Canal was closed, adverse-ly affected the Indo-Libyan trade. Due to higher freightcharges on both imports and exports, trade declined consid-erably as sending goods via the Cape of Good Hope proveduneconomical.

Two major developments boosted the Indo-Libyan eco-nomic cooperation. The oil price hike in 1973-74 gave Libyamassive oil revenues, due to which the regime of Qadhafi ini-tiated huge projects to modernise the economy. Libya need-ed Indian workers, technicians and experts to implement thenumerous economic projects. The Libyan leadership identi-fied India as a major source of skilled manpower as also appro-priate technology to suit Libya’s unprecedented economicdevelopment plans. By 1978, about 10,000 Indian workerswere gainfully employed in Libya.

Qadhafi, in a stunning decision in December 2003,decided to publicly renounce

terrorism and agreed to destroylong-range missiles and WMDs.

He also abandoned Libya’squest for nuclear weapons and

gave up Libya’s nuclear programme. Soon after this

unprecedented Libyan initiative,the West, especially the UnitedKingdom and the U.S., worked

to lift the United Nations sanctions on Libya.

The U.N. Security Council voted to lift the decade-old sanctions imposedon Libya on September 13, 2003.

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May-July 2006

The reopening of theSuez Canal in June 1975 byEgypt’s President AnwarSadat removed one majorconstraint for bilateral trade.Indo-Libyan trade pickedup, with India importingLibyan sulphur-free crudeconsidered the best for avi-ation fuel. In April 1979,India’s then PetroleumMinister H.N. Bahugunanegotiated the deal for 2.5million tonnes of Libyancrude for 12 months withLibya offering a concessionin the cost of oil transport toIndia.

During the Janata Partygovernment (1977-79)India’s industry minister visitedLibya twice, which gave a boost toIndo-Libyan economic cooperation.Libyan Vice President Abdul SalaamJalloud visited India in July 1978 andboth the countries decided to estab-lish a Joint Commission to “review,monitor, guide and plan” economiccooperation.

The first meeting of the JointCommission was held in Tripoli inDecember 1978, which was attend-ed by George Fernandes. The twosides identified railways, power sta-tions, dams, bridges, housing com-plexes, the setting up of industrialestates and joint ventures among sev-eral other areas in growing econom-ic cooperation between the twocountries.

It was also decided that India’s participation in Libyandevelopment projects would be Rs. 12 billion. The secondmeeting of the Joint Commission was held in July 1979 andnew areas of economic cooperation were identified. India’sshare in the development projects reached Rs. 20 billion.BHEL constructed several power projects in Libya during the1970s and 1980s. NBCC took up projects to build housingunits and hospitals. Hindustan Steel Construction Ltd. under-took civil works, and airports while Indian Road ConstructionCorporation laid roads.

Even private sector companies like Kamani’s took up trans-mission towers and Dasturs took up the consultancy contractfor a steel plant. Libya’s five-year Industrial Plan was preparedby the National Industrial Development Corporation of India.The Airports Authority of India took up work at several Libyanairports.

In short, Indian companies, both public and private, took

up projects in different sec-tors ranging from airports toroads, hotels, and railways,covering practically all aspectsof the new economic infras-tructure in which Libyainvested billions. To executethese projects. hundreds ofIndian engineers and techni-cians were going to Libya, butthe lack of a direct flight wascausing inconvenience.

The Iran-Iraq war provid-ed India an opportunity tohead the non-aligned move-ment (NAM), as the NAMsummit could not be held inBaghdad. As chairperson ofNAM, Indira Gandhi, thethen prime minister of India,

visited Libya in April 1984 and heldtalks with Qadhafi. Earlier, EduardoFaleiro, Minister of State for ExternalAffairs, had visited Libya in connec-tion with the prime minister’s visit toLibya.

In September 1986, then PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi met Qadhafiin Harare, Zimbabwe, during theNAM summit. Economic coopera-tion between India and Libya wasbooming, with Indian companiesexecuting projects worth over $2 bil-lion and over 40,000 Indians enjoy-ing well-paid jobs. These includeddoctors, nurses, engineers, universi-ty professors, technicians and otherskilled workers.

To carry forward the relationship,then Prime Minister I.K. Gujral vis-

ited Libya in 1999. Minister of State for Commerce andIndustry E.V.K.S Elangovan visited Libya to participate in theninth session of the Indo-Libyan Joint Commission forEconomic Cooperation in Tripoli from November 20 to 22,2004.

New agreements were signed in the economic fields notcovered so far, thereby giving a new boost to relations andincreasing areas of cooperation. Around this time, GhulamNabi Azad, India’s minister for parliamentary affairs, visitedLibya and had a meeting with Qadhafi on November 27, 2004.

It is interesting to note that when the Reagan administra-tion was targeting Qadhafi and Libya, Congress leaders likeIndira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi met Qadhafi toexpress solidarity with the Libyan plight. Indeed, Rajiv Gandhiwas the only leader of a third world country who had con-demned the U.S. for bombing the house of the Libyan lead-er Muammar el Qadhafi in April 1986. But the mounting

India argued strongly that theresolution (Resolution 748,

asking Libya to hand over thetwo Lockerbie bombingaccused) ought to have

been passed under Chapter VIof the U.N. charter –– which

requires it to seek negotiatedsolutions to disputes through

various mechanisms for conciliation or mediation –– and

not under Chapter VII –– which empowers it to take

punitive action.

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21,1988. All 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground were killed.A libyan intelligence agent has been convicted in the case.

38 May-July 2006

D I P L O M A C Y

hostility of the U.S. towards Libya culminated with the impo-sition of the U.N. sanctions from April 15, 1992, whichadversely affected the Indo-Libyan economic cooperation.Indian companies which had taken an active part in the eco-nomic development of Libya for over 20 years gradually with-drew as the Libyan government was facing a financial crisis.So was the case with Indian workers who left for other desti-nations, especially the Gulf states, as the salaries in Libyadeclined due to the sanctions.

A vicious campaign was launched against Libya, mainly bythe U.S. under the Israeli influence due to Qadhafi’s opposi-tion towards the Zionist policies against the innocentPalestinians and the U.S. puppets in the region who also con-tributed to Libya’s isolation.

There were also several visits from Libyan dignitaries toIndia. The Libyan foreign minister visited India in August1992 as Qadhafi’s special envoy. The Libyan foreign ministervisited India again in April 1997 for the 12th NAM ministe-rial conference. Earlier, in February 1997, a delegation lead bythe secretary (speaker) of the Libyan General People’sCongress visited India to attend the InternationalParliamentary Union Conference at New Delhi. In order totake stock of economic cooperation, the Libyan Minister of

Industry and Minerals Muftah Azzouzha visited India inNovember 1997. As Libyan efforts to mobilise African andother countries succeeded in putting pressure on the U.N. andthe U.S. to ease sanctions, the Libyan foreign minister beganto focus on important NAM members like India. In this con-nection, the Libyan Under Secretary for Asian Affairs SaadMustapha Mujber visited India in April 1998 for foreign officeconsultations and to exchange views on bilateral and globalissues affecting both the countries.

It is interesting to note that Libya, which also maintainsclose relations with Pakistan, sent Saif El Islam Qadhafi,Chairman of the Qadhafi International Foundation forCharity Associations, to India on December 3, 2002, ostensi-bly on a humanitarian mission. One should note that duringthis period Indo-Pakistan tensions were high, with Indiantroops marching close to the Pakistani border. Saif, son of theLibyan leader Qadhafi, brought a message to the Indian primeminister and appears to have played an important role in defus-ing the crisis in South Asia. Earlier, the Libyan leader had senthis wife to New Delhi on important missions.

More recently, Indian Minister of State for External AffairsE. Ahamed visited Libya in May 2005. The minister discussedsteps for strengthening cooperation between the two countries

Minister of State for External Affairs E.Ahamed visited Libya from 26-29May. Minister Ahamed was received

on arrival at airport by Taher Siala, Minister forCooperation. He subsequently also had sub-stantive discussions with Siala. During the visit,he also met Treiki, Minister of State for AfricanAffairs in the Libyan Foreign Office, AhamedGaddafi Dam, Badri, Chairman, National OilCorporation, Shahoumi, Chairman, ForeignAffairs Committee of the General PeoplesCongress (Libyan Parliament). On the last dayof his visit, E. Ahamed met Prime MinisterShukri Ghanem, Energy Minister Dr. FathiOmar Ben Shatwan and Chairman, GeneralElectrical Company of Libya Omran Abu Kra’a.■■ The Minister discussed steps for strengthening cooperationin the political and economic fields. The Minister was alsoaccompanied by a business delegation. ■■ E. Ahamed underlined India’s commitment to strength-ening relations with African and Arab countries. This is partof India’s long-standing policy. The Libyan leadership appre-ciated India’s contribution to African and Arab causes in inter-national fora. ■■ The Minister briefed the Libyan side about the recent visitof Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas to India, as well ashis earlier visits to Palestine. The Minister also briefed themabout India’s initiative in improving relations with its imme-diate neighbours. ■■ The visit imparted momentum to Indo-Libyan trade and

economic cooperation. The Minister high-lighted interests and capabilities of Indian com-panies in diverse fields, including oil and gas,power, software, automobiles. The two sidesalso discussed possibilities of stepping up coop-eration in the services sectors, including edu-cation and healthcare. The Indian educationalsystem is considerably cheaper than equivalentcourses available in developed countries.Libyan side evinced keen interest in exploringthese possibilities. ■■ Libya offers an attractive market to Indianexports, as well as opportunities for investmentand joint ventures. Libya is embarked on a mas-sive programme for expansion of its oil pro-duction. This has convergence with India’s

quest for oil security. The Oil India-IOC consortium won an oil concession in

the last round of bidding. These two companies, along withONGC, are interested in participating in the second roundof oil bidding, which has already been initiated. Indian oilPSUs are also interested in the refinery sector, constructionof oil pipeline and LNG production. BHEL is already exe-cuting a 600 MW power plant at a cost of Rs. 12 billion. It iswilling to expand its presence in this sector. There is alsogood response to Tata and Maruti, which had participated inthe Tripoli International Trade Fair. While the Minister’svisit created an excellent ambience, it is up to Indian compa-nies to seize the initiative.

(From the Ministry of External Affairs Website)

Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed’s visit to Tripoli

Minister of State forExternal Affairs E. Ahamedvisited Libya from May 26

to 29, 2005.

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May-July 2006

in the light of the resolution of the long-pending Lockerbiedispute, the lifting of U.N. sanctions and review of the U.S.sanctions on Libya, as also new changes in Libya’s foreign pol-icy in the backdrop of the renunciation of terrorism, thedestruction of long-range missiles, WMDs and the abandon-ing of its nuclear programme.

India came to appreciate these new developments in viewof New Delhi’s close ties with Israel and growing strategic rela-tions with the U.S.

The visit of Ahamed, who was accompanied by a businessdelegation, also became significant in the backdrop of Libyaninterest in reviving economic ties with India after the liftingof the economic sanctions. The two countries discussed pos-sibilities of increasing cooperation in the services sectors, likeeducation, health and software. Libyan diplomats posted inNew Delhi have shown keen interest in sending Libyan stu-dents on scholarship to study in Indian universities. ButLibyan students are finding it difficult to get visas due to thereluctance of the Indian Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA). As theIndian education system is cheaperthan in the West, Libyans couldcome to India in increasing numbersprovided the MEA takes a positiveattitude.

Besides political visits, numerouseconomic delegations have also beenvisiting Libya to strengthen trade andeconomic exchanges. Delegates fromthe Confederation of Indian industry(CII) and the Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce andIndustry (FICCI) visited Libya inAugust 2004 and signed severalMOUs to reactivate and revive Indo-Libyan economic ties.

Indian exports to Libya have shown an exponential jumpfrom meager $L 17.52 million in 2003 to $L 212.41 million in2004. India has also imported $L 438.89 million worth of crudeoil. This amounts to 2.58 percent of Libya’s total crude oilexport during 2004. The actual figures of Indian exports toLibya are much more as some of the exports like line pipes, cas-ing, turbines and other electrical accessories appear to be notcovered. As per the figures given by the Indian Embassy inLibya, Indian exports to Libya during the financial year 2004-05 amounted to approximately $340 million. India’s mainexports to Libya are tuna fish, coconut, coffee, spices, tea, tobac-co, mica, chlorides, deodorants, incense sticks, yarn filamentof synthetic and artificial fibres, cement, marble, steel bars,tubes, pipes, oil and gas pipelines, passenger and other vehicles,machinery, industrial equipment, parts of engines and tur-bines, gas and water generators, electrical equipment, and soon. Pharmaceutical and drugs also occupied prominent placein the list of Indian export items to Libya. Apart from crude oil,India imports fertilisers and organic chemicals from Libya.

Indian business delegations that have visited Libya in thelast four years comprised representatives of leading Indian

companies from diverse sectors like energy, telecom, agro-based products, IT, steel and other engineering products.Bilateral trade, which had considerably declined during the1990s due to the U.S.-led U.N.’s oppressive economic sanc-tions, is now picking up with overwhelming response from theLibyan public and private sector companies.

Prospects of Emerging Economic Cooperation

Until recently, Libya gave prominence to the state-con-trolled public sector, but since the U.N. sanctions were liftedit has undertaken far-reaching economic reforms. All thesehave been designed to boost the private sector, attract foreigncapital and diversify its economy away from its dependency onoil as the main source of income. Libya has simplified its pro-cedures, although the Libyan Foreign Investment Board(LFIB) –– which was established as a key component of theInvestment Law No. 5, 1997 –– still remains the most impor-

tant structure connected with itsinvestments policy. The establish-ment of a one-stop-shop service isthe most crucial step taken in thecontext of the simplification of pro-cedures. It provides all services need-ed by foreign investors. Moreover, anumber of incentives and guaranteeshave been offered to foreigninvestors since 2003.

Due to the U.N. sanctions, Libyawas economically isolated, the latesttechnology was denied and foreigntrade shrank dramatically. Libyanswere starved of foreign goods, asmost shops were empty. Since 2003,trade barriers have been lifted andthe Libyan economy has benefited

from a free-trade policy. Foreign products have flooded theLibyan markets since then.

Although the difference between the public and privatesector is blurred in Libya, the “green perestroika” indicates aseries of economic liberalisation measures designed to encour-age the privatisation of public sector companies and broadenthe scope of private sector activities to include retail trade,small-scale industries and agricultural businesses.

Libya is trying to project itself as a key economic interme-diary between Europe and Africa. It has hence been takingkeen interest in the Euro-Mediterranean processes and hasextensive stakes in the new African Union proposed byQadhafi in 2000. Libya aspires to become the engine of eco-nomic development in the Meghrib region with its vast nat-ural resources, which has already generated significant oppor-tunities for foreign businesses. Libya’s agreement to the pub-lication of an IMF Article 4 report in 2003 is significant. Thenew Secretariat (ministry) of Economy and Trade steps sup-plemented by the Libyan Union of Chambers andCommerce, Trade and Industry and the Libyan ForeignInvestment Board aims at connecting the Libyan economy

Indian exports to Libya haveshown an exponential

jump from meager $L 17.52 million in 2003 to $L 212.41

million in 2004. India has alsoimported $L 438.89 million

worth of crude oil. This amounts to 2.58 percent of

Libya’s total crude oil export during 2004. The actual figuresof Indian exports to Libya are

much more.

40 May-July 2006

D I P L O M A C Y

with global trade and invest-ment flows and globalisation.Libya keenly pursues accessionto the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) and inthis quest “there have been a lotof changes in the legislation…we have removed all the importand export licenses and some ofthe restrictions. We are also topromote the involvement of theprivate sector in the economy,to facilitate our membership”,Shukri Ghanem, the ministerin charge, said.

Economic experts say thegoal of the new Libyan eco-nomic reforms is to create eco-nomic stability and generatenew sources of revenue. Freetrade zones are being estab-lished and a stock marketexchange has been established.Although Libya is keen for for-eign investment in all areas ofthe economy, construction,tourism and telecom are consideredkey potential growth areas –– but itis the hydrocarbon sector which isattracting the most attention.However, Libya wants to keep oiland electricity under state control.Libya’s proven oil resources stood at38 billion barrels at 2004 and oil pro-duction was 1.518 million bb1/dayin 2004.

Although gas reserves are smallby global terms, 1.321 trillion Cu min 2001 i.e., 7 percent of worldreserves with exports in 2001 at 6.18billion cu m. In 2004, Libya’s totalexports stood at $18.65 billion andtotal imports at $7.224 billion. It hadabout $100 billion in foreignexchange reserves by 2005.

It is in this backdrop one mustevaluate the emerging opportunitiesfor Indo-Libyan economic cooperation. Indian companiesthat successfully operated in the 1970s and 1980s have creat-ed a favorable image conducive for future cooperation. Indiashould make use of this previous experience in the Libyanmarket.

Apart from this valuable asset, India has an edge over oth-ers in diverse fields like information technology, educationalservices, healthcare system, and so on. The Libyan energy,power and construction sectors offer areas of cooperation.Agro-products, banking, pharmaceuticals and telecommuni-

cations are also areas waiting tobe explored. Libya offers attrac-tive markets to a range of Indianexports, as well as great oppor-tunities for investment and jointventures. India, in its quest forenergy security, has allowed theONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) towork on oil exploration in somelocations in Libya.

It is interesting to note thatLibya and India have agreed todouble their bilateral trade.India’s ambassador to Libya D.P.Srivastava has been workinghard to push Indian exports tothe country. Under an agree-ment signed with Libya, Indiawould send skilled manpowerin almost all fields. India is alsocommitted to imparting techni-cal education to Libyan students.The Rector of the Al FatehUniversity, Tripoli, visited Indiain 2005 and expressed the hopethat India will offer a reasonable

number of seats to Libyan students ininstitutes of higher learning. InOctober 2002, Libya, in a positivegesture towards India, lifted a ban onthe import of Indian tea. Sri Lankaand China had dominated the Libyanmarket so far. Libya has also invitedIndian companies in its power,hydrocarbon infrastructure and rail-ways sectors, especially at the 8th ses-sion of the Indo-Libyan JointCommission meeting in Tripoli inNovember 2004.

Both countries have signed anagreement on bilateral investmentpromotion and protection, andagreed to work for setting up jointventures in Libya and in Africancountries that are friendly withLibya, as also to explore direct airlinks between the two countries,

which do not exist at the moment.According to one study, Libya has proposed that India

should participate in the joint operation of existing industriesas well as investments in industrial projects and has submit-ted a list of projects to India. Libya has also invited Indian par-ticipation in the building material industry, including tech-nical and managerial aid to several Libyan cement plantsestablished earlier with Indian technical assistance.Meanwhile, India has urged Libya to give priority to Indianmanpower. Both have agreed to have a flexible visa regime.

A Libyan oil well. Oil was struck in Libya in 1959, transformingthe nation’s economy.

Libya offers attractive markets to a range of Indian

exports, as well as great opportunities for investment

and joint ventures. India, in itsquest for energy security, has

allowed the public sector ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) to

work on oil exploration in somelocations in Libya. Libya’s

proven oil resources stood at 38 billion barrels at 2004 and

oil production was 1.518 million bb1/day.

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May-July 2006

But it remains to be seen whether all the above promiseswould be fulfilled.

Libya has decided to break with the past in most sectors andinitiate bold economic reforms as part of a broader campaignto reintegrate the country into the international economy fromwhich it was isolated due to its conflictual relationship pri-marily with the U.S. In the backdrop of the growing Indo-U.S. relations, as also the normalisation of U.S.-Libya ties, theprospects for Indo-Libyan economic cooperation are bright.Libya has been aggressively wooing foreign investors to playa bigger role in its five-year plan. That will help privatise itsstate-run industries.

The telecommunication industry and infrastructure figurehigh on the list of priorities. With India’s huge potential andexcellent proven capabilities in a number of sectors beingoffered by Libya, the future of Indo-Libyan economic coop-eration is unmistakably optimistic. The major issue is whetherQadhafi can offer political stability in future as he has provid-ed since September 1, 1969.

Most of Libya’s population is young and there is a new hopein the air that contrasts with the glumness associated withdebilitating economic sanctions that lasted for over a decade.Women were hard hit during the sanctions-era and hadendured the worst phase in their recent memory.

But despite a largely authoritarian political system and theGreen Book propaganda and People’s Committees and

Congresses, the Libyans have a legitimate question: Afterdecades of struggle, why did Qadhafi virtually surrender inDecember 2003 to the West? And what have ordinary Libyansgained by this 180-degree turnaround.

The point is if the plight of ordinary Libyans does notimprove fast enough, there is bound to be turmoil in thefuture. This restlessness shimmering under the surface cameto the fore when Libyans suddenly attacked the Italian con-sulate in Benghazi over the publication of Prophet’s cartoonin a Danish newspaper and the police resorted to indiscrimi-nate firing resulting in avoidable causalities.

There is also a new mood of radical questioning as mostLibyans view the personality cult and mere glorification of 36years of revolutionary achievements sceptically. Ordinary peo-ple are not sure what Qadhafi is going to be doing with the$100 billion foreign exchange reserve. Is he keeping all themoney for an emergency bail-out for him and his family incase things go out of hand?

Maybe Libya could learn something from India, especial-ly its democratic culture and institutions; its mixed economycould be used a model for a Libya thirsting for economic suc-cess; and its secularism could be held as mirror for harmony,peace, security and stability for Libyan society.

Clearly, there are tangible mutual gains in acceleratedIndia-Libya engagement in a broad spectrum of areas, includ-ing trade and economic relations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. A.K. Pasha, ‘Libya and the U.S.: Qadhafi’s Response toReagan’s Challenge’ (New Delhi; 1984).2. A.K. Pasha, ‘Libya in the Arab World: Qadhafi’s Quest forArab Unity’ (Aligarh: CWAS, AMU, 1988).3. A.K. Pasha, ‘Libya and the U.N. Sanctions’, in LalimaVarma, ed., ‘U.N. in the Changing World’ (New Delhi:Radiant, 1997) pp.120-139.4. A.K. Pasha, ‘Recent Developments in Libyan ForeignPolicy’, Détente, Vol.3, No.2, December 1983-January 1984,pp.9-19.5. A.K. Pasha, ‘U.S. Challenge to Libya: The Reagan Era’,Détente, Vol.3, No.2-3, July-October 1989, pp.9-18.6. A.K. Pasha, ‘Libya and the U.S.: A Study in DisquiparantRelationship’, Détente, Vol. 3, No.6, August-September 1984pp.3-11.7. A.K. Pasha, ‘U.S. Policy towards Libya’, paper presented ina seminar on ‘International Terrorism and State policy’, March29-30, 1994, National Security Programme, School ofInternational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, NewDelhi.8. A.K. Pasha, ‘The U.S. Goal to Destroy Libya”, The Pioneer,April 3, 1992.9. A.K. Pasha, ‘India’s West Asia Policy: Continuity andChange’, Strategic Analysis, Vol.16, No.6, September 1993,pp.792-795. 10. A.K. Pasha, ‘India and OIC: Strategy and Diplomacy’,(New Delhi: 1995) pp.102-104.

11. A.K. Pasha, ‘Libya and India’s Foreign Policy’, The MiddleEast (New Delhi) No.1, March 1993, p.32.12. A.K. Pasha, ‘USA and Radical Muslim States in WANA’,in Riyaz Punjabi, Ed., ‘USA and the Muslim World:Cooperation and Confrontation’ (London: Brunel, 2005).13. A.K. Pasha, ‘India and West Asia: Continuity and Change’(Delhi: Gyan Sagar, 1999).14. C.S.R. Murthy, ‘UN Sanctions against Libya: APerspective’, Journal of West Studies (Aligarh) No.8, 1992, p.17.15. C.S.R. Murthy, ‘India at the U.N.’, World Focus, Vol.13,No.5, May 1992, p.19.16. Marc Weller, ‘The Lockerbie Care: A Premature End tothe New World Order’, African Journal of International andComparative Law, No.4, 1992, pp. 1-15.17. Focus on Jamahiriya - (Modern Libya) Special Edition onthe 36th Anniversary of the Great Al-Fateh Revolution, 2005,New Delhi.18. H.S. Chhabra, ‘Growing Indo-Libyan EconomicCooperation’, Indian and Foreign Review, Vol.16, No.20, August1-14, 1979, pp. 11-12.19. J.C. Srivastava, ‘Prospects of Trade with Oil-rich Libya’,Africa Quarterly, Vol.9, No.2, July-September 1969, pp. 149-156.20. Madan M. Sauldie, ‘India’s Economic Relations withNorth (Arab) Africa’, Africa Quarterly, Vol.10, No.2, July-September 1970, 115-120.21. P.A. Bhaskara Rao, ‘Outlook for Indo-Libyan Trade’,Foreign Trade Review (Delhi), Vol.2, No. 1, April-June, 1967,pp. 93-107.

Through epochs of history, women’svoices have been rarely heard in secu-rity concerns. Their experience of warand their resistance and peacemakingeffort have hardly been recorded andchronicled. Since their peace activismis grounded in the informal space andnot in the formal sphere of negotia-tions where they can determine the

agenda, they become invisible actors. But as events in the his-tory of war have borne out, the need for women to assert fora seat at the negotiating table has become an imperative, as theyare also affected the by insecurity conditions generated byconflict.

Present day wars are no longerfought in the discreet battle zones ofthe First World War. The new battleareas include homes and communi-ties, in wars waged over resourcesand in the name of religion and eth-nicity. And women are essentially thedeliberate targets in these conflicts.They are often left with the soleresponsibility of raising and educat-ing children, earning a living, caringfor the wounded and maimedreturning from war.

As caretakers of the young and themany victims of war, they have theright to articulate their needs andconcerns. In fact, they have a vestedinterest in preventing violent conflicts, as these tend to havegender-specific consequences. In addition to the injuries anddeaths suffered by all segments of the population, women andgirls are often forced to migrate and are subjected to gender-based crimes such as rape and other violations of their humanrights as well as dignity.

Women and children account for more than three-quar-ters of the 40 million persons displaced as a result of violentconflicts around the world. So they have an enormous stakein the peace process. Therefore, their presence in the formal

peace processes is necessary for building a “just” and sustain-able peace.

As defined by the United Nations, formal peace process-es include early warning, preventive diplomacy, conflict pre-vention, peacemaking, peace-building and global disarma-ment; they involve activities like conflict-resolution, peacenegotiations, reconciliation and provision of humanitarian aid.The U.N. argues that women need to be included in formalpeace processes to build greater post-conflict gender balanceand a more inclusive peace. Through its resolutions it has crit-icised the marginalisation of women and has called forwomen’s needs to be given more serious attention in all poli-cies relating to conflict and peace.

Their exclusion from the deci-sion-making process defies all fun-damental principles of democracyand human rights. More important-ly, in the process there is an exclusionof the skills capacity, talents, experi-ence, knowledge and understandingof a majority of women that is need-ed to build sustainable peace. It is,therefore, all the more critical toinclude the experiences and perspec-tives of all sectors of society, espe-cially those who have been previous-ly marginalised.

The UNSC resolution 1325 onWomen, Peace and Security, adopt-ed in October 2000, has called atten-tion to the fact that women and men

are affected by war and armed conflict in different ways. It callsto take action in four inter-related areas: Participation ofwomen in decision-making and peace-processes; gender per-spectives and training in peacekeeping; the protection ofwomen; and gender mainstreaming in U.N. reporting systemsand programmatic implementation mechanisms. However, inactual praxis a gendered approach towards peace-buildingstrategies, which could potentially fortify peace-buildingefforts, is rarely given priority and attention. This is exempli-fied in the cases of African conflicts and peace-building mech-

42 May-July 2006

G E N D E R I S S U E S

Nivedita Ray writes about women’s predicament in conflict situations and the need for including them in peacemaking efforts,

especially in the context of the peace process in Sudan.

Women’s Role InPEACEBUILDING

The U.N. argues that womenneed to be included in formal

peace processes to buildgreater post-conflict gender balance and more inclusive

peace. Through its resolutions it has criticised the

marginalisation of women andhas called for women’s needs tobe given more serious attentionin all policies relating to conflict

and peace.

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May-July 2006

anisms.In many African societies, as in other countries

and societies, after the fighting and conflicts haveended, and despite their active participation in bring-ing the conflict to a halt, women are often relegatedto the background and marginalised both in formalpeace negotiations and in the rebuilding of war-tornsocieties. Contrary to UNSC resolution 1325,African women, even if they possess a wealth ofexperience and insight, fail to articulate beyond thecommunity level, barring few cases like Burundiand the Democratic Republic of Congo in recentyears, where women had been involved in peacenegotiations.

At the Pan African Women’s Conference forPeace and Non-violence organised by Unesco(Zanzibar, 1999), women from 53 African countriesissued the Zanzibar Declaration, regretting the factthat peace negotiations were male-dominated,regardless of women’s efforts and initiatives toresolve conflicts and promote peace on the conti-nent, notably through consensus-building and dia-logue.

Whether in conflict or non-conflict situations inAfrica, most political institutions tend to excludewomen. As a result, many women chose to engagewith various civil society organisations that advocatesocial and political change. Thus, as compared tomen, relatively few women become involved in theformal peace process, in negotiations that oftenstretch through various stages of peace talks. Womenare under-represented at all levels, including ininternational agencies supporting peace negotiationsand in teams representing warring parties. Barnes refers to an“elite pact-making approach” by which those willing to usepower divide the spoils without the participation of the soci-ety at large.

As far as women’s exclusion from formal peace process isconcerned, Sudan presents a classic illustration. The countryhas been ravaged by conflict for decades and is still marred byviolence, but it also has witnessed two peace agreementsrecently. One is the North-South Comprehensive PeaceAgreement signed in January 2005, which has brought the 21-year civil war to an end, and second is the recently-signedpeace agreement between the government and one faction ofthe main rebel groups of Darfur. The peace agreements weresigned after various stages of negotiations and talks.

But many women activists have pointed out major flawsin the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Theyare of opinion that if they are not corrected, sustainable peacein Sudan will be difficult to realise. The most important weak-ness is its exclusiveness. The Intergovernmental Authority onDevelopment, (IGAD) has largely excluded civil society andSudan’s majority population, its women. The Abuja talks onDarfur and the Cairo talks on Eastern Sudan are also not par-ticipatory and inclusive. There is certainly a need to mergethese disparate processes so that a broad-based effort can be

fostered to move forward and rebuild together. They are urg-ing the international community and Sudan’s male leaders todo more to promote the inclusion of women in peace-build-ing and reconciliation.

Although traditionally Sudanese women have not hadaccess to formal political spaces, this has not prevented themfrom entering the public space and pushing for political powerand equality through collective movements and grassrootsorganisations. Women’s participation in the peace negotia-tions started in 1997 when two women joined the SPLMnegotiating team. Throughout the Machakos and Naivashameetings, southern women such as Jemma Kumba, Anne Itto,Awut Deng, Agnes Lasuba, Christine Lino, Abuk Payiti, SusanJambo, Lona Lowilla and Cecilia Oba formulated a clear planto tackle obstacles preventing proper integration of women’sspecific needs into the peace process. The activism of theNairobi-based organisations developed around a very strongand critical discourse, which demanded representation in thepeace talks. However, in the end, although civil society organ-isations associated with the SPLM/A attended briefings andconsultations, they –– including women’s organisations ––were excluded from the formal peace negotiations. In spite oftheir registration as observers in IGAD, the women’s organi-sations were not formally involved. There was even a protest

Victims of War. Sudanese women refugees protesting at a camp in Chad.

44 May-July 2006

G E N D E R I S S U E S

march for their exclusion from thepeace process, when theGovernment of Sudan preventedwomen from boarding a plane to takethem to the Naivasha talks in Kenya.At Naivasha, they could only manageto push their recommendationsunder the closed doors of the nego-tiation room.

As far as U.N. resolutionslike1502, 1547, 1556 and 1564 onconflict-prevention in Sudan areconcerned, they say nothing aboutwomen’s participation. Although the1325 resolution is referred in the1556 resolution, yet, as stated earlier,not enough is being done to ensurethe inclusion of women in peacenegotiations. Neither negotiatingparty, nor the regional mediators,have honoured 1325. Even theInternational Partners Forum (IPF)has not included women. And alsonone of the U.N. bodies present inSudan have conducted training on ordissemination of Resolution 1325 atany level.

So even after consistent effort anddespite the U.N. Security CouncilResolution 1325 (2000), which pro-vides women the mandate to partic-ipate in the peace process, they havebeen sidelined in both the North-South and Darfur peace processes.In the Abuja Darfur peace talksSudanese women have played hardly any role. To date,women have been marginalised from peace negotiations onDarfur despite the reality that they comprise about 65 percentof the population, have been disproportionately affected by theconflict, and are actively working across conflict lines to endthe violence.

Role of Women in Informal Peace process in Sudan

While it is important to remember that women’s bodieshave been used as tools of ethnic cleansing in the South andDarfur, it is also crucial to understand that women have beenactively engaged in peace promotion at the informal levels.Women have made critical contributions. They make up 65percent of the population and 80 percent of the food pro-ducers and providers of basic goods and services. ThroughNGOs and other groups, women have mediated amongstakeholders in the South. They have trained SPLM officialsand local communities about peaceful conflict resolution.They have played key roles in inter-tribal reconciliationefforts across southern Sudan. More essentially, they have thedetermination and will power to work together and not to

allow the country to return to war.Throughout the 1990s, southern

Sudanese women’s organisationsbuilt a movement that worked in col-laboration with U.N. agencies,donors and local communities inNairobi as well as in non-govern-ment-held areas. Members werecontinuously trying to create a spacefor women within various politicalinstitutions. To better coordinatetheir activities they worked withcommunity organisations to set upthe New Sudan IndigenousOrganisations (NESI) network.Groups engaged in advocacy and ser-vice delivery in the non-govern-ment-held areas in southern SudanNSWF established centres that pro-vided legal advice to women affectedby domestic violence. The SudaneseWomen’s Voice for Peace (SWVP)ran training courses on conflict res-olution, peace-monitoring and lead-ership skills in collaboration withinternational and U.N. agencies.

Sudanese women are now chal-lenging their traditional status. InSudan and in the diaspora they haveestablished organisations and net-works to raise awareness about theappalling human loss due to the con-flict and to call for an inclusiveapproach to the implementation ofthe peace agreement. As breadwin-

ners and decision-makers, they are starting income-generationprojects, some in fields as untraditional as carpentry. Womenfrom the North and South have organised to respond to theneeds of orphans, street children and others in dire econom-ic straits.

Such women’s efforts must be seen as an essential con-stituent of peace and reconstruction. There is certainly a needof broad, nationwide, awareness-raising campaign aboutwomen’s rights that speaks to men and women as well asyoung people. Plans for the voluntary return, resettlementand rehabilitation of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) cannot succeed without more being done to involvewomen. Income-generation activities must be created forwomen in refugee and IDP camps and at transit and entrypoints for returnees. The international community needs tofacilitate links and communication among women leaders andthe grassroots, women returnees in urban and rural areas, andwomen returnees across the country and across conflict lines.Women need to be given access to credit and informationabout local and national markets so that they can set up smallbusinesses.

The women of Sudan do not have legal access to land or

Women are critical agents ofpeace and constructive change.

But unlike men, women areexcluded from formal peace

talks. Nevertheless the criticalrole played by women in

informal peace processesassumes immense significance.

It provides the women withexperience, knowledge andunderstanding of the ground

situation.

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May-July 2006

resources due to discrim-ination in Sudanese statu-tory and customary law.Sudan –– like most Arabstates –– is not among the180 nations which havesigned the U.N.Convention on theElimination of all Formsof Discrimination againstWomen (CEDAW).There is a need thereforeto clarify and set in placean enforceable legalframework that recon-ciles competing claims onland and enables womenand women-headedhouseholds to hold anddefend ownership. It isalso essential to educatethe population about thediversity of customaryand traditional laws withan eye towards codifica-tion and revisiting of cus-toms that discriminate against or disadvantage women.

Apart from income-generation and economic emancipa-tion, safety and security of women remains a major concern.Women comprise the majority of Sudanese IDPs and refugees.The refugee and IDP camps also do not provide safety fromgender-based violence. IDP women face additional hardshipdue to the inconsistent and inadequate management of IDPcamps by the Sudanese government. Reports abound ofwomen being abducted and/or raped while collecting fire-wood near camps. This is very much evident in Darfur wherethe Janjaweed militias have adopted sexual violence as a strat-egy to dehumanise women and girls and humiliate and con-trol entire communities.

Abductions, sexual slavery, rape, torture and forced dis-placement have become a common feature in Darfur. But lit-tle or nothing is done to bring perpetrators to justice. As notedby High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour,“There is no structure in place in Darfur that is able to seek,on [women’s] behalf, appropriate justice and healing. As aconsequence, there is no deterrent…” During resettlement,women face specific challenges, including increased burdensas female heads of households, little access to healthcare andeducation, and few economic opportunities. At the same time,as the majority of refugees and IDPs, they have valuableknowledge about how to create safer, healthier refugee campsand effective resettlement processes. Despite their victimisa-tion, women have organised as heads of NGOs and as mem-bers of networks to support refugees and IDPs.

The international community and the Sudanese govern-ment should bolster women’s efforts and leverage their exper-tise. Women must be fully included in the planning and

administration of refugeeand IDP camps as well asin the return and reset-tlement process. Since1999, women move-ments like Waging forPeace have connectedmore than 400 womenexperts with over 3,000policy shapers to collabo-rate on fresh, workablesolutions to long-stand-ing conflicts across theglobe. Women’s partici-pation in the AU missionis integral to establishingpeace and security and tohelping the victims of thecrisis. The peace process-es in Rwanda, ElSalvador, Sierra Leoneand Burundi reveal thestabilising role thatwomen play in these pro-cesses. Women also playa stabilising role in the

reintegration and reconstruction of their communities as well.In southern Sudan, where a Comprehensive Peace Agreementhas been signed, women should receive continual and sys-tematic support for their efforts and assistance to encourageeconomic opportunities and political participation. Evenwomen’s needs and capacities as active partners must be con-sidered and integrated into disarmament activities and in thereintegration phase in the post-southern Sudan conflict. Evenin Darfur, women’s needs and capacities as active partnersmust be considered and integrated into all layers of the AUmission, and their efforts to complement the mission shouldreceive continual and systematic support.

Women are critical agents of peace and constructive change.But unlike men, women are excluded from formal peace talks.Nevertheless the critical role played by women in informalpeace processes assumes immense significance. It providesthe women with experience, knowledge and understanding ofthe ground situation. Therefore, women’s inclusion in thecurrent peace process, especially in Darfur, would permeatethe talks with fresh insight and knowledge. Women are oftenable to build an appeasing, trusting atmosphere by reaching outacross ethnic and conflict divides. They help ensure that nego-tiations consider issues of human security in addition to broad-er issues of power and control. Involvement of stakeholdersfrom civil society and women’s groups will help ensure a gen-der-balanced future peace agreement that is accepted by thepopulation and implemented. Creating sustainable peace isachieved best by a varied, people-driven approach. Of the var-ious segments of society presently excluded from peace pro-cesses, none is larger –– or more crucial to success –– thanwomen.

All male affair. Sudanese Government Chief Negotiator Magthoub el Khalifaand Sudan Liberation Movement Army Leader Minni Minnawi sign the Peaceagreement in Abuja on May 5, 2006.

Africa is one of the most troubled andinsecure regions in the world today.Over the last four decades, Africahas experienced some of the mostviolent conflicts. These conflictshave caused regional destabilisationand dramatically increased thenumber of failed states in Africa. Atthe same time, the continent is fac-

ing a development crisis of immense proportions. Over 300million people live on less than $1 a day, the average lifeexpectancy is 48 and falling, more than a third of all the chil-dren are malnourished and over 100 million people’s lives areadversely affected by the conflict in Africa.

However, certain developmentshave elevated the profile of the con-tinent. At a continental level, the cre-ation of the African Union (AU) is aclear manifestation of the Africancountries’ collective demand forstanding together and addressingtheir problems in concert.Meanwhile, the New Partnership forAfrica’s Development (NEPAD)holds out the promise of a dramati-cally improved relationship with aidand trade partners, on the basis of aclear and sustained commitment togood governance.

These positive developments inthe continent have been accompa-nied by the altered perception ofAfrica’s strategic significance. In the context of the new inter-national security agenda in the post-9/11 attacks scenario,Africa has become increasingly relevant. As a report by the U.S.Council on Foreign Affairs rightly notes: “Africa affects the G-8’s global interests in security.” There is a growing realisa-tion that the instability in the region has direct impact on thesecurity of major external powers. This inter-linkage leads usto analyse the evolving challenges to the peace and security inAfrica.

Lethal Conflicts

In so far as conflicts are concerned, West Africa has seen themaximum carnage. In Liberia some 250,000 people arebelieved to have died in war-related circumstances since 1989— about 10 percent of the country’s three million population.Sierra Leone has suffered the catastrophe and bloodshedcaused by continuous conflict until it was brought under con-trol after free and fair elections in 2002. Around the same timeconflict broke out in one of the most prosperous countries inWest Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, that has divided the countrybetween the rebels-held north and the government-controlledsouth.

In central Africa, 40 percent of the population in Rwandahas been killed or displaced since1994; some 300,000 people havebeen killed and about 100,000 havebeen displaced from their homeseach month in Burundi, as a result ofthe fighting between the governmentand the militia. In Uganda, war withthe Lord’s Resistance Army has dis-placed one million people since 1986.In Horn the war between Ethiopiaand Eritrea has cost around 100,000lives. In neighbouring Somalia, withthe limited exception of Somalilandand the region of Puntland, there hasbeen no government since theabortive U.N. peace mission inSomalia ended in a failure in 1993. InHorn of Africa the conflict has spilled

over to the maritime area. Of late there is a growth of piracyoff Somali and Djibouti. In the last one year there have beenaround 15 incidents of this kind.1 Most of these is being car-ried out by local militias who have a free run over the region.The near total absence of coastal surveillance and lack of gov-ernance has encouraged these attacks. The concerns have risenmainly as of the world’s busiest maritime choke points — theBab el Mandeb Straits lies off the coast of Djibouti and formsthe southern gate to the Red Sea. Roughly, 5,000 ships tran-

46 May-July 2006

S E C U R I T Y

Ruchita Beri writes about the growing strategic significance of theAfrican continent and the emerging security challenges facing

African countries in post-9/11 world.

Security challengesin POST-9/11 Africa

The implications of Africa’s insecurities are not just confinedto Africa, especially in the post-

9/11 world. According to the2002 U.S. National SecurityStrategy, “failed and weak

states are a threat to its nationalsecurity and that poverty,

weak institutions and corruption can make weak

states vulnerable to terrorist networks”.

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May-July 2006

sit through Bab el Mandebevery day and are extremelyvulnerable to the attacks bythese militia.

Southern Africa has beenthe only region in Africa thathas been relatively stable withthe end of long-drawn con-flicts in Mozambique andAngola until conflict broke outin the Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC). In the DRCconflict, dubbed as “Africa’sworld war”, an estimated threemillion people have died. InSudan, the recently-conclud-ed peace process has broughtan end to a 20-year-old warthat has claimed the lives oftwo million people. Recently,about 100,000 people havecrossed the border into Chadto escape the conflict betweenrebel movements, militias andthe government of Sudan while anestimated one million people havebeen displaced inside Darfur.

Weak States

In most of Africa, conflicts are of aregional and unregulated character.This is more so because state capac-ity to regulate the amount ofweapons in society is virtually non-existent and the existence of myriadsub-state groups that increasingly areable to challenge and threaten theauthority of the state. In the absenceof administration and the applicationof any rule of law, the nexus betweenthe legitimate and illegitimate activities of business, govern-ment and criminals are often difficult to distinguish from oneanother. These flow across national borders and involvenumerous national and international actors. Thus, insecurityin Africa is linked to the nature and capability of African states.While there are a few collapsed or failed states in Africa, mostAfrican states are weak as governance has contracted ratherthan expanded in recent years. According to an estimate, one-third of Sub Saharan African states are unable to exercise con-trol over their rural regions or to extend control to their bor-ders.2

The erosion of state power in Africa is linked to the weak-ening of the national security apparatuses across the continent.This trend is driven by the international community’s deci-sion to reduce and phase out military assistance,3 and becausedomestic financial crises have caused a general weakening of

the state. As a result, Africancountries’ security apparatuses,particularly the police and intel-ligence services, are in dismalshape. They lack funding, havelarge cadres of untrained per-sonnel, rely on outdated meth-ods, are tasked with repressionand are more interested inextortion than detection. In fact,“most African police forces areextremely weak and cannotcombat day-to-day crime,much less be frontline forces intackling instability”.4 Similarly,the intelligence-collection inmost of the countries is oftenprimitive, reducing the abilityof the leaders to assess thechanging threat environments.

HIV-AIDS Crisis

No one can regard theHIV/AIDS pandemic that has struckthe region as anything but catas-trophic. By 2005, 30 million Africanswere living with HIV/AIDS resultingin more than two million deaths,three million new infections and 12million AIDS orphans each year.The disease is especially intense insouthern Africa, with five million inSouth Africa alone infected with thevirus and a quarter of the total pop-ulation of Botswana. According to areport of the U.S. NationalIntelligence Council, diseases suchas HIV AIDS “will add to politicalinstability and slow democraticdevelopment in Sub Saharan

Africa”.5 HIV/AIDS is expected to slow economic growth andalso have a disruptive social impact in Africa. Studies suggestthat AIDS and malaria alone will reduce gross domestic prod-uct (GDP) in several Sub Saharan Africa countries by 20 per-cent or more by 2010. The head of the U.N. DevelopmentProgramme has said that AIDS could reduce Africa’s futureGDP by one third over the next 20 years.6

What is extremely perturbing is that the disease hits activesections of the population heavily, more so the armed forces.However, statistics of the spread of the disease in the army aredifficult to obtain as they are considered a national securityissue. The rates of infections in African armies is very high,particularly those of the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC). Estimated HIV prevalence in theAngolan and Congo armies runs between 40-60 percent andin Tanzania at 15-30 percent, while some have suggested that

Well armed Chadian rebels. Illegal small-arms trade has kept rebelslike these in Chad equipped with all manner of weapons.

The erosion of state power in Africa is linked to the

weakening of the national security apparatuses across the continent. This trend is driven by the international community’s decision to

reduce and phase out militaryassistance, and because

domestic financial crises havecaused a general weakening of

the state.

48 May-July 2006

S E C U R I T Y

it is as high as 80 percent in theZimbabwe.7 The incidence is alsohigh among other SADC armies.Reports in the media have projectedan HIV infection rate in the SANDFof between 40 percent and 90 per-cent, although a ComprehensiveHealth Assessment exercise inSANDF units placed the HIV infec-tion rate in the region of 17 to 20 per-cent.8 Obviously, such highHIV/AIDS prevalence rates will haveadverse impact on the capabilities ofthe armed forces. In Malawi, forexample, where as many as 75 per-cent of the defence force is estimat-ed to be HIV positive, much timeand energy is spent on arranging andattending funerals of soldiers.

With South Africa committed to strengthening regionalpeace and security, the South African government in recentyears dedicated itself to the planning and execution of peacemissions. In this regard, the SANDF would be involved insecurity projection and intervention in order to facilitateregional conflict resolution. However, the high rates of HIV-AIDS in the South African armed forces have put a dampen-er on these plans. It has been estimated that the SANDF willonly be capable of deploying one brigade within five years.

This will have many implications outside the country,including in regional contexts where South African forcesmight be expected to take a leading role; for the ambitions ofthe AU to take on greater responsibilities, for example in theway that it is seeking to address the Darfur crisis in Sudan; fornon-regional states that may otherwise have to pick up theshort-fall; and hence for the ambitions of the U.N. to broad-en the base of international crisis prevention, peace-enforce-ment and peacekeeping.9 Moreover, the implications of expos-ing HIV-infected individuals to health threats during opera-tional deployment abroad and the resultant strain on logisti-cal services are grave.

Arms: Available and deadly

The availability of arms has aggravated the conflicts inAfrica. The weapons trade in Africa has changed tremendouslysince the cold war. There is a decline in the state-to-state armstransfers involving major platforms (jet fighters, transportplanes, armed personal carriers, tanks). At the same time,small-arms sales have jumped tremendously. Unlike the morevisible state-to-state transfers of large equipment, the illegalmovement of small arms is much harder to measure, moni-tor and trace back to the source. Estimates vary about aggre-gate totals of small arms; the latest survey suggests that thereare around 100 million of such weapons in Sub-SaharanAfrica.10

East European countries like Bulgaria and Ukraine and alsoChina have been quite actively transferring arms to Africa.

Bulgarians and Ukrainians haveoften supplied weapons to opposingsides in the same conflict. It has sup-plied the MPLA government andJonas Savimbi’s UNITA in Angolaas well as the Burundian armedforces and the Hutu-dominated for-mer Rwandan military. In SierraLeone, Ukrainian private citizenssupported the RUF while theUkrainian government sold Mi-24attack helicopters to the Sierra Leonegovernment.

China has also discarded ideologyfor profit as its main objective in armstransfers to Africa.11 In recent yearsit has supplied arms to Namibia,Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea andSudan. Africa also has a nascent arms

industry. South Africa is among the world’s top 10 armsexporters and has supplied arms to opposing forces in theCongo. Also, some six sub-Saharan states can manufacturesmall arms while others like Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda andAngola have ammunition production capability mainly forsmall arms.

The existence of informal and hidden networks that deal inthe transfer of these small arms in Africa has contributed tothe proliferation of these arms. Not dissimilar to Afghanistan,failed or collapsed states like the Democratic Republic ofCongo, Liberia and Somalia have become free-trade zonesfor the underworld where the black market in arms and in dia-monds and also trafficking in human beings, passports, goldand narcotics connects local players to the global underworldeconomy.

These linkages represent a global security problem –– espe-cially in countries where terrorists can easily avoid customs andimmigration, crime is difficult to combat and subversive activ-ity hard to detect. Various manifestations of terrorism haveexisted in Africa. It is of a sub-state nature that kills, maims andaffects millions of people. Many of the insurgent movementshave adopted terror tactics. These include UNITA and REN-AMO in Angola and Mozambique, LRA in Uganda andLURD and MODEL in Liberia. These trends have been notedfor long but largely ignored by the international community— until the events of September 11, 2001, brought the threatto their backyards.

Linkages to Global Terrorism

The implications of Africa’s insecurities are not just con-fined to Africa. Indeed, the events of September 11, 2001,have underscored the linkage between weak states in Africaand global terrorism. According to the 2002 U.S. NationalSecurity Strategy, “failed and weak states are a threat to itsnational security and that poverty, weak institutions and cor-ruption can make weak states vulnerable to terrorist networks”.Similarly, the former U.S. Assistant Secretary for African

The HIV/AIDS crisis. The high prevalence ofHIV/AIDS in the South African armed forces hasaffected the government’s plans to execute regionalconflict resolution missions.

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May-July 2006

Affairs Susan Rice said in testimony to the U.S. Congress inNovember 2001 “that Africa is unfortunately the world’s softunderbelly for global terrorism”.

The European Security Strategy (ESS) adopted by the EUCouncil in December 2003 lays emphasis on these concerns.It identifies state failure as a key threat and observes, “state fail-ure is an alarming phenomenon that undermines global gov-ernance and adds to regional instability” and can be associat-ed with “threats such as organised crimes and terrorism”.Further, it underlines that states in Africa like “Somalia andLiberia… are the best-known recent examples”. Jack Straw, theBritish foreign secretary, on the eve of the anniversary ofSeptember 11 attacks, devoted an entire speech on the topicof “failed states”. “The dreadful events of September 11,” heargued, give us a vision of one possible future: “A future inwhich unspeakable acts of evil are committed against us, coor-dinated from failed states in the distant parts of the world.” Thespeech specifically referred to Somalia, Liberia and theDemocratic Republic of Congo.”

Such concerns are heightenedgiven that more than 800 millionpeople are Muslim and given the tiesbetween Islamic groups and terror-ism in the continent. Yet, untilrecently, it was argued that AfricanIslam could not be radicalised andthus did not pose a fundamentalistthreat. This myth was dispelled bythe establishment of Sharia law in 12of Nigeria’s northern states, thebranding of Sudan’s self-proclaimedIslamic government by the U.S. as astate sponsoring terrorism (for hav-ing provided home to Osama binLaden between 1991 and 1996), andalleged Al Qaeda cells in South Africaand the terror attacks by the Cape Town-based People AgainstGangsterism and Rape (PAGAD). Such fears were exacerbat-ed with the August 1998 bombings in Tanzania and Kenya andthe attack on an Israeli airliner in Kenya in 2002. The weaknature of the African state and the corruptibility of the Africanpolitical class has made it a soft target for terrorist groups.

Oil and Instability

Africa is in the midst of an oil boom. Sub Saharan Africaholds 7 percent of world’s oil reserves and comprises 11 per-cent of world oil production.12 A number of quantitative stud-ies in recent years have shown that the oil boom has led toinstability and authoritarianism in the oil-rich countries.13

Collier and Hoeffler find a link between oil and civil wars, par-ticularly secessionist civil wars.14 Africa provides some primeexamples of oil-related conflicts. In Nigeria, unrest persists inthe Southern Niger Delta where the onshore oil productionis concentrated. The Niger Delta is one of the largest wetlandsin the world encompassing around 20,000 square kilometers.The available evidence does show that oil-led development has

seriously damaged the environment and that, in turn, hasdamaged the livelihood of the oil-producing communities.Therefore, indigenous communities that are resident in theDelta, prominently the Ogini and the Ijaw, have taken uparms against the government and the oil companies.15

Similarly, oil was a crucial factor in the long-drawn conflictin southern Sudan. Sudan is now the seventh-biggest oil pro-ducer in Africa after Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Angola, Egypt andEquatorial Guinea. Discovery of oil in southern Sudan in 1978greatly helped the government in the north both politically andmilitarily to appropriate and control the region for expandedproduction of oil. At the same time, it marginalised the area’straditional inhabitants.16 This was a crucial factor in the armedstruggle between the rebels of Sudan People’s Liberation Army(SPLA), led by the late John Garang, and the President AlBashir-led government of Sudan. The SPLA had demandeda share in the country’s oil wealth that the government con-tinued to deny until the peace process was finally concluded

in 2004. The all-important oil rev-enues would be divided betweenKhartoum and the SPLA-held terri-tory. However, another conflict inDarfur in southern Sudan has flaredin the last three years.

Despite this instability, the energysecurity concerns of external powershas led to a scramble for Africa.“African oil is of strategic nationalinterest to us,” declared U.S.Assistant Secretary of State WalterKasteiner during a visit to Nigeria inJuly 2002. Why is it so? Over theyears, the U.S. has started relying onthe African oil. Deputy AssistantSecretary of Defence for AfricanAffairs had noted in April 2002 that,

“15 percent of U.S.’s oil supply comes from Sub SaharanAfrica”.17 This policy change was influenced by the recom-mendations of Vice President Richard Cheney’s report on theNational Energy Policy.18 The Cheney report suggested to theadministration that it diversify its oil supplies, primarily toreduce dependence on any single area — namely, the PersianGulf.

With an eye on the African oil potential, China is going foraggressive diplomacy in the continent. China’s engagement inAfrica is fuelled by the rising consumption of energy domes-tically. It is believed that, by 2025, China will be the largestconsumer of energy, overtaking the U.S. and followed byIndia in the third position. It is at present the second-largestimporter of oil in the world. Currently, China imports 28percent of its oil from Africa, mostly from Angola, Sudan andCongo.19 However, it is active in every part of Africa, seekingexploration rights and ownership of facilities.

In February 2004 Chinese President Hu Jintao visitedAfrica, mainly the oil-rich countries. Similarly, from Africa,around 30 heads of state have visited China since 1997. Chinamoved towards a strategic partnership with African countries

East European countries likeBulgaria and Ukraine and

also China have been quiteactively transferring arms to

countries in Africa. China hasalso discarded ideology for profit as its main objective inarms transfers to the African

continent. In recent years it hassupplied arms to Namibia,

Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guineaand Sudan.

50 May-July 2006

S E C U R I T Y

with the inauguration of the China -Africa CooperationForum in 2000. The China-Africa trade jumped from $6.5 bil-lion in 1999 to $10 billion in 2004.20

With this forum, the cooperation has concretised. It hasalso been engaged in military diplomacy with Chinese mili-tary peacekeepers being deployed in peacekeeping operationsin Liberia and Congo. It has also supplied arms to Ethiopia,Eritrea, Congo, Sierra Leone and Sudan.21 Also, apparently theChina’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has sent troops toprotect its energy investments in Sudan.22 Recently, Chinareleased a white paper on its Africa policy. It delineates an all-round enhancement of cooperation between China and theAfrican continent.

In recent years, India, like the U.S. and the other majorpowers, has recognised the energy potential of African coun-tries.23 Currently, around 24 percent of India’s crude oilimports are sourced from Africa(including the North African coun-tries).24 The Indian oil companieslike the Oil and Natural GasCorporation Videsh Limited (OVL)has invested in assets in Sudan, IvoryCoast, Ghana and Nigeria. The OVLinvested $750 million to acquire the25 percent equity held by theTalisman group in the Greater NilePetroleum Company (GNOP) inSudan in March 2003. As of now,India gets 3.23 million tonnes ofequity oil from GNOP in Sudan.

Private sector companies likeReliance have also invested in equi-ty oil in Sudan. They were recentlyawarded two oil and gas blocks bythe Sudanese government.25 India has recently completed a$200 million pipeline project to lay a pipeline from Khartoumto Port Sudan on the Red Sea.26 It is also negotiating withChad, Niger and Angola.

Increased External Military Assistance and Presence

These concerns have pushed the U.S. into building thecapacity of the compliant African militaries and the bordercontrol and police forces. The $100 million U.S.-East AfricaCounter Terrorism Initiative has dedicated resources toimprove police and judicial counter-terrorist capabilities inthese countries. Similarly, in West Africa, the Pan SahelianInitiative (PSI) has been launched to assist Mali, Mauritania,Chad and Niger in protecting their borders and combating ter-rorism. In 2005, the U.S. launched the Trans Sahara CounterTerrorism Initiative (TSCI) –– an ambitious five-year $500million programme, similar the one covering both north andwest African countries. At the same time, the U.S. military hasenhanced its presence and capability to launch an operation inAfrica. There is the talk of an African Command to exercisecontrol of U.S. forces in the region.27 The U.S. is also plan-ning to open up bases in west Africa. There is a possibility of

the opening of a U.S. Naval base in Sao Tome in west Africa.28 It has already established a base in Djibouti on theeast coast, ostensibly to monitor the counter-terrorism oper-ations in the region.

Besides, there is a relative increase in the military interven-tions in Africa by external actors — by the British in SierraLeone, the French in Côte d’Ivoire, Central African Republicand Chad for either stabilising the situation or to show themeasure of influence that external actors may have in given sit-uations.29

At the multilateral level, the EU’s first out-of-area opera-tion (Operation Artemis) was carried out in Africa in the year2003. The mission, conducted in the civil war-stricken regionof Bunia in the east of the DRC, centred on protection of thelocal civilian population against attacks by warring militias.Also at the request of the U.N., the U.N. mission in the DRC

(Mission de l’Organisation desNations Unies en RDC, MONUC)was provided military support by aEU-led multinational rapid-response force.

Although the African Union, theEconomic Community of WestAfrican States (ECOWAS) and theCommunauté Economique etMonétaire d’Afrique Centrale(CEMAC) have in the past conduct-ed peace missions in Burundi, Côted’Ivoire, Liberia and the CentralAfrican Republic — these were rela-tively small and time-limited opera-tions. They demonstrate that Africanorganisations continue to grapplewith resource constraints (both man-

power and financial) and suggest that increased political willby African organisations to develop their institutional capaci-ties in crisis management should be matched by internation-al support. The current African Union Mission in Sudan(AMIS) for the Darfur crisis has been sustained due to con-tinuous support from the EU and the U.S., indicating the needto build the capacities of the African forces.

Conclusion

In the post-September 11, 2001, scenario, peace and secu-rity issues in the continent have elevated the profile of Africa.Although these issues were recognised in the past as urgentchallenges facing the continent, until recently they had notgained the marked profile they are now attaining. Despiteefforts at conflict-resolution, conflict continues in west, cen-tral Africa and Horn of Africa.

The erosion of state power and its capacity to govern, exis-tence of a large number of weapons, the emergence of resourcewars (over oil, diamonds), impact of factors like HIV/AIDShave been responsible for this state of affairs. As a result of thenew and greater relevance of Africa by external actors, there isan increase in their presence in the region.

Until recently, it was argued thatAfrican Islam could not be

radicalised and thus did notpose a fundamentalist threat.

This myth was dispelled by theestablishment of Sharia law in12 of Nigeria’s northern states,the branding of Sudan’s Islamic

government by the U.S. as astate sponsoring terrorism,

and alleged Al Qaeda cells inSouth Africa.

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May-July 2006

This interest in Africa is also concerned, in many respects,with the linkage of African security issues with threats facedby the major powers as well as their growing energy concerns.In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorists attacksin New York and Washington, D.C., the strategic interest ofthe West, particularly the U.S., has grown in the Africa con-tinent.

This has been fuelled by the concerns emanating fromAfrica’s weak states becoming the breeding grounds for inter-national terrorists and radicals. It appears there has been amove towards adherence to a more radical form of Islam inthe region.

At the same time, there is an increase in international ter-rorist activity in the region and linkages to the Al Qaeda areobvious in some parts of the continent. Similarly, the discov-

ery of new hot spots of energy in Africa has been crucial toawakening the interest of the U.S. and other external powersin the region.

Indeed, the African continent has become a potential areafor great power rivalries, particularly in the context of thesearch for energy sources. There is also a rise in external mil-itary assistance and presence. To some extent this assistanceand intervention is justified to avert humanitarian disasters likein Rwanda and given the fact that the African countries lackthe capacity or the funds to deal with these challenges them-selves.

A significant step towards resolving this dilemma would beto ensure that future external interventions are coordinatedwith the efforts of the African Union and the other regionalorganisations.

Bibliography

1. ‘Somali piracy warning’ Mail and Guardian Online, March,1, 2006, http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/break-ing_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=248442.2. Joshua Forrest, ‘State inversion and non-state politics’ inLeonardo Villalon and Phillip Huxtable, ed. ‘The African Stateat a Critical Juncture’ (Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 1998) p.45.3. By 1995 most of the military grants or aid for financing pur-chase of weapons was phased out by powers like the U.S. andRussia. For more details on U.S. assistance see Raymond W.Copson, ‘Africa: Foreign Assistance Issues’ CRS Issues Brief(Washington, CRS February 19, 2002).4. Jeffery Herbst and Greg Mills, ‘The Future of Africa: A NewOrder in Sight?’ Adelphi Paper 361 (London, IISS, 2003) p.24.5. National Intelligence Estimate, ‘The Global InfectiousDisease Threat and its Implications for the United States’(Washington, NIC, January 2000) pp.46-53.6. Commitment to AIDS, ABC News, February 10, 2000.7. Greg Mills, ‘AIDS and South African Military: Time wornCliché or Timebomb?’ at http://www.kas.org.za/Publications/OccasionalPapers/Aids/mills.pdf. See also Elbe,Stefan ‘HIV/AIDS and the Changing Landscape of War inAfrica’ International Security — Volume 27, Number 2, Fall2002, pp. 159-177.8. Gwyn Prins, Workshop Report Pugwash Meeting No. 297‘Threats Without enemies: The Security Aspects ofHIV/AIDS: A Second Exploratory Workshop’ Limpopo,South Africa, June 25-28, 2004, at http://www.pugwash.org/reports/ees/south-africa-2004/sa-workshopre-port.htm.9. An HIV/AIDS test prior to deployment is mandatory U.N.deployments. Forty-nine percent of the 4,500 troops partici-pating in SADC Blue Crane peacekeeping operation werefound HIV positive.10.Small Arms Survey, 2003.11. Logan Wright, ‘Seizing an Opportunity: The ChangingCharacter of Chinese Arms Sales to Africa,’ Armed Forces JournalOctober 2001.

12. U.S., Energy Information Administration @ http://www.eia.doe.gov/ (accessed on September 18, 2005).13. Michael L. Ross, ‘Does Oil Hinder Democracy?’ WorldPolitics 53 April 2001, 325-61.14. Collier, Paul & Anke Hoeffler, ‘Greed and Grievance inCivil War’, Oxford University Centre for the Study of AfricanEconomies, working paper 2002-01 @ http:// www.csae.ox.ac.uk/working papers/pdfs/2002-01text.pdf15. Bronwen Manby, ‘The Role and Responsibility of OilMultinationals in Nigeria’. Journal of International Affairs Fall1999, 53, no.1 pp.281-301.16. Paul Goldsmith, Lydia A. Abura and Jason Switzer, ‘Oiland Water in Sudan’ in Jeremy Lind and Kathryn Sturman, ed.‘Scarcity and Surfeit: The Ecology of Africa’s Conflicts’.Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2002 pp. 220-29.17. Kevin J Kelly, “U.S. Moves to Protect Interest in Africa’.The East African (Nairobi) September 16, 2002 @ http://www.all Africa.com accessed on September 18, 2002.18. Michael T. Klare and Daniel Volman, ‘Africa’s Oil andAmerican National Security’. Current History May 2004 p.226.19. David Zweig and Bi Jianhai, ‘China’s global hunt for ener-gy’. Foreign Affairs Vol. 84. No. 5, Spring 2005.20. Ibid.21. Domingos Jardo Muekelia, ‘Africa and China’s StrategicPartnership’. African Security Review vol13, No. 1, 2004 p.8.22. Stephen Glain n.60.23. For details see Ruchita Beri, ‘Africa’s Energy Potential:Implications for India’. Strategic Analysis July-September 2005.24. Ministry of Petroleum, Government of India.25. Sudan Tribune, February 22, 2006.26. ‘India Clears ONGC contract in Sudan’ Webindia123.comJune 24, 2004 @ http:// www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=41494&cat=Business accessed on July 6,2004.27. Smith, n.46 pp.305-315.28. Keith Somerville, U.S. looks to Africa for “secure oil”BBC News, September 13, 2002.29. Jean Francios Bayart, ‘Towards a New Start for Africa andEurope’. African Affairs vol.103 No. 412, p.456. 412.

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Conflict in different hues has been arecurrent feature of human society. Therise and fall of civilisations and nationshave been witness to a saga of conflicts.Differences of interest or efforts torestrain others from attaining their goalsoften crop up between humans. These,consequently, lead to conflicts in soci-

ety, which at times acquire violent forms.Violent conflict inflicts deep wounds and scars on the soci-

ety that endures it. Apart from the deaths and destruction itcauses, it fragments the social structure and fabric. Growth anddevelopment of the society is stunted and the impact on theeconomy is enormous. Some societies are so severely desta-bilised by violence that they takemany generations to recover from itstrauma.

The heads of state and govern-ment of the African Union have stat-ed that the “continued prevalence ofarmed conflicts in Africa and the factthat no single internal factor has con-tributed more to socio-economicdecline of the continent and the suf-fering of the civilian population thanthe scourge of conflicts within andbetween states”.

The endeavour of this paper is toshow how this concern of the AUleaders is being translated into reali-ty and assess the viability of theseefforts in attaining the ends of peaceand sustained development.

Before the actual analysis, a detailed theoretical discussionof understanding conflicts, especially violent conflicts is under-taken.

An earlier generation of scholars theorised that violence wasa social pathology that needed treatment and deterrent pun-ishment to return the society to normalcy. This understand-ing has been discarded as most scholars now “think of groupviolence as more or less predictable congruence of real

grievances over underlying social, economic and politicalissues”.

It has been argued by some scholars that the inherent ani-malistic instinct in human beings is responsible for aggressivebehaviour and violent conflict among them. Brute force, forFreud, was the factor that determined ownership in early com-munities. With the passage of time, intellect began to replacebrute force, but the object and purpose of conflict remainedthe same. Force is used either to constrain opponents or impairtheir strength in order to compel them to retract their claim.This salient and practical use of violence for survival contin-ues to play a significant role in day-to-day decision-making.

Another social function of violence is the creation and sus-tenance of a hierarchy in society. Such use of violence is gen-

erally aimed at maintaining the statusquo, but sometimes disruptive oppo-sition overwhelms the old order andforces a change or at times causes thecollapse of the old edifice. There is,thus, a perpetual struggle in the soci-ety to create, sustain or change theequilibrium. Groups and states useviolence as a means to maintain orform new equilibrium. RudolphRummel opines that conflict mani-fests between individuals or groupsas a trial-and-error adaptation toattain equilibrium. It establishes abalance of power between what thepeople want, can get, and strive topursue. Through confrontations andviolence man builds his social bal-

ance and ensures cooperation from others. This understand-ing of conflict and violence is referred to as the balance ofpower theory.

Divergences and differences in society, for Hegel, are unde-sirable and must be replaced by unity and coherence. A soci-ety can achieve complete unity only by the complete negationof the “other”. Hence, to achieve coherence, the dynamics ofnegation is essential and violence is one of the potent tools toachieve this negation.

Jamal Moosa delves deep into the causes of violent conflicts thatafflict the continent and outlines the role of the African Union in

promoting sustainable peace and development.

African Union and thechallenge of PEACE

In Africa, almost all the currentconflicts are of internal nature,

thus making it difficult for othersto intervene. However, their consequences invariably spread beyond the state’s

borders. The security of theentire region is often

undermined. The spillovereffects include refugee flowsand disruption of trade and

communication.

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May-July 2006

Human needs theorists like JohnBurton consider that the authorities,in an effort to hide their shortcom-ings, blame personal malevolence forconflict and violence. They furtherargue that humans have certain needsand requirements that are funda-mental and non-malleable. Theseneeds must be satisfied for an indi-vidual’s development and result intheir conforming social behaviour. Ifsuch needs are left unfulfilled, theylead to violent and non-conformingbehaviour.

Structuralists like Johan Galtungassume that violence, rather thanbeing random, is structured and con-ditioned by external circumstances.These conditions can be manipulat-ed to provoke or solve violence.Besides, according to him, there aredifferent types/forms of violence.Apart from direct physical violencethere is violence incorporated into societal structures. Thisindirect societal violence requires attention for any lastingsolution to conflicts.

In addition to the above, violence as social action is uniquein comparison to other social actions. The very use of violenceis highly visible and effective. The use of violence to an evenmoderate degree of effectiveness requires relatively littleresource. Modern societies abound in soft targets, which caneasily be targeted with meagre resource. Hence, even groupswith limited resources can highlight their cause effectively byadopting violent means and draw world and internationalmedia attention.

Historically, one of the major reasons for collective vio-lence has been the central political process, i.e., the state. Afunctional state possesses the capacity of allocating various val-ues and privileges authoritatively. As the values available arealways limited, their distribution will always be uneven. Somegroups –– invariably the supporters of the regime — will enjoyfar more privileges than others. It is one of the roles of the stateto make this appear legitimate. In the event of dissent it musthave the coercive capacity and, more importantly, the will toensure the implementation of its writ. Thus, a major sourceof conflict and violence is the acceptability and legitimacy ofthe distribution of values.

No state will willingly restrain itself from this prerogative.Violence is one of the means adopted by challenging groups,making demands on the state and the elite. Tactics of threatand violence are used as a part of their repertoire of actions.People trying to realign the levers of power have used collec-tive violence as a potent tool of their struggle. Any great shiftin the arrangement of power has been produced by and result-ed in great amounts of collective violence.

Also, it was assumed that individual/group identities wouldover a period of time disintegrate and fuse, as one national

identity would emerge. The assump-tion that modernisation would leadto the assimilation of minoritygroups has not been substantiated byexperience. On the contrary, in soci-eties where there is large overlappingdisparity, the chances of violence arefar greater in comparison to morebalanced societies.

Thus, it is the simultaneous com-bination of inequality, opportunityand justification that cause violentconflicts. However, there are manyother factors like cultural ethos andmoorings of the society, the interna-tional environment and power equa-tion, etc., that also influence theemergence of conflict.

Violence begets violence. Once anact of violence is perpetrated, avicious cycle of offence and revengeensues, leading to a heightening ofviolent activities. Violence has severe

repercussions on the people and the society, profoundlyimpacting the society, fragmenting and polarising it. There isa breakdown of communications between different segmentsof society, increasing widespread disenchantment that oftenresult in increased flows of refugee and internally-displacedpeople. Besides, conflicts do not have a linear path; often theyfollow a complex and non-linear path. Thus there cannot bea single formula for peace. All this has to be kept in mind foran effective understanding and evolving an appropriate solu-tion.

Violence also leads to the creation of stereotypes about the“other”, who is posited with all negative qualities, demonised,and dehumanised. This legitimises and justifies violent pun-ishment and retribution. Another characteristic of violentinternal conflict is the brutalisation of the civilian population.The civilian population tends to either become a passiveobserver or, at times, even an active participant in violence.This results in the fragile institutions of governance beingundermined. In some extreme cases, there is a complete break-down of law and order or any semblance of governance.

The dramatic changes in the international environmentafter the collapse of Soviet Union led to the manifestation ofnew types of violent conflicts. The end of the super powerconfrontation has given way to what Kumar Rupesinghe calls,“violent internal conflicts with diverse inter-linked and over-lapping causes”. In many regions a feature of these conflicts isthe end of the state’s monopoly over means of coercion andviolence as a consequence of the easy availability of massivequantities of small arms to the opposition groups.

In Africa, almost all the current conflicts are of internalnature, thus making it difficult for others to intervene.However, their consequences invariably spread beyond thestate’s borders. The security of the entire region is often under-mined. The spillover effects include refugee flows and dis-

After the genocide. A picture of misery from Rwandathat underlines the need for a more vigilant and pro-active African Union.

54 May-July 2006

P E A C E & C O N F L I C T

ruption of trade and communication.The reasons cited for these conflicts range from the impact

and legacy of European imperialism and colonialism to the roleplayed by the super powers in the continent. European impe-rialism created artificial borders and undermined indigenousdevelopment patterns. Another factor is the persistence ofhighly exploitative linkages between the developed and Africancountries. Some of these conflicts have also been attributed toslavery and the resulting social structures.

Contemporary African states are in a phase where the het-erogeneous population with its different identities are in theprocess of developing one national identity. The prototype tobe emulated for the African states at the time of independencewas the fully evolved Western nation-state. However, thenational identity in Europe and elsewhere is a social con-struction requiring immense resources. A state must create thesense of citizenship. It must ensure that all its subjects feel partof the national community. To create this sense, the state musthave command over several kinds of resources, all of whichare scarce in most countries of Africa.

The very formation and establishment of the nation-stateshas always been a violent process.Most Western nation-states cameinto being through massive use ofviolence and violation of rights.Nation-builders in Europe creatednationalities by forcing everyone tospeak the same language or worshipthe same saints. At another level, astate must also build such institutionsthat are conducive to its unification.Thus it can be said that the conflictsin Africa are not different in terms ofcauses and factors; rather, they aredifferent types of conflicts rooted in“ordinary” causes.

To resolve conflicts and antago-nisms, parties can adopt violentmethods, including recourse toactions like subjugation, killings and genocide or forced masstransfers, etc. Such violent solutions rarely are able to achievethe desired ends or terminate conflicts. Instead, they alwayscreate bitterness and fear amongst the descendants of the vic-tims. Ironically, at times, these actions help consolidation ofdifferent cleavages in the oppressed community and results insustained rebellion by them.

Thus, the use of violent forms to solve conflict does not endthe problem, nor does it produce a desirable outcome even ifthe human costs are overlooked. It only ensures the continu-ation and perpetuation of violence and a continued loss of life,property and suffering. Hence, it is imperative that efforts aremade to evolve non-violent solutions to conflicts and these aretailored to the needs of Africa.

The classical approach is to keep the antagonists away fromeach other. This distance is created — voluntarily or invol-untarily — by the threat of considerable punishment for trans-gressors, along with social measures such as mutual prejudice

and geographic separation. At times a third party intervenes toperform peacekeeping operations. However, one of its demer-its is that it escalates the conflict by providing space to theantagonists to regroup. Though it can de-escalate conflict byreducing contact surface, at times even to zero, it is not suffi-cient to end the conflict. Another demerit of separation is thatit is not possible to keep groups physically apart for a long timeeven with external military intervention. Hence such anapproach must be accompanied with suitable efforts.

Efforts must be made to reduce the distance between theparties and bring about integration. However, this integrationcannot be imposed from outside, although third parties can actas facilitators. In addition, it can only be implemented prior tothe conflict assuming a violent form or after a period when dueto sustained and protracted conflict, people become tired orweary of strife and yearn for peace in sufficiently large num-bers.

Linear approaches most often are not able to untangle com-plex conflicts, where the societies are fragmented and there ismistrust and lack of communication amongst different sec-tions. Thus, there is a need to develop alternatives that use

many different actors and institu-tions at different levels.

Each phase in a conflict maynecessitate a different type of inter-vention by different actors or differ-ent combinations of actors. Not onlydifferent dimensions have to beaddressed but also the differentactors, especially local actors, mustbe involved so that they could help instrengthening and deepening theprocess of creating peace.

The turn of the millennium andthe eventual formation of the AfricanUnion (AU) saw a flurry of new ini-tiatives and efforts — both internaland external — to solve conflicts inAfrica and to bring about peace.

Before that is discussed it is essential to understand the lagercontext to place these efforts in proper perspective. The fall ofthe Soviet Union unleashed many changes spanning across theglobe in almost every possible public sphere. However, thespeed and the magnitude of the change in Europe took manywestern European countries by surprise. The unification ofGermany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the eastward expan-sion of the European Union (EU) and NATO were ideas thatwere not conceivable even a short while before they eventu-ally became a reality.

Another consequence of these changes was that manyEuropean states and their institutions of governance wereseverely stressed. While some countries felt the consequencesof this strain less, for others it was enormous. Few likeYugoslavia encountered such centrifugal force that theyimploded or descended into extreme violent civil strife. Itdescended into chaos and this unleashed enormous violenceand instability in the region. The impact of these events at such

The AU realised that a historicopportunity was there to end

the scourge and that resources are available. All that

was needed was to mobilisethese resources and to usethem effectively. But, more

essentially, it also declared thatAfricans will determine their

own destiny and called on therest of the world to complement

their efforts.

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May-July 2006

close quarters shook European countries and their policy pri-orities. Apart from this, the economic costs of reconstructionand integration of these countries into the west Europeaneconomy too was enormous.

A consequence of this preoccupation of Europe with itsinternal problems was the significant diminishing of its inter-ests in Africa. This diminishing interest towards Africa ofEuropean powers like France, which has had, and continuesto have, close military and financial ties with almost half thecountries of the continent, also coincided with an adversereaction in the United States to intervening abroad. The granddesign of ushering in a New World Order with United Statesacting as the global watchdog suffered a severe blow as a con-sequence of the humiliation in Somalia. The humiliation itsuffered in Somalia forced a new policy approach towardsAfrica. In the United Nations and other such internationalmultilateral fora, the United States resisted any direct actionand intervention in conflict situations across the globe, espe-cially in Africa.

This disengagement coincided with looming crises and vio-lent conflicts in many African countries. The period of early1990s saw many flare-ups along with their consequent reper-cussions like human loses and destruction of the economicinfrastructure.

Most of these conflicts also caused large refugee outflows.The human tragedy and cost due to these conflicts did notbring about any serious international concern; rather it onlyincreased the disengagement. This crisis peaked in 1994 whenmost Francophone countries experienced political and eco-nomic crises and refugee outflows.

In the same year, the genocide in Rwanda occurred andthere was complete international indifference towards it. Theenormous loss of life accompanying human suffering andthe security crisis in the Great Lake Region has not yet beenfully resolved. This growing instability and violence has beenfestering and resulting in many other countries beingengulfed by it. All these factors acted as the fertile ground forgalvanising new efforts and actions to promote peace and sta-bility and sustainable development. New ideas were exploredand experimented with and the absence of external powersand their disinclination helped sprout new thinking and freshideas.

Amongst the new ideas that have their genesis in this peri-od of crisis was the formation of the AU as the successor insti-tution to Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Unlike theOAU, the AU undertook upon itself a far larger and broadermandate. It envisages that it is essential for sustainable peaceand development of the continent through more proactiveactions.

The idea and the creation of a Peace and Security Councilfor the AU got its impetus with the enactment of ProtocolRelating to the Establishment of the Peace and SecurityCouncil of the AU in July 2002. The continued prevalence ofarmed conflicts in Africa was considered to be the most impor-tant internal factor that had contributed to the socio-economicdecline of Africa and the suffering of the civilian population.There was a strong sense of determination and commitment

amongst the AU leaders to play a central role in bringingpeace, security and stability on the continent and to establishan operational structure for the effective implementation ofconflict-prevention, peace-making, peace support operationsand intervention, and peace-building and post-conflict recon-struction.

The protocol envisages the establishment of a Commission,a Panel of the Wise, a Continental Early Warning System, anAfrican Standby Force, and a Special Fund to support thePeace and Security Council. The council’s objectives are topromote peace, security and stability in Africa. It must antic-ipate and prevent conflicts. In situations where conflicts haveoccurred, it would undertake peace-making and peace-build-ing efforts and promote and implement post-conflict recon-struction activities to consolidate peace and prevent the resur-gence of violence. The council would also try to promote andencourage democratic practices, good governance and the ruleof law, protect human rights and freedom.

While these continental efforts are underway, the continentis also trying to engage the rest of the world to become a part-ner in its efforts to attain sustainable peace and development.The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD),which was announced at Abuja, Nigeria, in October 2001, wasthe culmination of a long process towards this end. It is avision statement by the African leaders that they want to extri-cate themselves from the malaise of underdevelopment andexclusion.

The African leadership also realised that a historic oppor-tunity was there to end the scourge and that the resourcesare available in abundance. All that was needed was tomobilise these resources and to use them effectively. But,more essentially, it also declared that Africans will determinetheir own destiny and called on the rest of the world to com-plement their efforts.

To ensure peace and security, there is a need to build Africa’scapacity to manage all aspects of conflict, including strength-en existing regional and sub-regional institutions in four keyareas, viz., (a) Prevention, management and resolution of con-flict; (b) Peace-making, peacekeeping and peace enforcement;(c) Post-conflict reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruc-tion; (d) Combating the illicit proliferation of small arms, lightweapons and landmines.

However, these are impossible to attain in the absence oftrue democracy, respect for human rights, peace and goodgovernance. Hence, the purpose of the Democracy andPolitical Governance Initiative is to contribute to strengthen-ing the political and administrative framework of participat-ing countries, in line with the principles of democracy, trans-parency, accountability, integrity, respect for human rightsand promotion of the rule of law.

Similarly, the Economic Governance Initiative is directedtowards harnessing the energies of the continent towardsdevelopment and the eradication of poverty. It is feared that ifthe international community does not complement theseefforts then there is a real possibility of the collapse of moreAfrican states that would pose a threat not only to the Africanstates, but also to global peace and security.

On August 7, 1998, two massivebombs exploded outside the U.S.embassies in Dar es Salaam(Tanzania) and Nairobi (Kenya),killing 224 people — including12 Americans — and injuring5,000. Responsibility was quick-ly traced to Al Qaida. Four yearslater, Al Qaida operatives struck

again, killing 15 people in an Israeli-owned hotel nearMombasa, Kenya –– simultaneously firing missiles at an Israelipassenger jet taking off from Mombasa’s airport. An alarmedUnited States responded to these attacks with conviction. Inaddition to proposing significantincreases in development assistanceand a major initiative on HIV/AIDS,the Bush administration has desig-nated the greater Horn of Africa afront-line region in its global waragainst terrorism and has worked todismantle Al Qaida infrastructurethere.

At the same time, however, theUnited States has failed to recognisethe existence of other, less visible,terrorist threats elsewhere on theAfrican continent. Countering therise of grassroots extremism hasbeen a central part of U.S. strategy inthe Middle East, but the same hasnot generally been true for Africa. InNigeria, for example, a potent mix of communal tensions,radical Islamism, and anti-Americanism has produced a fer-tile breeding ground for militancy and threatens to tear thecountry apart. South Africa has seen the emergence of a vio-lent Islamist group. And in west and central Africa, criminalnetworks launder cash from illicit trade in diamonds, joiningforces with corrupt local leaders to form lawless bazaars thatare increasingly exploited by Al Qaida to shelter its assets. As the war on terrorism intensifies in Kenya and elsewhere, radicals might migrate to more accessible,

war-ravaged venues across the continent.The international community, particularly the United

States, needs to deal with these threats by adopting a moreholistic approach to fighting terrorism in Africa. Rather thanconcentrate solely on shutting down existing Al Qaida cells,it must also deal with the continent’s fundamental problems— economic distress, ethnic and religious fissures, fragile gov-ernance, weak democracy, and rampant human rights abuses— that create an environment in which terrorists thrive. TheUnited States must also eliminate the obstacles to developinga coherent Africa policy that exist in Washington. TheAmerican counter-terrorism programme for the region hasconsistently been under-financed. More than three years after

9/11, there is no U.S. diplomaticpresence in several strategic loca-tions, and long-term policy.1

Strategic imperatives are consistent-ly allowed to be eclipsed by short-term humanitarian demands. Thewar on terrorism might make offi-cials realise what they should haveknown earlier: That Africa cannot bekept at the back of the queue foreverif U.S. security interests are to beadvanced.

The level of interest in Africamust, in fact, go higher than aid. Itmust go to the White House and theNational Security Council, wherethere must be recognition that Africais of strategic interest to the United

States, not just humanitarian as has so often been the case upto now.

The recent Mombasa attacks are proof that there is still AlQaida infrastructure in east Africa, built on linkages with a dis-affected Arab-origin minority. The lingering presence of ter-rorism in the region also attests to the radicalising effects ofdeep-rooted problems there. The greater Horn of Africa —an area that includes Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia,Djibouti, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya — is home to inter-locking conflicts, weak and failing states, pervasive corruption

56 May-July 2006

B O O K E X T R A C T

Rajeev Sharma, in his book ‘Global Jihad: Current Patterns & FutureTrends’, has a chapter that focuses on the African continent and how

it could emerge as a hotbed of terrorism.

TERROR and theAfrican continent

Rather than concentrate solelyon shutting down existing AlQaida cells, the international

community must also deal withthe African continent’s

fundamental problems — economic distress, ethnic and

religious fissures, fragile governance, weak democracy,and rampant rights abuses —that create an environment in

which terrorists thrive.

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May-July 2006

and extreme poverty. It is chronically susceptible to drought.Fifteeen million of Ethiopia’s 66 million citizens, for exam-ple, are at risk of famine. And it is plagued by the HIV/AIDSpandemic.

After September 11, 2001, the Horn gained attention as apossible new haven for Al Qaida operatives driven fromAfghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. Somaliadid not, as feared, become the replacement operational basefor Afghanistan, but it did serve as the base for the 2002 attacksin Mombasa. Al Qaida has a long-standing, indigenous infras-tructure in coastal Kenya and the environs of Nairobi and theproven ability to transit in and out of Kenya via Somalia. It issuspected of having similar ease of access to Zanzibar, coastalTanzania, and the Comoros Islands.

Sudan was Osama bin Laden’s base from 1991 to 1996 andhas had to bear that heavy legacy in its dealings with the UnitedStates ever since. The United States fired cruise missiles intothe al-shifa aspirin factory in late August 1998, in a contro-versial retaliation for the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam embassybombings. The attack focused Khartoum’s attention on itsacute exposure and the possibility of further U.S. action. Anintensive counter-terrorism dialogue between the two gov-ernments commenced in the spring of 2000 and accelerateddramatically after September 11, when the United Statesthreatened additional measures — while also promising toimprove relations if Sudan cooperated fully and quickly.

In 2002, to combat terrorism in the Horn, the UnitedStates created the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa(CJTF-HOA), which involves 1,800 U.S. soldiers and isbacked by the U.S. Central Command. Based in Djibouti,CJTF-HOA’s mission is to deter, pre-empt and disable ter-rorist threats emanating principally from Somalia, Kenya andYemen, assisted by a multinational naval interdiction force. In

June 2003, President Bush announced a $100 million pack-age of counter-terrorism measures to be spent in the Hornover 15 months. Half of these funds will support coastal andborder security progammes administered by the U.S.Department of Defence, $10 million to be spent on theKenyan Anti-terror Police Unit, and $14 million to supportMuslim education.

This leads us to a pertinent question — do financial aid andsupport funds take care of such a problem? Let us not forgetthat the problem has been brewing for decades. A continentravaged for decades by disease, hunger, internal strife and, tillrecently, apartheid, was bound to become a playground for theengineers of discontent. It would sooner rather than laterbecome a source for the volunteers of death.

The social and economic aspects cannot be ignored orbrushed away like the proverbial Ethiopian fly. The roots ofterror and complicity to terror cannot be found in the flakysands of the Sahara but the deep and dark mud of poverty, dis-content and helplessness that pervades more than a few coun-tries of this continent.

East African governments have been largely receptive toengagement with the United States. Ethiopia, Eritrea andUganda even identified themselves as U.S. coalition partnersduring Operation Iraqi Freedom. But the battle for publicopinion is far from won. The travel alerts for Kenya andTanzania issued by Washington and London in 2003 are a casein point. The advisories were widely unpopular — disruptinginternational air traffic and undermining the recovery of theregion’s tourist trade — and have intensified debates inNairobi and Dar es Salaam over the wisdom of partnering withWashington. Strong U.S. support for anti-terrorist measuresunder consideration by the Kenyan Parliament has also pro-voked anger, particularly from civil liberatarians (still reeling

Terror strike. Rescue workers outside the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, which was the target of terror on August 7, 1998. On the same day,the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was also targeted. As many as 224 people, including 12 Americans, were killed in the two attacks.

58 May-July 2006


from the repressive rule of Daniel Arap Moi) and fromMuslim clerics (who claim that the proposed controls are fun-damentally anti-Islam).

If it is to gain local support in Kenya and elsewhere, theUnited States must adopt a less heavy-handed approach. Toachieve this, Washington needs a stronger diplomatic andintelligence presence on the ground. At present, the UnitedStates lacks a diplomatic resident in several key locations,including Mombasa, Hargeysa (in northern Somalia) andZanzibar, and it has weak links to other Muslim areas in eastAfrica. For example, Washington has yet to overcome its post-1993 phobia about engagement with Somalia, a country thatsustains Al Qaida infrastructure inside Kenya.2 More broad-ly, it remains to be seen whether the Bush administration canprovide sufficient political and financial leadership to back upits multiple and ambitious operations in the region given wors-ening budgetary pressures and competing demands in Iraq andAfghanistan.

Nigeria

The U.S. government may haverecognised the need to go after AlQaida infrastructure in east Africa,but the potential for the growth ofIslamic extremism and other sourcesof terrorism elsewhere on the conti-nent has not registered sufficientlyon its radar screen. By far the mosttroubling case is Nigeria. With near-ly 133 million people, about 67 mil-lion of whom are Muslim, Nigeria isAfrica’s most populous nation andpossesses its second-largest Muslimpopulation (after-Egypt). It is also acrucial economic partner of the United States, providing 7percent of its oil.

Yet, Washington has done little to check rising instabilitythere in recent years. The country’s GDP has fallen by two-thirds in the past 20 years, creating a level of poverty unprece-dented in its history. Partly as a result, Nigeria has comeunder intense pressure from two disaffected minorities:Radical Islam in the north and a collection of tribal groups inthe southeast. Simmering communal conflict was responsi-ble for 10,000 deaths between 1999 and 2003.

Nigeria’s Islamic challenge comes from a combination ofreligious, political and economic factors. Northern Nigeria,populated by the Hausa-Fulani, is primarily Muslim and hasconnections to both influential Muslim brotherhoods in west-ern Africa and centers of Islamic learning in the Middle East.After Nigeria became independent in 1960, northerners dom-inated the political and military establishment. Throughoutthis period, however, Nigeria retained a delicate balancebetween Muslims and the largely Christian population of thesouth. That balance is being sorely tested today as a more fun-damentalist brand of Islam asserts itself in key areas of thecountry.

This resurgence is partly the outcome of a debate begun inthe 1960s and fueled by religious scholars funded by SaudiArabia — over the purity of Nigerian Islam. But an equallyimportant factor is the changed political and economic fortunesof the north.

In 1999, after nine years of particularly rapacious rule by theMuslim military of politically oriented officers — the majorityof whom were northern Muslims –– power passed to OlusegunObasanjo, a southern Yoruba who was elected civilian president.Politically, militarily and economically, northerners felt theirinfluence decline.

Soon, a northern governor decided to challenge Obasanjoby introducing Islamic criminal law (shari’s) in his state. Noone anticipated the tremendous popularity of this move.Shari’s offered a sense of hope to people faced with risingcrime and increasing instability. Within a few months it hadbeen adopted in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states. The shari’s move-

ment remains a potent force inNigerian politics and society, unset-tling relations between Muslims andChristians and increasing tensionsbetween the north and south of thecountry.

Northern Nigerians often con-sider Washington to be colluding intheir political and economic decline.Many people, for example, saw theU.S.-run programme to improve themilitary’s capacity for peacekeeping(instituted after Obasanjo’s electionvictory) as an attempt to assist thepresident in purging the northernleadership. U.S. policies in theMiddle East have also stirred anti-American feelings: Tens of thou-

sands of Nigerians flocked to rallies against the Iraq war.To date, there is no evidence that terrorist cells have pen-

etrated northern Nigeria, nor that terrorist and criminal syn-dicates have linked up. But the situation is increasingly dan-gerous. The Bush administration singled out Nigeria as acountry with significant impact and deserving of “focusedattention” in its 2002 National Security Strategy.3 But theUnited States is poorly positioned to address the anti-American attitudes that create a fertile breeding ground for ter-rorism. The U.S. embassy lacks a single American speaker ofHausa, the main language of northern Nigeria; has no con-sulate or other permanent representation in the north; and,until recently, possessed only a poorly staffed and unimagi-native public diplomacy programme.

U.S. relations with the Nigerian military are also fragile.On the one hand, Washington looks to Nigeria to carry muchof the peacekeeping burden in west Africa — most recentlyin Liberia — and has provided aid for this purpose. But onthe other hand, the U.S. Congress has prohibited furthertraining of the Nigerian military because of human rightsconcerns, thus compromising the U.S. ability to reach outto a new generation of Nigerian military officers from both

Nigeria’s Islamic challengecomes from a combination of religious, political and

economic factors. NorthernNigeria, populated by theHausa-Fulani people, is

primarily Muslim and has connections to both

influential Muslim brotherhoodsin western Africa and centers

of Islamic learning in the Middle East.

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the north as well as the south.The growing armed uprising in Nigeria’s delta region, the

source of the country’s oil and home to the largest concentra-tion of U.S. investment on the continent, compounds thedanger to American interests. Conflict arises there fromgrievances over the sharing of oil wealth, environmental dam-age and corruption. Much onshore oil activity has been shutdown and considerable amounts of oil have been stolen to buyarms. Nigeria has increasingly relied on its armed forces torestore order, but the army’s record of indiscriminate vio-lence often only feeds the discontent. Washington and thedeveloped world should be more actively engaged in helpingthe Nigerian government and the oil companies to address thedeep resentments that feed this situation. Yet — like in thenorth — there is no permanent U.S. embassy presence in thedelta region.

The United States has also done little to help Nigeria outof its severe economic depression, whichis indirectly responsible for much of thetension in the country. Currently,President Obasanjo is working with theUnited Kingdom, the World Bank andthe International Monetary Fund tobring transparency to the oil sector andmake strategically important economicreforms.

South Africa

South Africa, meanwhile, is anothercountry that faces the threat of risingIslamist extremism. In the 1990s, a smallradical Islamic group, the People AgainstGangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD),emerged. PAGAD started out as a vigi-lante organisation seeking to combat the growing drug tradein poor townships near Cape Town, but it was subsequentlyhijacked by radical elements.

After PAGAD became openly critical of U.S. policies inthe Middle East and Israel, some people suspected the influ-ence of Saudi-financed imams, who accompanied newmosques built in the Cape Muslim area. The group staged sev-eral demonstrations against the American and Israeli embassiesand even threatened the life of the American consul generalin Cape Town. PAGAD is also suspected of carrying out aseries of bar and nightclub bombings that took place in the late1990s.

Admittedly, there is little evidence of other terrorist sym-pathies among South Africa’s Muslim population which num-bers less than a million. Moreover, South Africa’s intelligenceapparatus is sophisticated and sensitive to terrorist threats,having successfully cracked down on PAGAD and extraditedany suspected terrorists found hiding in the country. But theterrorist threat in South Africa still requires close monitoring.And existing cooperation between FBI and the Scorpions —South Africa’s aggressive police arm — must be strengthenedand extended if terrorism is to be stamped out.

Somalia

Somalia has struggled to establish a fully functioning gov-ernment for a decade or more. There are no central govern-ment security organs, and the country has a long, porous bor-der. These factors make it a potential haven for some Al Qaidaterrorist members, including those currently trying to fleeAfghanistan. These conditions also make Somalia a favourableenvironment for the continuing presence of indigenousextremists, or extremists who live there. For instance, theSomali Islamic Union, or al-Ittihaad al-Islamiya — AIAI — isa wide-ranging Islamic group composed of several separate fac-tions in Somalia. This organisation seeks to establish an Islamicstate there and engages really in a wide variety of religious andsocial activities. AIAI members number in the hundreds. Someextreme AIAI factions have denounced the Western presencein Somalia and have threatened U.S. and Western aid groups.

Further, Somali ethnic enclavesexist in Kenya, Djibouti andEthiopia –– countries in theHorn of Africa. And the AIAI,especially the extreme factions,may have violent members andsympathisers in these ethnicenclaves. Osama bin Laden andhis senior advisers have madestatements in the past implyingthat the Al Qaida has ties to someviolent Somali Islamic extrem-ists. For instance, bin Ladensaluted Somali clan attacksagainst U.S. Army personnel inOctober 1993. Over a dozenU.S. servicemen were killed inthese attacks.

Since September 11, the year-and-a-half old TransitionalNational Government in Somalia has expressed opposition toterrorism. It has claimed to have formed a committee pur-portedly to investigate charges of terrorist influence in Somaliaand detained a handful of persons on terrorism-relatedcharges. Overall, however, the Transitional NationalGovernment controls little territory, has only small, relative-ly poorly trained and equipped military and policy forces, haslittle influence in the countryside, and almost no real capabil-ity to fight terrorism.4

West Africa

In the past decade, new discoveries of oil off the coast ofwest Africa have more than doubled estimates of the region’sreserves to more than 60 billion barrels. By 2015, west Africamay provide a quarter of U.S. Oil and is likely to acquire anincreasingly high strategic profile. The region is home toalmost 130 million Muslims, yet it exhibits little grassrootssupport for terrorism. And Middle Eastern issues do notcolour relationship with the United States to the same extentas they do in countries such as Nigeria and South Africa.

Somalia has struggled to establish a fully functioning government for a decade

or more. There are no centralgovernment security organs,

and the country has a long andextremely porous border.

These factors make it a potentialhaven for some Al Qaida

terrorist members, includingthose currently trying to flee

Afghanistan

60 May-July 2006


Senegal, Mali, and Niger –– all predominantly Muslim —have become functioning democracies with close relation-ships with Washington. The United States has engaged thesecountries (along with Chad) in the Pan Sahel Initiative, a pro-gramme to bolster security and intelligence along the Sahara’ssouthern border. Two west African Muslim countries, Senegaland Mauritania, even enjoy diplomatic relations with Israel.

Outside of Nigeria, therefore, the terrorist threat in Westand Central Africa comes less from religion and politics thanfrom lack of sovereign control and general debility. The Bushadministration acknowledged this link in its 2002 NationalSecurity Strategy, which argued that “poverty, weak institu-tions, and corruption can make weak states vulnerable to ter-rorist networks and drug cartels within their borders”. Bothcentral and west Africa are exceptionally anarchic zones. Inter-related wars have occurred in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Coted’Ivoire and Guinea. Nine African countries were drawn intothe war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, during thelate 1990s. This highly unstable situation has given rise to adangerous chaos in which criminal syndicates partner withrogue leaders (Charles Taylor in Liberia, Blaise Campaora inBurkina Faso, and Muammar al Qaddafi in Libya, for exam-ple) and Al Qaida.

Al Qaida has used the region less to foment terrorism thanto protect and expand its finances, a challenge for the organi-sation since the U.S. campaign against it went into high gearafter September 11. As documented by Global Witness, TheWashington Post, and the U.N., Al Qaida started marketinggems through its east Africa networks and has subsequentlytaken advantage of the civil war and chaos in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo to extend its activities into that min-eral rich-country. With attention focused on the Middle East,the horrific war in the Congo — which took nearly three mil-lion lives — went almost unnoticed in the U.S. media andpolitical circles. But figuring out how to take advantage of theconflict was clearly on Al Qaida’s agenda.

The terrorist’s illegal trade in gems has spread to othercountries in the region. Al Qaida reportedly colluded with thegovernment of Burkina Faso and Liberia to buy diamondsmarketed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone during the cripplingcivil war that wrecked that country and neighbouring Liberiain the late 1990s. In response, the U.N. has outlawed the mar-keting of so-called conflict diamonds and placed arms embar-goes on Liberia and Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, diamond-pro-ducing countries such as South Africa and Botswana, togeth-er with key diamond manufactures, have established theKimberley Process, which identifies conflict diamonds andkeeps them off the market. The Clinton administration was astrong supporter of this initiative, but the Bush administrationhas been largely indifferent to it, having been shown to signup to its monitoring provisions.

Even more critical than combating Al Qaida’s financialmanoeuvering is confronting the cause of the organisation’sregional resurgence: The anarchy and conflict engendered bywest and central Africa’s failed and failing states. To date, theUnited States has offered neither the leadership nor theresources needed to deal with this problem properly. U.S.local diplomatic capacities remain weak, and initiatives areepisodic and vulnerable to downward budgetary pressures.Each time the United States appears to offer greater commit-

Three suicide bombers crashed a vehicle packed with explosives into the Israeli-owned Paradise resort hotel in Mombasa, on Kenya's IndianOcean coast, on November 29, 2002, killing themselves and 12 other people. The attack, suspected to have been orchestrated by theAl Qaida, came only five minutes after two antiaircraft missiles were fired –– unsuccessfully –– at an Israeli airliner taking off for Tel Avivwith a load of homeward-bound tourists.

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ment to the region, it pulls back, suggesting that the adminis-tration does not see it as a critical part of its global anti-terror-ist strategy.

President Bush’s trip to Africa in July 2003 affirmed thecontinent’s importance to the U.S. foreign policy agenda. Yetthe administration still operates without an overarching frame-work for Africa policy that can put its multiple initiatives —the $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, theMillennium Challenge Account, the various counter-terror-ism measures, and the reassessment of Africa’s place withinU.S. European Command and in NATO — into their appro-priate strategic context.

Washington’s problem is not just one of policy substance.The administration also needs to reorganise itself internally.It is essential to overcome divided responsibility for Africaamong the Department of Defence’s European, Central andPacific commands. Africa’s nearly seamless borders, inter-related conflicts, and interconnected trafficking networksdemand a unified U.S. command structure for military train-ing, intelligence and deployment. Similarly, an empoweredanti-terrorism task force is needed to overcome the internaldivision in the State Department separating those who dealwith north Africa from those who deal with sub-SaharanAfrica. The languishing Pan Sahel Initiative, for example, willnot be truly effective until its participants engage with theirnorthern neighbours — Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia —which will require better inter-departmental coordination.

Today, in the absence of such a framework and internalrestructuring, the Bush administration reflexively defines con-flicts and crises in Africa in narrow humanitarian terms — asit did with Liberia in the summer of 2003. It allows budgetaryconcerns to trump vital support for multilateral peace opera-tions and even anti-terrorism programmes. And it places cru-cial support for economic and social development in Africa injeopardy.

Africa may not rank with Iraq or Afghanistan as a top pri-ority in the war on terrorism, nor with the Middle East orSoutheast Asia as a primary force of U.S. anti-terrorism pro-grammes. But if Washington continues to underplay the ter-rorist threat in Africa, its worldwide strategy against terrorismwill falter — and the consequences may be dire indeed.

The U.S. Perspective

The one U.S. government agency that has taken the ter-rorist threat in Africa to heart has been the DefenceDepartment, in particular the U.S. commanders in NATO,EUCOM and the CJTF. NATO Commander General JamesJones has described west Africa as “where the action is”.

EUCOM Deputy Commander Charles Wald has traveledacross the continent several times and was instrumental infashioning the Pan Sahel Initiative into an active action pro-gramme. DOD has undertaken HIV/AIDS awareness andcontrol programmes with militaries throughout the conti-nent. With additional resources, DOD is prepared to assist theoil producing countries of the west coast in establishing off-shore security capability, guarding against attacks on thedrilling installations springing up all along the coast.

Welcome as this interest is, it is dangerous if not matchedby an equivalent level of interest and capability in state andUSAID in addressing the political and economic factors thatmake Africa worrisome. A response overly balanced to the mil-itary side will push us too close to the line of oppressiveregimes, too insensitive to the political dynamics of an anti-terrorism strategy, too limited in the global response to theproblems of poverty that underlie every African security prob-lem.

As the U.S. prepares to staff a new embassy in Baghdad,personnel slots are being taken from all over the world, includ-ing Africa — including Nigeria! We are in danger of robbingPeter to pay Paul.

The level of interest in Africa must in fact go higher thanstate and USAID. It must go to the White House and theNational Security Council, where there must be recognitionthat Africa is of strategic interest to the United States, not justhumanitarian as has so often been the case up to now.

There was a telling moment in this regard during (the) cri-sis over Liberia. As rebel forces approached the capital, Africanand European nations alike urged the U.S. to provide troopson the ground to stabilise the situation. The U.K. had doneso in neighbouring Sierra Leone, France in Cote d’Ivoire. ThePresident sent 3,000 Marines offshore of Liberia, but after afew days and after only a few troops had gone on shore for ashort while, the troop ship sailed away. The President said thathis primary interest had been that food and medicine couldbe provided, and once that was done our job was largely done.However one judges the desirability of providing Americantroops in that situation, the conclusion that the civilisedworld’s primary interest in a failing state, where once Al Qaidahad reaped fortunes in diamond trading, was humanitarianwas unfortunate. The world’s interest in Africa must be seenas strategic. Once that fundamental recognition takes place, theresources that will be needed can be judged accordingly. Andonly then will we meet the totality of the terrorist threat onthe continent.

(Chapter titled ‘Terrorist Threat in Africa’ from ‘Global Jihad:Current Patterns & Future Trends’; by Rajeev Sharma; Kaveri Books,New Delhi; pp 291)

References

1. Foreign Affairs, January/February 2004, ‘The Terrorist Threatin Africa’, by Princeton N. Lyman and J. Stephen Morrison.2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.4. U.S. Department of State.5. Testimony Before the House of RepresentativesSubcommittee on Africa hearing on ‘Fighting Terrorism inAfrica’.

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A selection of new books on Africa and by African writers from www.africabookcentre.com

A Tale of Two Africas: Nigeria and South Africa as Contrasting VisionsBy Ali A. Mazrui, & James Karioki (Eds.)Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd., U.K., 360pp, £27.99; Paperback

THE BOOK argues that Nigeria and South Africa provide the socio-economic andpolitical contrasts in the African condition. Some of these contrasts can be demonstrat-ed in the following: Nigeria is the Africa of human resources, South Africa is a land ofmineral resources; Nigeria repels European settlement; South Africa is a magnet for suchsettlement; Nigeria is a mono-racial society, South Africa is a multiracial society; Nigeriais grappling with the politics of religion, South Africa is pre-occupied with the politicsof secularism; Nigeria is Africa’s largest exporter of oil, South Africa is Africa’s largestconsumer of oil; Nigeria is a paradigm of indigenisation, South Africa is a paragon ofWesternisation.

Building on these contrasts, Professor Ali Mazrui, master of the dialectical approachto socio-political analysis, demonstrates how the two most influential countries betweenthe Niger and the Cape of Good Hope are alternative faces of Africa.

African Renaissance: Vol. 3, No. 1,January/February 2006By Adibe, Jideofor (Ed.)Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd.U.K. £19.95, Paperback

THEME: Africa’s MultipleAllegiances. Contributors pose theinter-related questions of what arethe impacts of the expressions ofAfricanmultipleallegianceson the pat-tern ofpoliticaland eco-nomicdevelop-ments inthe conti-nent, howthese aug-ment or undermine Africa’s pan-African unity projects and what arethe impacts of the expressions ofthese multiple allegiances on the pat-tern of political and economic devel-opments in the continent?

Contributors include: IssakaSouare; Forster Bankie Forster;Amadu Jacky Kaba and Ann Talbot.

■■ Editor’s Pick

Art Talk, Politics Talk: A Consideration of CategoriesBy Michael ChapmanUniversity of Kwazulu-Natal Press,South Africa, 187pp, £18.99 Paperback

SELF-CONTAINED essays that locateethical and aesthetic challenges in the post-colonial era, both in South Africa and glob-ally. What is Africa, what is the West? Maythe South and the North engage in newand challenging conversation? Teasing outthe intricate value of literary culture in con-temporary society, Chapman brings to thisvolume a new confidence and criticalvocabulary that both energises older con-troversies and marks out fresh ground fordebate.

African Renaissance: Vol. 3, No. 2; March/April 2006 By Jideofor Adibe (Ed.)Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd., U.K., £19.95; Paperback

THEME: Zimbabwe:s Robert Mugabe: Villain orUnjustly Vilified? Selected contents: Zimbabwe:The Limits of Influence, Princeton N. Lyman; LandReform Revisited, Lionel Beehner; Zimbabwe, theAfrican Union and Human Rights: A New Era Bornor Just Stillborn? Franco Henwood; More ThanUrban Local Governance? Warring OverZimbabwe;s Fading Cities, Amin Y Kamete; Politicsof Bitterness: 1980-2005, Norman Mlambo.

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May-July 2006

Myth of Iron: Shaka in HistoryBy Dan Wylie, University of Kwazulu-Natal Press, South Africa, 615pp,Hardback, £40

OVER the decades we have heard a great deal about Shaka, the most famous (orinfamous) of Zulu leaders. It may come as a surprise, therefore, that we do not knowwhen he was born, nor what he looked like, nor precisely when or why he was assas-sinated. His public image, sometimes monstrous, sometimes heroic, juggernautson, a “myth of iron” that is so intriguing, so dramatic, so archetypal, and sometimesso politically useful, that few have subjected it to proper scrutiny. This study setsout all the available evidence and decides what exactly we can know about Shaka’sreign. A meticulously researched “anti-biography”.

The Cult of Rhodes: Remembering an Imperialist in AfricaBy Paul Maylam, David Philip, South Africa, 184pp, Paperback, £14.95

A HUNDRED years after his death, Rhodes continuesto live in the form of memorials and statues, a universi-ty that bears his name, a prestigious scholarship. Rhodesfeatures in novels, on stage, in film. He is subject of over50 biographies and numerous articles. How did CecilRhodes, whose very average intellectual abilities, cruderacism and dubious business practices should excludehim from the ranks of the great achieve such status? The‘Cult of Rhodes’ takes a critical look at this paradox,examining among other issues the surprising silencefrom Afrikaners and Africans in Rhodes historiographyand the ambiguous attitude towards Rhodes in the coun-try that was once named after him.

African Christianity: An African StoryBy Ogbu U. Kalu (Ed.)South Africa University ofPretoria, 631pp; £45

DESIGNED as a theological text-book for use throughout the conti-nent, this comprehensive history isideologically-driven by an attempt toforeground African appropriations ofthe Christian gospel, while not ignor-ing the significant contributions ofEuropean missionaries. .

Images of LamuBy Javed JafferjiGallery Publications, Zanzibar.116pp, £24.95

LAMU Old Town is the oldest andbest-preserved Swahili settlement inEast Africa, retaining its traditionalfunctions. Built in coral stone andmangrove timber, the town is charac-terised by the simplicity of structuralforms enriched by such features asinner courtyards, verandas, and elab-orately carved wooden doors. Lamuhas hosted major Muslim religiousfestivals since the 19th century, andhas become a significant centre for thestudy of Islamic and Swahili cultures.

Snap Judgements: New Positions inContemporary African PhotographyBy Okwui EnwezorSteidl Verlag, Germany, 384pp,£40, Hardback

FEATURES about 250 works by 30artists from across Africa, presenting arange of highly individual artisticresponses to the unprecedentedchanges now taking place in the eco-nomic, social, and cultural spheres ofAfrican nations and provides newinsight into the increasing role of thevisual arts within the global culturalcommunity.

Organised into four main themat-ic groups –– landscape; urban forma-tions; the body and identity; and his-tory and representation –– aroundwhich Africa’s experimental artistshave articulated individual artisticstyles and languages.

Orisa: Yoruba Gods and Spiritual Identity inAfrica and the DiasporaBy Toyin Falola, and Ann Genova(Eds.), U.S.A.Africa World Press, 468pp, £21.99,Paperback

AN EXAMINATION of the influ-ence of Yoruba culture in the widerAfrican Diaspora.

Orisa, the Nigerian pantheistic wor-ship tradition, is widespread over notjust the African continent but much ofthe globe.

The essays included cover a widerange of subjects, including divination;the practice of Santeria; festivals andsongs; the creation of Orisa-based com-munities within the United States; andthe globalisation of cults.

Most importantly, the volume doc-uments the survival of religious prac-tices and their important role in rein-

forcing cultural values within a com-munity as well as empowering its mem-bers to progress in the modern world,wherever they be.

Assessing the influence of Yoruba culture

■■ Biographies

Cecil Rhodes

64 May-July 2006

B O O K S & I D E A S

■■ Travel and Tourism

Other Routes: 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel WritingTabish Khair, Justin Edwards, Martin Leer and Hanna Ziadeh (Eds.)Signal Books, U.K., 421pp, Hardback, £45

THIS ANTHOLOGY, stretching from thefifth to the nineteenth centuries, introduces anentirely different tradition of travel writing ––the work of travellers from the world beyondEurope. ‘Other Routes’ collects important pri-mary work by travel writers from Asia and Africain English translation. Encompassing spiritualjourneys, the personal, ethnography, natural his-tory, geography, cartography, navigation, poli-tics, history, religion and diplomacy, it shows thatAfricans and Asians also travelled the world andleft travel writing worth reading.

An introduction by Tabish Khair discussestravel literature as a genre, the perception of trav-el and writing about travel as a European privi-lege, and the emergence of new writings that show that travel has been a humanoccupation that crosses time and culture. This original and significant book willinterest armchair travelers and others in views of people and places away fromthe European traveller’s gaze.

Selections include ‘The Travels of a Japanese Monk’ (c. 838), ‘Al-Abdari, theDisgruntled Traveller’ (c. 1290), ‘A Korean Official’s Account of China’ (1488),‘The Poetry of Basho’s Road’ (1689), ‘Malabari: A Love-Hate Affair with theBritish’ (1890).

Travel writing by Asians and Africans

Morocco: The Globetrotter Travel GuideBy Robin Gauldie, New Holland,U.K., 128pp, Paperback, £8.99Combines a travel guide and pull-outtravel map (scale 1: 1 100 000) in aconvenient and durable plastic wallet.The handy Travel Guides arecrammed with useful information,travel tips and recommendations forthe traveller. Favouring essential andpractical travel data over extendedessays, their clearly presented, easy-to-carry format is both attractive andpractical.

■■ Looking BackHistory of the South African Department of Foreign Affairs, 1927-1993Tom Wheeler (ed.), South African Institute of International Affairs, SouthAfrica, 779pp, Paperback, £41.99

WITH the approval of the Director General ofForeign Affairs, the South African Institute forInternational Affairs (SAIIA) has published theofficially prepared history of the South AfricanDepartment of Foreign Affairs, covering theperiod from its founding to the run-up to thefirst democratic election.

The book contains Contains 28 chaptersdivided into three parts. Part 1 relates the roleof the Department and its officials in great andlesser events, as well as its development in theyears between 1927 and 1948. Part 2 deals with1948-1966; and Part 3 is a history of theDepartment itself, reflecting external eventsindirectly through the growth, organisation andmanagement of the Department. The book is

only available in limited supply.

Evolutions and Revolutions: A Contem-porary History of Militaries in SouthernAfricaMartin Rupiya (Ed.), SouthAfrican Institute for SecurityStudies, 390pp, Paperback, £17.99

BY providing case studies of the 13countries that make up the SouthernAfrican Development Community,this book aims to deliver a template ofhow the new African states trans-formed in the area of their militaryinstitutions following independence.It has three aims: To provide a mili-tary history of the southern Africanregion; to overcome traditional reluc-tance among African people to putpen to paper; and, to cultivate a cadreof policymakers who are able toengage in intellectual discourse.

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May-July 2006

TOP 10: NON-FICTION

1. ‘A Call to Honour: In Service ofEmergentIndia’Author:Jaswant SinghPublisher:RupaPrice: Rs. 495

2. ‘Marley &Me’Author: John GroganPublisher: William MorrowPrice: $10 (Rs. 468)

3. ‘The Dancing Girls of Lahore’Author: Louise BrownPublisher: Harper PerennialPrice: $9.25 (Rs. 433)

4. ‘The Worldis Flat: TheGlobalisedWorld in theTwenty-FirstCentury’Author:Thomas L.FriedmanPublisher:Penguin IndiaPrice: £5.99

(Rs. 516)

5. ‘Identity and Violence’Author: Amartya SenPublisher: Penguin BooksPrice: Rs. 295

6. ‘DCConfidential’Author:ChristopherMeyerPublisher:PhoenixPrice: £4.75(Rs. 409)

7. ‘Iran Awakening: From Prison toPeace Prize’Author: Shirin EbadiPublisher: RiderPrice: £8.50 (Rs. 732)

8. ‘Spy Princess: The Life of NoorInayat Khan’Author: Shrabani BasuPublisher: Lotus RoliPrice: Rs. 395

9. ‘The War of The World: History’sAge of Hatred’Author: Niall FergusonPublisher: Penguin Allen Lane

Price: £18.00(Rs. 1,551)

10.‘Temptationsof The West’Author: PankajMishraPublisher:PicadorPrice: Rs. 525

TOP 10: FICTION

1. ‘Home’Author: Manju KapurPublisher: Random House IndiaPrice: Rs. 395

2. ‘Shantaram’Author:Gregory DavidRobertsPublisher:ABACUSPrice: £5.50(Rs. 474)

3. ‘The DevilWears Prada’Author: LaurenWeisbergerPublisher: HarperPrice: Rs. 250.00

4. ‘The DaVinci Code’Author: DanBrownPublisher:Corgi BooksPrice: Rs. 265

5. ‘What WouldYou Do ToSave TheWorld?’Author: Ira TrivediPublisher: Penguin BooksPrice: Rs. 195

6. ‘Water’Author: BapsiSidhwaPublisher:Penguin VikingPrice: Rs. 325

7. ‘Blind Willow,SleepingWoman’Author: Haruki

MurakamiPublisher: Harvill SeckerPrice: £7.25 (Rs. 624)

8. ‘Crime Beat: True Stories of Copsand Killers’Author:MichaelConnellyPublisher:OrionbooksPrice: £6.50(Rs. 559)

9. ‘Coming Out’Author: Danielle SteelPublisher: Bantam PressPrice: £7.25 (Rs. 624)

10. ‘Malinche’Author: Laura EsquivelPublisher: Simon & SchusterPrice: $11.25 (Rs. 526)

(Source: Bahri Sons, New Delhi, www.booksatbahri.com. All the books listed above are available online)

It has been the talking point for some days now and not surprisingly former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh’s ‘A Call to Honour: InService of Emergent India’ tops the non-fiction list this week, while Manju Kapur's ‘Home’ is fiction favourite.

Bestsellers in India

66 May-July 2006

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Speech by Minister of State for External Affairs Anand

Sharma at the Accra conclave of the Confederation of Indian

Industry (CII) on May 25.

IIt is indeed a pleasure and a privilege for me to havethe opportunity to address this distinguished gather-ing of senior ministers and government officials,diplomats, business leaders, bankers and, mostimportant, the seasoned members of the fourth

estate. Our presence in Accra today truly marks a new begin-ning in our efforts to forge a public-private partnership that willwork to strengthen economic ties between India and Africa.We, from the Government of India, haveworked closely with the Confederation ofIndian Industry in organising the highlysuccessful India-Africa PartnershipConclaves in New Delhi in March andNovember last year. And we are nowtogether in Accra with a high-level busi-ness delegation and a government teamthat includes senior officials from ourMinistries of External Affairs, Financeand Commerce and from the EXIMBank of India. Our multi-sectoral gov-ernment team and the presence of sever-al of our leading companies in our busi-ness delegation, Ladies and Gentlemen, isour way of saying that we are serious inour desire to engage our African friendsacross a broad spectrum of activities. Weare here to listen to you, to understandyour development priorities and challenges, and to worktogether in creating a “win-win” partnership.

Like the rest of the world, Excellencies, India has alsowatched with admiration the steady progress that Africa ismaking on the path of democracy, good governance and sus-tained, equitable, economic growth. We have seen the marchof democracy across large parts of the African continent. Wehave seen the earnest efforts of the African Union to put anend to several debilitating conflicts. We are witnessing theefforts of NEPAD to create institutions like the African PeerReview Mechanism and the willingness of countries like ourhosts in Ghana to subject themselves to scrutiny. We hope thatthe movement towards genuine multilateral debt relief willgather momentum. And we recognise the positive impact ofthese developments in terms of improved economic growth.Over the years, I have heard my African friends pray fervent-ly for a new dawn and I do believe that Africa today stands onthe cusp of a renaissance. And India, which stood shoulder toshoulder with Africa during its darkest days of colonialismand apartheid, now looks forward to an equally close partici-pation in Africa’s renaissance.

Ladies and Gentlemen, over the last few years, the “Indiastory” has also caught the world’s imagination. It is the storyof a country of 1.1 billion people, living in a raucous, pluralis-tic democracy and managing a steady GDP growth of almost8 percent –– with plans to raise it to an even more ambitious

10 percent. Growth that relies primarily on the hard work andenterprise of our indigenous companies rather than on inter-national aid or Foreign Direct Investment alone; growth thatrelies on our domestic markets more than it does on exports;growth that has seen India overtake Germany as the world’sfourth-largest economy in terms of the World Bank’sPurchasing Power Parity index; and growth that does notwiden the gulf between the haves and have-nots of our soci-ety but consciously tries to address the pressing issues of socialand economic inequality.

In reaching this position, Ladies and Gentlemen, we dobelieve that we have developed products, technologies and

systems that are uniquely relevant for ourconditions in India and, indeed, in Africa.My business friends like to call it India’s“AAA” value proposition: Our productsand technologies are Adaptable, they areAppropriate, and they are Affordable.Over the years, we have attempted toshare these with our friends in Africathrough our Indian Technical andEconomic Cooperation programme, andthrough a variety of capacity-buildingprojects such as the Ghana-India KofiAnnan Centre for Excellence in IT herein Accra and the EntrepreneurshipTraining and Technology DevelopmentCentre in Dakar.

But we do realise that in today’sworld, access to low-cost finance is theessential catalyst for joint ventures and

for transfer of technology. And while we are still a fairly poorcountry in terms of our per capita income, sensible econom-ic policies have allowed us to build a comfortable level of for-eign exchange reserves. As a result, we are now in a positionto provide modest amounts of finance through concessionallines of credit, bilaterally as well as through the TEAM-9 andNEPAD programmes. Over the last year, we have used ourTEAM-9 programme to support an irrigation project inSenegal, an urban transport project in Cote d’voire, an agri-cultural implements project in Burkina Faso, a power gener-ation facility in Mali, a cotton yarn plant in Chad and a ruralelectrification project here in Ghana. The launch of construc-tion of the Presidential Office complex in Accra tomorrow willbe another important milestone under the TEAM-9 pro-gramme. We have similarly used funds available under our$200 million line of credit to NEPAD to support an urbantransport project in Kinshasa, a cement plant in Kisangani anda tractor assembly plant in the Gambia. And today, Ladies andGentlemen, we hope to take this step further through a $250million line of credit that EXIM Bank would provide to theECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development.

Now, I do recognise that my friends in the other sub-regions of Africa are beginning to say that we are perhaps giv-ing too much importance to just one region of Africa at theexpense of the others. I must take this opportunity to assurethem that we do not see this as a zero sum game. We hope to

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May-July 2006

Speech by Minister of Local Government, Youth Affairs and

Sports Mani Shankar Aiyar at the Africa Day function

organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs in New

Delhi on XXXXXXX

YYour Excellency, Mr. AbdalmahmoodAbdelhaleem, my long cherished friend and col-league, Shri Talmiz Ahmad, who has recentlytaken over as the head of this Council,Excellencies, and among these Excellencies I

see many, many familiar faces and very old friends, Ladies andGentlemen. I should also mention col-leagues in the Foreign Service, who haveturned up in alarming numbers to attendthis lecture.

What, you might ask yourself and thatis the question which I am asking myself,is the Minister of Local Government,Youth Affairs and Sports, doing as a prin-cipal speaker at the Africa Day function?The answer apparently is, it is not theIndian Council of World Affairs whichthought up this bizarre idea of asking meto deliver today’s lecture but, in fact, theCorps of African Heads of Mission asrepresented by your Dean, who, out ofthe billion Indians, chose to pick me. CanI think of a higher honour? Thank youvery, very much, indeed, for recognisingin me a friend and an admirer of yourgreat continent and a profound believer in the value andimportance of friendship between India and Africa, and themany, many lessons we in India have to learn from the Africanexperience.

The inspiration for my theme today, which is not quite thetitle that has been misprinted in your invitation card, is: ‘Indiaand Africa –– From Yesterday to Tomorrow’. It derives in sub-stantial measure from a phrase that I came across in a speech

delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru, the hero of my generation andI think the hero of many Indians, when he delivered the inau-gural address to African Students Congress, here in Delhi, on26th December, 1953; what he then said was: “It is far betterto look at the present, and even more so to the future, than togo back to the past all the time.” He didn’t object to going backto the past. His objection was going back to the past all thetime. And, I do not believe that we can fulfil his injunction oflooking at the present and even more so at the future unlesswe first take stock of the past and ensure continuity betweenthe past, present and the future. So, I give myself the liberty

of going back to the past, but not throughall the time at my disposal.

Panditji’s remark, which I have justquoted to you, came in the context of aperception which informed his thinkingabout Africa which he uttered in the fol-lowing words in the same address; hesaid: “Probably no part of the earth’s sur-face has suffered more in the last two orthree hundred years from the incursionsof outsiders than Africa.”

For us to understand what was theagony in the Indian heart at seeing thesuffering of the African people, we prob-ably have to go back to those indenturedlabourers, most of whom were illiterateand who suffered the first shock of see-ing how the African people were treatedin South Africa and other parts of Africa.

But, because they were unlettered, we don’t, as far as I know,have written records of how they reacted to the horror theysaw. But, there was a young man, who was only 23 years old,who landed in Durban, in 1893, Mohandas KaramchandGandhi. And he articulated, what I think must have been thefeelings of generations of Indians who had preceded him inthe African continent. Gandhiji wrote: “When I went to SouthAfrica (1893), I knew nothing about that country. Yet, within

enter into a similar arrangement with the EconomicCommunity of Central African States fairly soon, even as welook at forging a closer relationship with Africa’s other sub-regions and, indeed, with the African Union itself.

But I must also add that our lines of credit are merelyinstruments to enable countries in this region to meet someof their development priorities through concessional finance,and also to encourage Indian companies to participate moreactively in mutually beneficial projects here. It is important thatour own businessmen see these lines of credit as catalysts toencourage them to venture forth without fear and not ascrutches without which they cannot move forward. The sameis true for our African friends. I strongly believe that India’svalue proposition provides a very strong economic argumentfor normal commercial ties and I am very happy that theConfederation of Indian Industry is providing a forum like thiswhere businessmen from India and Africa can freely interact

and develop a stronger network. Without wanting to flatter our hosts, I must take this oppor-

tunity to convey our appreciation of the manner in which theGovernment of Ghana has created a stable and friendly busi-ness environment. This has attracted a host of Indian compa-nies to establish a presence here, making India one of thelargest overseas investors in Ghana. And I am particularlyhappy that this has largely happened without government sup-port or recourse to our lines of credit. I would be delighted tosee this example replicated in many other countries around theregion, even as we from the government do our best to removeobstacles and act as facilitators.

Before I conclude, I would like to convey my government’ssincere thanks to H.E. President Kuofor for being here todayto inaugurate this conclave. I would also like to thank myfriends and colleagues who have especially traveled to Accrato make this event a success. Thank you.

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seven days of my reaching there, I found that I had to deal witha situation too terrible for words. I discovered that as a manand an Indian I had no rights. More correctly, I discovered thatI had no rights as a man because I was an Indian.”

It is the shock of this discovery that converted the shy, ret-icent, introspective and awkward young man into a nationalleader long before he was 30. When we wonder whether a 40-year-old Congressman should became President of the party,we should remember that the freedom movement germinat-ed in the mind of a young boy, who was not even 25 when hecame to be accepted as the leader of the freedom struggle, atleast by the Indians in South Africa.

All of us know that the horror he had experienced gottranslated into a firm resolve to end all injustice when he wasthrown out of a railway train at Pietermaritzburg, for havingthe temerity to buy a first class ticket and travel in the samecompartment as a white man. When the white man protest-ed to the guard at Gandhiji’s presence, the porter orderedGandhi off the train. Remember, this is the boy who was only23 or 24 years old. And when he was thrown upon the rail-way platform, he sat the whole night on that platform on awooden bench. He experienced many human emotions:There was fear, there was humiliation, and, ultimately, as theday dawned, there was a resolve, and it was that resolve on thatrailway station which created the greatest man of the 20thcentury and, possibly, the greatest man that humanity has everknown.

But, the story I have just told is avery well known story and an often-repeated story. What is little realised,perhaps because it has never beenadequately emphasised, is that it wasat a railway platform of South Africathat Gandhiji learnt how to translatehis resolve to stand up to injusticeinto a plan of action. That was whenhe found that when the humble rail-way porters in South Africa wereinsulted by the racist white men,these porters would salute the whitepassengers who had insulted themand say, “My brother, God will forgive you your rudeness.”

It was there that in Gandhiji’s mind germinated the ideathat you can be generous towards the culprit. This is the begin-ning of Satyagraha of the individual. So, I would like to paymy tribute to those humble railway porters in Africa who wereresponsible for the ethical and strategic content of our free-dom struggle.

The story of Gandhi in South Africa is too well known tobear repetition on this occasion and I do not want to dwell toomuch on the past. There is another passage from his story fromMy Experiments with Truth of what it was that made Gandhijirecoil from those who were apparently engaged in missionaryactivities in Africa. He writes: “I witnessed some of the hor-rors that were perpetrated on the Zulus during the Zulu rebel-lion. Because one man, Bambatta, their chief, had refused topay the tax, the whole race was made to suffer. I was in charge

of the ambulance corps. I shall never forget the lacerated backsof the Zulus who had received stripes and were brought to usfor nursing because no white nurse was prepared to look afterthem. Yet, those who perpetrated all these cruelties calledthemselves Christians. They were educated and better dressedthan the Zulus, but not their moral superior.”

And, thus, I think, it came about that in Africa, then divid-ed between several racial groups, and about half a century latercoming to suffer institutional humiliation and insults, of hav-ing this translated into the law and system of governance called“Apartheid”, that the Indian mind and the African mind beganto come together in a common quest for freedom.

But, the problem was that, here in India we knew very lit-tle, next to nothing, about Africa. And so, when JawharlalNehru was imprisoned and his daughter was taking lessonsfrom him, he wrote to her a series of letters by way of edu-cating her, and incidentally himself, about history; these let-ters are collected in the renowned book, Glimpses of WorldHistory. Jawaharlal Nehru confesses, “Unfortunately, notmany are acquainted with the past of Africa. I confess that myown knowledge was largely limited to the recent two to threehundred years. Gradually, I learnt something more of its pre-vious history and found, as I expected, that that history was arich history, rich in cultural achievements, rich in politicalorganisation and rich in forms of democracy.”

So, it is hardly surprising, when, in 1927, he attended the‘International Congress againstColonial Oppression andImperialism’ in Brussels, he particu-larly sought out the South Africandelegates. Because this little nuggetof information has been relegated tothe footnotes of the history books, Ithink it is worth retrieving andreminding the audience that the firstofficial contact between the Africanliberation movement and the IndianNational Congress took place nei-ther in Africa nor in India, but in theheart of Europe! Indeed, it is the citywhich is the headquarters of the

European Union. He met there Josiah Gumede, President ofthe African National Congress; also, J.A. Laguma, who was acoloured leader; and a White trade unionist, D. Cobarine.Perhaps significantly, and this is something worth investigat-ing, there didn’t appear to be an Indian in the South Africandelegation that went to this international congress.

Jawaharlal Nehru came back impassioned, angry aboutwhat he had seen and learnt. This experience placed the Indianfreedom struggle within the larger canvas of the freedomstruggle of all the oppressed people around the world, includ-ing Africa.

In a report to the Indian National Congress on the meet-ing in Brussels, Nehru wrote that in the British Empire, “Wesee colour and racial prejudice and the doctrine that the Whiteman must be supreme even in countries where he forms asmall minority. South Africa offers the most flagrant example

If Asia is to look towards resurgence, then this

continent must take its place at the same level at which it was till 300 years ago, i.e.,

at the vanguard of the advancement of human civilisation. This cannot

even begin until Asia learns from the African experience.

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May-July 2006

of this. In Kenya and the adjacent territories it is now proposedto create a new federation or dominion with all the powers inthe hands of a few White settlers, who can do what they willdo to a large number of Indians and overwhelming Africanpopulation. Can India as a state associate itself with this groupand be a party to the colour bar legislation and the exploita-tion and humiliation of her own sons and the races of Africa?”

This spirit got reflected in its true horror when Italy invad-ed Abyssinia, now called Ethiopia, and the League of Nationsdid nothing about Mussolini’s clear transgression of theCovenant of the League. That compounded having donenothing over Japanese incursions in Manchuria.

Rabindranath Tagore, our national poet, reacted to theinvasion of Ethiopia, so-called Abyssinia, by the Italians, witha poem addressed to the entire West, to those who had madeimperialism their mission. It is such a beautiful poem that Iwant to share with you! Please remember when he wrote it:He wrote it as the League of Nations was betraying the pur-poses for which the “war to end all wars” had been fought,between 1914-1918. And, the betrayal in Abyssinia was goingto plunge the whole of the Western world, and with it the restof the world, into the terrible horrors of the Second WorldWar. This was preceded by what was happening in Germany,which in many ways still haunts the European civilisation andthe people, the Jewish people being targeted by a mad manwho had the approbation and the approval of his people andthe support of the vast majority of the establishment in thecountries around Europe. It was truly a time when the last raysof civilisation were illuminating the Western sky. Taking thisas a theme, Rabindranath Tagore wrote:

While the last rays of Civilisation still illumine your sky,And before the approaching darknessQuite envelopes your world, Beg of LadyAfricaHer forgiveness.In the midst of this clamorous cacophony ofviolenceLet “Forgive us” beYour sacred word of parting.

Part from them they did have to. The parting began inIndia. In India, on the eve of our becoming independent, in1946, Jawaharlal Nehru and several of his colleagues wereinducted into an Interim Cabinet of which he was the VicePresident and also held the portfolio of External Affairs. Inwhat was, perhaps, the most significant foreign policy decisionof the Government of India and of Nehru, although strictlyspeaking he was still to be in the Government, he imposedsanctions on South Africa. He broke diplomatic relations withSouth Africa and, of course, there was no question of havingmilitary ties with Pretoria. He did this long before sanctionsbecame a common word in our vocabulary or before theUnited Nations began thinking about sanctions. And, cer-tainly, before individual countries around the world decidedit was a legitimate form of diplomatic protest.

The price we had to pay was pretty considerable becauseSouth Africa was among our most important trading partners,largely because of the Indian trading community that hadbeen, by and large, indentured and taken there, and was fol-lowed by a few tradesmen and other professionals. But, thiswas the price not only was India willing to pay, it was also theprice that Indians in South Africa were ready to pay.

At that time, the African National Congress and, in par-ticular its Youth League, had considerable reservations overany kind of partnership between the Africans and Indians inSouth Africa, and there was a belief, fostered somewhat assid-uously by the local authorities, the ruling authorities, thatApartheid meant every racial group had to live separately. So,there is no real question of collaboration between the Indianand African communities: Each community was going to findits own destiny separate from the other community, that iswhat the word “Apartheid” means. Thus, South Africa becamea country of separate communities –– one dominant, the oth-ers subordinate, instead of being a nation in which all theinhabitants lived and worked together.

This is 1946, and Nelson Mandela , a very young memberof the Youth League, reports in his autobiography Long Walkto Freedom, I think it is worth listening to Mandela’s voice onthe rather agonised question of the relationship between theIndian community and the African community in SouthAfrica, and, by extension, between India and Africa at the startof our journey as an independent nation. In 1946, NelsonMandela said: “We in the Youth League and the AfricanNational Congress witnessed the Indian people register anextraordinary protest against the colour operation in a wayAfricans and the ANC had not. Ismail Meer and J.N.Singhsuspended their studies, said goodbye to their families andwent to prison. Ahmed Kathrada , who was still a high schoolstudent, did the same thing. I often visited the home of AminaPahad for lunch, and then, suddenly this charming women putaside her apron and went to jail for her beliefs. If I had oncequestioned the willingness of the Indian community to protestagainst oppression, I no longer could do so.

“The Indian campaign became a model for the type ofprotest that we in the Youth League were calling for. It inspireda spirit of defiance and radicalism among people, (and) brokethe fear of prison. They reminded us that the freedom strug-gle was not merely a question of making speeches, holdingmeetings, passing resolutions and sending deputations, but ofmeticulous organisation, militant mass action and, above all,the willingness to suffer and sacrifice.”

I cannot think of a higher tribute to the role of the Indiancommunity in the African liberation struggle than these gen-erous words. Mandela then went on to describe how, basedon the lessons learnt from Indians, the ANC and, particular-ly, the Youth League, brought Africans and the Indians togeth-er in what, in 1952, was called the “Defiance Campaign”.Mandela writes: “The government saw the campaign as athreat to its security and its policy of Apartheid. They were per-turbed by the growing partnership between Africans andIndians. Apartheid was designed to divide racial groups and weshowed that different groups could work together. The

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prospect of a united front between Africans and Indians,between moderates and radicals, greatly worried them.”

Jawaharlal Nehru in his address at the Asian RelationsConference in Delhi in March-April 1947, said: “We of Asiahave a special responsibility to the people of Africa. We musthelp them to their rightful place in the human family.” I thinkthat sums up the African policy of the new government whichtook office in 1947. And, if any further clarification were need-ed, then, at the International Conference on Peace andEmpire, held in London, in 1948, Panditji added, “The peo-ple of Africa deserve our special attention.”

However, there was a continuing problem. It looked as ifthe winds of change would finally blow and that Africa andAfrican nations would, sooner rather than later, become inde-pendent. The question then arose: What should the Indiansin Africa be doing? And, what relationship would India havewith the Indian community in Africa, and whether this couldbe at the expense of the relationship India wished to cultivatewith the Africans and Africa? Jawaharlal Nehru, at the sameLondon conference, said: “I think Indians in Africa or else-where can be useful members of the community. But only onthis basis do we welcome their remaining there –– that theinterests of the people of Africa are always placed first.”

NNow, this was not very welcome to all elements ofthe Indian community residing in different Africancountries. Many of them had no other homes.

Many of them had suffered in the most terrible ways when,for example, laying railways in Kenya. The lion as the symbolof danger in Indian literature comes entirely from the experi-ence of Indian labourers working on railways going throughthe forests in Africa when many of them were attacked andkilled by these ferocious animals. It was also true that sectionsof the Indian community, those who belonged to the civil ser-vices and those who were in the professions, found themselveswondering what their future would be in an Africa that wasstruggling with itself.

There was also the unspoken divide between the Indians,by and large, and Africans, by and large, on the role of violencein the struggle for liberation. Mandela himself took the posi-tion that he agreed with Gandhi’s philosophy of non- violencenot as a moral principle but as an appropriate strategy.However, he found that the strategy of non-violence was notworking; he was not prepared to abjure use of violence pure-ly on the ground of moral principle.

So, it was in this rather complicated situation that a newAfrica was about to dawn. There was a public meeting held inDelhi on 13th April, 1953, where Jawaharlal Nehru made astatement which became highly controversial within theIndian community in Africa. This was with regard to the pres-ence of the Mau Mau in Kenya, with Jomo Kenyata emerg-ing as a major leader of the liberation struggle. Nehru said:“India’s sympathies are with the people of Kenya. India hasalready made it clear that no Indian should remain thereagainst the wishes of the African people. No Indian shouldremain there either to harm the African people or to exploitthem. We do not want any people to sit on the backs of the

African people. The Indian people can help Africans only asguests of the Africans in the land of the Africans.”

This very strong position was contested by Indians livingin Africa. They said: “We have no land other than the land ofAfrica. We did not come yesterday and we often did not comeof our own volition.” At this stage, Indians had been in Africaover a hundred and fifty years. They were asking what theirplace would be in the new Africa. Jawaharlal Nehru made itclear that our relationship with Africa took precedence overour relationship with the Indians. We would support them inAfrica only to the extent that Indians in Africa became goodAfricans. If a conflict arose between the African view of theIndians and Indian view of how they should be conductingthemselves, well, there was a homeland here in India to whichthese Indians could return; but, we were not going to allowour ethnic bonds with Indians in Africa to take precedenceover the imperatives of an outstanding relationship betweenIndia and the emerging Africa. This question has gone throughmany, many convoluted phases over the last 50 years, but it isnot, I think, a significant or major problem any more.

At this time, an English teacher, Peter Wright, whobelonged to the Kenyan Civil Service and was a friend of JomoKenyata, and had been expelled by the British in Kenya foropposition to British colonial rule, came to India to start aDepartment of African Studies in Delhi University on the rec-ommendation of High Commissioner Apa Pant. When hearrived in India, he called on the Prime Minister. This was19th May, 1955. And as a civil servant myself and now aMinister, I’m quite amazed that the Prime Minister of Indiashould not have had some subordinate to take notes of whatwas discussed and have them circulated to all and sundry.Instead, he himself, Jawaharlal Nehru himself, not only dic-tated the notes, but, having ordered that they should be cir-culated to several different authorities, also had a copy sent tohis daughter, Indira Gandhi. That was part of her educationand the preparation she had for becoming the Prime Ministerof India. It is remarkable, really remarkable, that he found thetime to provide six pages of dictation!

There are a few phrases from these notes which I want toshare with you because I think these phrases reflect the think-ing of Jawaharlal Nehru. They are addressed really to Indianshere and how they should deal with African students whocome to study in India. He quotes Peter Wright as saying thatwhat is required here in India, above all, is for the African pointof view to be understood and appreciated. Panditji then wrote:“I entirely agree with him about this approach. We have torealise, first of all, that there is a definite African point of view,an African background of thought and social organisation, anAfrican culture deep rooted in this background.

“The history of Africa is the story of tragedy and a long con-tinued agony. We have to bear this in mind and remember thatthe whole world, and more particularly, the Europeans andAmericans, have a heavy debt to pay to Africans for the pastmisdeeds. We have therefore, to go out of our way to under-stand and be receptive to Africans. It is only then that we cangain their confidence and both learn something from themand teach them something.

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“I am told that some African students have started anAfrican bureau in Delhi. I think that it is good for theseAfricans students to have this means of self-expression.Therefore, this should be helped and encouraged.”

He ended by saying: “I have no doubt that Africa is goingto play an important part in world affairs. Africa is our neigh-bour. The sooner we try to understand the real Africa the bet-ter it would be for us as well as for Africa.”

We need to look back over the last 50 years to see to whatextent we have succeeded in implementing Nehru’s direction.I don’t think we have succeeded as much as we ought to have.What we were asked to do with respect to Africa remains anincomplete agenda.

I must share with you the words with which JawaharlalNehru welcomed the beginning of liberation in Africa, whichwas signalled by the independence of Ghana and Nigeria. Hesaid to the African Students Association here in Delhi on 6thMarch, 1957: “Africa has had a peculiarly tragic history forhundreds of years. And to see Africa turn its face towardsdawn after the dark is, indeed, something exhilarating.” Weshared in that exhilaration. Jawaharlal Nehru also welcomedthe founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), setup just a year before his death.

Under the leadership of Lal Bahadur Shastri and later ofIndira Gandhi, we started the initial cultivation of our rela-tionship with a variety of African nations. However, perhaps,from the decades of the 1980s, the Prime Minister who wasmost deeply involved with the Africa of today, the Africaemerging from history, was Rajiv Gandhi.

It was my privilege to travel with Prime Minister RajivGandhi to nearly all the African countries. Africa was at thetop of his agenda. At meetings of the Commonwealth, he bat-tled with Mrs. Margaret Thatcher on behalf of Africa, and sep-arately with the United States in the United Nations, and inthe mobilisation of the Non Alignment Movement. By swing-ing through Africa to Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Angola, andgoing on to Harare for the NAM Summit; articulating his sol-idarity with South Africa, and becoming the most articulatespokesman for Africa the Commonwealth had, that the Non-Alignment Movement had, that the United Nations had, onthe question of ending invasion, colonialism, and Apartheidin Africa, Rajiv Gandhi has earned his permanent place in theheart of Africans.

It was at the NAM summit in Harare, that I had my brief15 seconds of brush with fame. Rajiv Gandhi had insisted ona special meeting in a close-door room with his colleagues atthe NAM Summit to discuss at that highest level and approvean idea that would demonstrate in some practical mannerwhat the countries of the NAM, the countries of the South,notwithstanding their status as developing countries, couldmake some gesture towards ending the unfolding tragedy inAfrica. As he rushed towards the meeting, he brushed past mein the delegates’ lobby and said to me, “Think up a name forthe Fund,” and went into the meeting. I sat outside, jugglingwith possible names to give to this Fund. And I came with theacronym ‘AFRICA’: That acronym didn’t stand for the nameof the continent; it had to be spelt out in capital letters all the

way, and it stood for: “Action For Resisting Invasion,Colonialism and Apartheid (AFRICA).” When he came outof that meeting, Rajiv asked me, “Have you thought of some-thing?” I said, “We should call it AFRICA Fund.” He said,“Can you not think of something more imaginative.” I said,“I mean the acronym, ‘AFRICA’, which stands for: Action ForResisting Invasion, Colonialism and Apartheid.” He said,“Good show,” and went back into the room and that’s howthe ‘AFRICA Fund’ got its name.

Several months later, when Rajiv Gandhi presented inNew Delhi the report of the AFRICA Fund committee, thisis how he described the AFRICA Fund: “The AFRICA Fundis a fund to assist those who struggle –– whose struggle is ourstruggle. It is a Fund to finish Apartheid. It is a Fund to fore-stall bloodshed. It is a Fund for Peace. It is a Fund for the tri-umph of the human spirit.”

That Fund made a small contribution –– ending invasion,the invasion of Mozambique; ending colonialism, which wasthen rampant in Namibia; and of ending apartheid in SouthAfrica. That is how it came about that when Rajiv Gandhiceased to be the Prime Minister, when he was defeated in elec-tions in 1989, and Namibia became free the following year, avery special invitation was sent to the Leader of theOpposition, along with the Prime Minister of India who wasthen Shri V.P. Singh, at the freedom celebrations in Namibia:A great and very generous tribute to India by the last bastionof colonialism for the contribution that we had made to endthis dreadful phenomenon which had made Africa a huntingground for white hunters, not merely your jungles for wildanimals, but your countries for human beings.

So, I think, it is with Rajiv Gandhi that we come in a senseto the climax of India’s relationship with Africa in the past. Icannot really leave this without one last quotation: It is themessage that Mr. Rajiv Gandhi sent to the African NationalCongress on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of its found-ing, when Mr. Nelson Mandela was still in jail; Rajiv wrote:“The end of Apartheid is in sight. It survives on a lung machinefurnished by its powerful economic and military benefactors.Let them remember the lesson they were taught by MahatmaGandhi, that no power is greater than the power of the soul.The victory of the soul of South Africa is assured. The anni-hilation of the atavism of apartheid is certain.”

WWe now arrive at what we need to do in the presentfor the future. We had built up a relationship withAfrica over the better part of the century on the

basis of the ground reality of our country being a colonisedcountry and yours being a colonised continent; on the per-ception that freedom is indivisible and, therefore, in no waycould a country like India consider itself free without all coun-tries which were in thrall to colonialism also being liberatedfrom colonialism.

That is why freedom movements in every part of the world,whether it was in Africa, in West Asia, China, in Latin America,all became part and parcel of the Indian freedom movement.But, we cannot just go on harping on the past. We now havean Africa which is politically entirely liberated. We have an

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India which has been liberated for sixty years or more. There are other forms of exploitation that we have encoun-

tered, that we have learned to live with, and that we have over-come. There are divisions that really belong to the past and cer-tainly have no place in the future of any of the continents inthe world. No continent is more divided than Asia. And, weare divided largely because of quarrels created by others: Theseare not our own quarrels; but, we have become the victims ofthese quarrels.

If Asia is to look towards resurgence, then this continentmust take its place at the same level at which it was till 300 yearsago, i.e., at the vanguard of the advancement of human civil-isation. This cannot even begin until Asia learns from theAfrican experience.

It was an astonishing act of political will that even beforemost of Africa was politically free, the OAU came to be estab-lished 43 years ago. And we, 43 years later, do not have anOrganisation of Asian Unity! To set up the OAU and then toprogress from that to an African Union is a political achieve-ment which is truly unparalleled. We have not been able to doit in South Asia let alone in all of Asia. Most Indians wouldregard Central Asia as being more alien than they would feelin London or in San Francisco.

There isn’t even the beginning of an Asian EconomicCooperation at a continental level. There are a number ofregional initiatives which could one day contribute to a pan-Asia. But, having liberated ourselves decades before Africawas liberated, we still do not have the wisdom of Africa. It isin the evolution of the Organisation of African Unity to theAfrican Union that we have a major lesson to learn and amajor opportunity to take advantage of. We have to learn howto deal with the African Union in addition to dealing with themember-states of the African Union on a bilateral basis.

IIf I am permitted to return to my personal reminiscences,my career as a diplomat began in Brussels when theEuropean Community consisted of only six member-

states. Our relationship with these six member-states was farmore important than our relationship with the EuropeanCommunity. We have now grown to the stage where our pri-mary relationship is with the European Union, and it isthrough that relationship that we have built up our ties withthe 25 more states that now constitute the European Union.We, therefore, have a golden opportunity, not created by our-selves but presented to us by you, of availing of the AfricanUnion and its different initiatives.

We have the honour of being nominated as a dialogue-part-ner of the African Union. If we are to take full advantage ofthe governmental arrangement of being a dialogue-partnerwith the African Union, then the second thing that Indianeeds to do, and to do so in collaboration especially with YourExcellencies in your present capacity as Heads of Missionaccredited to India, is to set up a Track II. We have Track IIwith nations like Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. But,we don’t really have a well-oiled Track II mechanism withAfrican countries as a whole, not even with most countries ofAfrica. You cannot have the India-Africa relationship based

upon a Mission in Pretoria or another one in Dar-es-Salaam.What we need is to recognise that the totality of Africa has tobe covered along with ties with different regions of Africa orwith different member-states. Setting up this arrangementcan be a collective effort of the African Heads of Mission,which I would urge you to pursue vigorously.

We have in our country for over 40 years, Indian intellec-tuals who understand Africa and have made it their lifetimemission to cultivate this knowledge. I refer here to Hari SharanChhabra. It is because of him that I, as a probationer of theIndian Foreign Service, first started looking at Africa, and Iwrote one of my two essays for the Foreign Service on Africa.One was on the Algerian freedom struggle, the other was onVietnam.

Those were perhaps the most defining events of our lifefrom boyhood to adulthood. People like Hari Sharan Chhabraare there in India. We have a whole panoply now –– expertson Africa such as Prof. Ajay Dubey; his colleague, Dr. BinaSharma; Dr. J.P. Sharma, Dr. Singh, people whom I havespoken to this morning, who could easily catalyse a dialogueat people-to-people level.

The second thing I would derive from the existence of theAfrican Union is a suggestion that I would throw out to all ofyou to consider: We also need to take advantage of the eco-nomic initiatives that have been taken at the pan-African levelthrough the African Union. There are a number of sectors inwhich the India-Africa relationship has already begun tomature but still needs to come to full flower: The obvious sec-tors are –– agriculture and small industries; the less obviousbut now increasingly important areas are the knowledge sec-tor, the communications sector, cyber space, and, above all, thearea of energy. In the quest for India’s energy security, Africais an indispensable partner.

That is why, when I was Minister of Petroleum andNatural Gas, and I had as my chief lieutenant, Mr. TalmizAhmad , who is now presiding over this function, we workedtowards setting up a grid of oil and gas pipelines in Africa;increasingly involved ourselves with Libya; we looked to SouthAfrica for conversion of coal into oil; and we salivated in antic-ipation at what could be available to India off the shores ofNigeria, off the shores of Equatorial Guinea, the two Congos,areas of Africa that we hardly know.

When Indians talk of Africa, I think their mind can con-centrate on South Africa and the East African countries; withthem we are familiar. It extends now into Sudan. We haveknown English-speaking Africa over many decades. Now, weare increasingly familiar with Arabic-speaking Africa.Francophone is almost a blind spot, and India is a blind spotfor Francophone Africa. We should have a meaningful rela-tionship with Francophone Africa and must give a new thrustto this area in developing our ties.

We need to cultivate a broad-spectrum relationship withall of Africa. It is necessary for us to broaden our horizon, toget out of the colonial mindset. The Arabic-speaking Africansare the most polyglot people in the world: They either speakexcellent English or excellent French; or, as in case of theAmbassador of Tunisia, who speaks excellent English and

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excellent French, and then goes home and tells jokes in excel-lent Arabic!

I would seek a relationship between India and the AfricanUnion that goes beyond the bilateral relationship with indi-vidual member-states of the Union, a relationship that doesnot recognise the colonial distinction between North Africaand sub-Saharan Africa. But, we recognise the three broad lin-guistic regions –– an Africa where English is the principal lan-guage, an Africa where Arabic is the principal language, andan Africa where French is the principal language. Swahili is alanguage that is spoken across many parts of Africa, and itshould be very easy for Indians to learn this language. Mydaughter, who has learnt it, tells me that 30 percent of thevocabulary of Swahili is derived from Arabic. Tragically, thereare not many Swahili-speaking Indians.

Notwithstanding the tribute Nelson Mandela has paid tohis Indian colleagues, the general perception in India and inAfrica is that Indians were not much involved with the liber-ation movements in Africa. Yet, recent studies would appearto indicate that this is an area which is crying out for muchmore detailed research. I was flipping through the index ofNelson Mandela’s autobiography, and felt immense pride tocome across a whole spectrum of Indian names. That is a trea-sure trove which reveals that India and Indians were deeplyinvolved in the freedom movement in Africa.

I understand from my more reliable source, my daughterwho studies in Harvard, that among them was the prominentMakhan Singh, the trade unionist who was apparently theoldest and the longest-serving trade unionist in the freedommovement of Kenya; Pio Gama Pinto and Fitz D’Souza, whowere of Goan origin; there was Amba Patel, a close associateof Jomo Kenyata; and the two Indians who went to Africa atthe time of British rule in Kenya –– Diwan Chaman Lal whowas a lawyer, sent by Jawaharlal Nehru to defend JomoKenyata, and the High Commissioner, the colourful Apa Pant;he, too, became a part and parcel of the African liberationmovement.

All these people, as also members of the business com-munity, and those who went deep into the jungles and becameso completely indigenised that they had no contact at all withIndia or with Pakistan, I do think we need to research theirrole in Africa as historians, as social anthropologists, and aseconomists.

But, most important is the political field: In the globalorder, India and Africa really come together; they can mean-ingfully stay together only through the Non-alignedMovement.

As we prepare for the NAM Summit in Havana in a fewmonths from now, I am conscious we are in a cynical world,and a large section of the Indian elite have grown completelycynical about the NAM. It is necessary to remind ourselveswhat NAM actually does. It doesn’t stand for equidistancebetween two blocs.

Its name was derived from a world order where alignmentwas the dominant theme, and it brought together Asians andAfricans in such large numbers that the Afro-Asian move-ment held in Bandung got subsumed into NAM. African

countries came to constitute the vast majority of NAM coun-tries very quickly by the Second Summit, and so remain to thisday.

The fundamental argument for deprecating the NAM phi-losophy and sidelining this movement is that, since the worldno longer consists of two blocs, it makes no sense to have aforeign policy which says it aligns with neither bloc. I thinkthe answer to that is that “NAM” was perhaps the appropri-ate name for the movement then but it has now become aJurassic park. However, the reason for our coming togetherwas never merely to keep away from the two blocs; it wasbecause we had an alternative vision of the kind of world wewished to live in. This remains as valid today as when themovement was founded.

TTo underline my point, I go back to what PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi, when handing over theChairmanship of NAM to Mr. Robert Mugabe in

Harare, in September 1986, said: “Non-alignment matters tothe world because we are the conscience keepers of humani-ty. We are the voice of sanity. We are the refuge of the smallstates in an insecure world. We are the custodians of freedom.We offer co-existence, not co-destruction. We offer consen-sus not confrontation. We reject all domination and seek noneourselves. We pledge to all a word free from fear, free fromhatred, free from want.”

Here there is not a single word about two blocs. Whetherthe blocs existed then or do not exist now is irrelevant to thepurpose of NAM. It is only in the NAM, with India, Africaand Latin America, that the whole of the so-called developingSouth has come together.

I think it is essential to remind ourselves, especially on theeve of the Havana summit, that the philosophy of NAM, ifnot its particular nomenclature, remains not only as relevantas it ever was, but it has become even more relevant in a worldthat refuses to be dominated by a single bloc.

Is there one single word in the quotation I read for you thatdoes not remain valid in year 2006 as when it was pronounced20 years ago, in 1986? This is the world we want: A world freefrom fear, free from hatred, and free from war. Is there anyother organisation which is pledged to these objectives? So, ifwe move away from NAM, we also endanger Latin American,Asian and African solidarity. If we are to preserve and consol-idate our independence, our freedom and our sovereignty, andbecome one in an economic sense, there is no alternative tohanging together. For, if we do not hang together, there arepeople who want to hang us.

So, the basis of the relationship with the African Union, inthe absence of a Asian Union, can only be through a move-ment which was tried and tested by us. We mean solidaritybetween Asia and Africa, and between Asia, Africa and LatinAmerica, and therefore solidarity of those persons who areemerging into the 21st century to make it their 21st century.I plead, therefore, that NAM be resurrected as a principalforum for Asia, Africa and Latin America, to bring about aworld of their choice, instead of having to submit to a worldorder that is not of their choice. Thank you.

Iwas just six when I landed in a remote partof western Africa called Kano in Nigeria.Kano had a run-down airport and was thegateway to the north of the country. Thesouthern part was taken care of by a swank-ing new airport at Lagos. From Kano it wasa longish, seven-hour drive on a nice roadto the large city of Jos. The good part of Joswas that it was a city surrounded by moun-

tains and buzzing with traffic and activity. The bad part wasthat a fair fraction of the traffic was standstill. My first impres-sion of the place was that with somany of the vehicles on the sides, i.e.,the ravines lining the road, how acci-dent-prone can a city be. Road rulesseemed absent and traffic policenonexistent. Quite naturally, at agesix the only interests lie in cars andvehicles and that is what I noticedimmediately.

From Jos we moved on to a sub-urb called Gindri –– where I wasgoing to spend the next three years ofmy life in Nigeria. The road toGindri was there and not there inparts and the taxi-dotted ravines con-tinued their company. ReachingGindri was a pleasant surprise. Lushgreen foliage, tree-lined paths and awonderful sense of peace and quiet. At that point I couldscarcely enjoy the peacefulness and tranquility –– hungry,dusty and tired that I was; but, I learnt to discover its joys lateron.

I liked the house that I was to live in. A small river used torun by it and a thick forest was next door. The only school inthe little hamlet was managed and provided for by Christianmissionaries. Gindri had one church, one college and twomarkets. The place seemed to be a microcosm of the typicalAfrican way of life. The population was poor and largelydependent on agricultural produce and hunting. Commercialactivity was limited to the vegetable and fruit market that used

to assemble itself once every week. Yam and groundnut farm-ing was the major activity and most local cuisine was based onthese two products. Meat was usually hunted for in the forestand consumed by the hunter’s family. Some of my classmatescaught grasshoppers and ate them raw. On other occasionsbirds and smaller animals were hunted with catapults andconsumed –– after cooking, in this case. After the initial shockwore off I started associating that as a cultural thing and not assomething which would need a comment or reaction fromoutsiders like me. The people were essentially friendly andoutgoing. Never once in my three years there did I come

across a negative vibe or sarcasticremark.

The idyllic setting was somewhatinterrupted by a large variety ofinsects and reptiles. Mosquitoeswere a regular menace and I remem-ber eating quinine tablets by thedozen as a prophylactic. The widearray of insects available were anentomologist’s delight. Eveningsbegan with a vibrant chirping of birdsand ended with some aggressivebuzzing of insects. Lizards of a mind-boggling variety –– some really quitebeautiful –– used to romp aroundthe house. Snakes were in abundancethough, fortunately, I never cameacross any. The river used to be the

place for me. Catching tadpoles and watching fish lazily swimby my bare legs became one of my cherished childhood mem-ories.

Shopping for routine household products meant a trip toJos, where supermarket chains were in abundance. Trips to Joswere initially the most delightful ones for me. One, I got myfavorite brands. Secondly, whatever little social interactionwith other Indian families was possible happened in Jos.Indians in Jos were limited to a few families of professors andteachers who used to have weekend parties to catch up withthe latest from India. The most assiduously discussed topicsused to be either the latest policies of the host nation which

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Ashish Aggarwal recalls a carefree childhood in Gindri, near Jos inNigeria. The warmth of the people there has convinced him that only

people-to-people contacts will help us truly discover Africa.

Idyllic CHILDHOODin Nigeria’s north

I liked the house that I was to live in. A small river used torun by it and a thick forest was

next door. The only school in thelittle hamlet was managed and

provided for by Christian missionaries. Gindri had

one church, one college and two markets. The place

seemed to be a microcosm of the typical African

way of life.

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may or may not affect them orwhich dal or spice is availablein which supermarket –– sothat it could be bought in bulkand stored for the next fewmonths till it reappears again.Interaction with the locals wasstrictly professional. I do notremember any locals presentat any of these parties.

Over time, my interestlevel in these trips waned andI started to enjoy my eveninggames at school over the dustydrive to Jos. Gindri becamemy own little island of funand leaving it even for a day ortwo disrupted my mangohunting and hen chasing sig-nificantly. I quite fancied thelittle hunter that I had becomeand the catapult tucked in mywaistband became myweapon of choice. In starkcontrast to the make-believevideo games kids of that age play, I was a genuine hunter. Bythe time I was ready to bid adieu to my little kingdom I wasquite the prince. I could get mangoes with a single stone andget a hen to lay an egg on my palm.

Today when I look back with some sense of nostalgia it isalways the little village and not Jos that tends to float in themind. My three years there gave me a sense of wondermentthat refuses to fade away. The culture shock that dissolved into

a warm acceptance. The prox-imity to nature that just opensyour mind to so many infinitequestions about god’s ways.The people who are so differ-ent in body and thoughts andyet so similar in other ways.The uniformity of humanemotions and behavior at avery basic level. The ambi-tions and desires which seemto dissolve distance and time.The economic principles thatare more or less consistenteverywhere.

The value of those threeyears to an impressionablesix-year-old mind caanot beoverstated. I felt the inhos-pitable environment andmanaged to feel one with it. Istudied, played and workedwith people who are so dif-ferent from me and likedthem. When I fell, they

helped me, when I wept they hugged me. The world may callthem underprivileged or “different”, but they were my friends.

Today when I open a magazine or a travel book on Africa,all I see is forests, safaris and giraffes.

The wonderful people of the “coloured” continent do notfind a mention in most such books and magazines. I think weneed to discover them first if we want to discover Africa. Trustme, I have been there.

The backwaters thatThe backwaters thatwere my playgroundwere my playground

My friends My friends –––– well,well,some of themsome of them

Yam farming is a major occupationYam farming is a major occupation–––– everybody farms yamseverybody farms yams

Kanyakumari, or Cape Comorin, is thesouthernmost point of peninsular India andthe meeting point of two sea and an ocean:The Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and theIndian Ocean.

The sight of sunrise and sunset at Cape Comorin is anunforgettable and unique experience — the sun both risesand sets in the sea.

The place is famous for its peaceful and stunning natu-ral environment and the multicolored sand is a unique fea-ture of the beaches here.

Kanyakumari has been a great center for art, culture,civilisation, and pilgrimage for years. It has also been afamous center for commerce and trade.

Little wonder that, in the past, Kanyakumari was referredto as the Alexandria of the east.

The beaches are clean and the waters a clear, frothingblue. Kanyakumari is often set up as a geographical antonymto Kashmir, to suggest the span and variety of the sub con-tinent. For the visitor, the experience would be opposite andthe pleasure equal.

ATTRACTIONSKanyakumari Temple: The temple overlooks the

shoreline. It is dedicated to Parvati as Devi Kanya, the VirginGoddess who did penance to obtain the hand of Lord Shiva.The deity, Devi Kanyakumari, is the “protector of India'sshores” and has an exceptionally brilliant diamond in hernose ring, which is supposed to shine out to sea. The tem-ple opens from 0430 to 1130 and from 1730 to 2030. Non-Hindus are not allowed into the sanctuary.

Gandhi Mandapam: Not far from the KumariAmman Temple is the Gandhi Mandapam, constructed atthe spot where the urn containing the ashes of MahatmaGandhi was kept for public view before a portion of itscontents was immersed in the three seas. It resembles anOriyan temple and was designed so that on Gandhiji's birth-day (October 2), the sun's rays fall on the place where hisashes were kept.

Vivekananda Memorial: About 500m from the main-land, it is dedicated to Swami Vivekananda, the great socialreformer. Vivekananda meditated on the rock where the

K A N Y A K U M A R I

India’sSouthernmost

TIP

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Gandhi Mandapam

memorial stands today. A meditation hall is attached to thememorial. The design of the mandapa incorporates differ-ent styles of temple architecture from across India andhouses a statue of Vivekananda. A divine footprint — PadaParai — of Kanya Devi is also seen here. A ferry service isavailable to reach the memorial.

Suchindram Temple: Just 13 km from Kanyakumari,the town of Suchindram has a temple dedicated to a deitywho is the representation of the combined forces of Siva,Vishnu and Brahma.

It is one of the few temples in the country where the Trinityis worshipped together. The temple has a beautiful gopuram,musical pillars and an excellent statue of the Lord Hanuman,apart from a valuable collection of art from different periods.

Padmanabhapuram Palace: Located about 15 kmfrom Nagercoil, the palace has the rare distinction of beingone of the most ancient monuments in South India. Knownfor its strategic planning and military architecture, the palacewas the seat of power for the Travancore emperors till 1790,when Karthika Thirunal Maharaja, popularly known asDharma Raja, shifted the capital to Thiruvananthapuram.

Its sheer aesthetic beauty, innovative designs and time-tested wooden carvings are treat to behold.

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How to Get ThereBY AIR: Nearest airport is atThiruvananthapuram (80 km).BY RAIL: Kanyakumari is connect-ed by rail to Thiruvananthapuram,New Delhi, and Mumbai.BY ROAD: Kanyakumari is con-nected by road toThiruvananthapuram,Rameshwaram, Kodaikanal andother important south Indiancities.CLIMATE:Due to its proximity to the sea,Kanyakumari enjoys a pleasantclimate and can be visitedthroughout the year.BEST TIME TO VISIT: BetweenOctober and March..WHERE TO STAY: TTDC YouthHostel, Ashok Hotel, CapeResidency Hotel ,Hotel Tamilnadu(T.T.D.C)

T O U R I S T I N F O R M A T I O N VivekanandaMemorial

May-July 2006


■■ PROFESSOR AFTAB KAMAL PASHA teaches at the Centre for West Asian and African Studies, School of InternationalStudies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His area of specialisation includes West Asian political systems, foreign pol-icy decision-making in GCC states, India’s policy towards West Asia and North Africa and Great Powers in the Gulf and WestAsian region. He has published 12 books, including ‘Libya and the United States: Qadhafi’s Response to Reagan’s Challenge’,‘Egypt’s Relations with the Soviet Union: The Nasser and Sadat Period’ and ‘Libya in the Arab World: Qadhafi’s Quest forArab Unity’. He has also presented research papers in numerous seminars and conferences, and delivered lectures at a num-ber of foreign universities and research institutes.

■■ Dr. JAMAL M. MOOSA is a Reader in the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. His areasof specialisation include African studies, international humanitarian law, human rights, conflict and ethnic studies. Currently,he is working on issues related to child soldiers, refugees and stateless persons.

■■ MANISH CHAND is editor of Africa Quarterly. He writes on foreign policy, politics, culture and literature for Indo-AsianNews Service (IANS). He has worked with The Times of India, The Asian Age and Tehelka. His articles have been published inleading national and international dailies.

■■ NANDINI CHOUDHURY SEN is a senior lecturer in Bharati College, Delhi University. She has presented papers,written and published articles on various aspects of gender and literature. She is a Charles Wallace Scholar and has presenteda paper titled ‘Rethinking the Canon’ at the 16th Oxford Conference at Oxford University. Sen is also the member of AfricanStudies Association and the Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies.

■■ NIVEDITA RAY, a Ph.D. in African Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi,has written thesis on ‘Women’s Struggle for Liberation in Kenya: A Study of Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s Fiction’. She is presentlyworking with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis as a researcher. She specialises in security issues in the Horn ofAfrica, intra-state conflict, gender and conflict, small arms/terrorism and strategic resources. She is currently working on a pro-ject on ‘Sudan’s Intra-state Conflict: Implications for India’.

■■ RUCHITA BERRY is Research Officer at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.

■■ RAJIV SHARMA, special correspondent of The Tribune group of newspapers, has written extensively on issues related tosecurity, defence, terrorism and strategic affairs and foreign policy. He has authored five books, including ‘Global Jihad:Current Patterns and Future Trends’, ‘Pak Proxy War: A Story of ISI, bin Laden and Kargil’, and ‘Tracking Rajiv Gandhi’sAssassination’ (1998).

■■ VIDHAN PATHAK has done his Ph. D. on ‘India’s Relations with Francophone West Africa’ from the Centre for WestAsian and African Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is presently ExecutiveJoint Secretary of African Studies Association of India (ASA). He has presented a number of papers at international as well asnational seminars, and has also written in research journals on international issues, including Indo-African relations, the Indiandiaspora in Africa and the political economy of Africa.

■■ SHIPRA TRIPATHI heads the CII Africa Desk and is responsible for creating the format for the India-Africa ProjectPartnership. A post graduate in international relations, Tripathi has been with CII for the past five years.

■■ ASHISH AGGARWAL did his early schooling in Africa before returning to India. He went on to do an MBA from theprestigious FORE School of Management, New Delhi. He joined the Ministry of Information and Technology and is cur-rently deployed with the Ministry of External Affairs.

■■ Contributors


May-July 2006

Africa Quarterly, published since 1961, is devoted to the study and objective analyses of African affairs andissues related to India-Africa relations. Contributions are invited from outstanding writers, experts and spe-cialists in India, Africa and other countries on various political, economic, social-cultural, literary, philo-sophical and other themes pertaining to African affairs and India-Africa relations. Preference will be givento those articles which deal succinctly with issues that are both important and clearly defined. Articles whichare purely narrative and descriptive and lacking in analytical content are not likely to be accepted.Contributions should be in a clear, concise, readable style and written in English.

Articles submitted to Africa Quarterly should be original contributions and should not be under consid-eration by any other publication at the same time. The Editor is responsible for the selection and acceptanceof articles, but responsibility for errors of facts and opinions expressed in them rests with authors. Manuscriptssubmitted should be accompanied with a statement that the same has not been submitted/accepted for pub-lication elsewhere. Copyright of articles published in the Africa Quarterly will be retained by the IndianCouncil for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

Manuscripts submitted to Africa Quarterly should be typed double space on one side of the paper and twocopies should be sent. A diskette (3 ½” ) MS-Dos compatible, and e-mail as an attachment should be sentalong with the two hard copies. Authors should clearly indicate their full name, address, e-mail, academicstatus and current institutional affiliation. A brief biographical note (one paragraph) about the writer mayalso be sent.

The length of the article should not normally exceed 7,000 to 8,000 words, or 20 to 25 ( A-4 size) typedpages in manuscript. Titles should be kept as brief as possible.

Footnote numbering should be clearly marked and consecutively numbered in the text and notes placedat the end of the article and not at the bottom of the relevant page. Tables (including graphs, maps, figures)must be submitted in a form suitable for reproduction on a separate sheet of paper and not within the text.Each table should have a clear descriptive title and mention where it is to be placed in the article. Place allfootnotes in a table at the end of the article. Reference numbers within the text should be placed after thepunctuation mark.

Footnote style: In the case of books, the author, title of the book, place of publication, publisher, dateof publication and page numbers should be given in that order, e.g. Basil Davidson, ‘The Blackman’sBurden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation State’, London, James Curry, 1992, pp. 15-22.

In the case of articles, the author, title of article, name of the journal, volume and issue number in brack-ets, the year and the page numbers should be given in that order.

In addition to major articles and research papers, Africa Quarterly also publishes short articles in the sec-tion titled News & Events. They may not exceed 2,000 words in length. Contributions of short stories andpoems are also welcome.

Contributors to Africa Quarterly are entitled to two copies of the issue in which their article appears inaddition to a modest honorarium. Contributors of major articles accepted for publication will receive up toa maximum of Rs. 5,000.

Contributions may be sent by post to:The Editor

Africa QuarterlyIndian Council for Cultural Relations

Azad BhavanIndraprastha EstateNew Delhi-110 002

Contributions may be e-mailed to:

[email protected]

Note to Contributors

africaVolume 46, No. 2

May-July 2006

I N D I A N C O U N C I L F O R C U L T U R A L R E L A T I O N S

Q U A R T E R L Y

! Post-9/11 Africa’s security challenge

! AU and the challenge of peace

! Women’s role in peace-building

! India and Francophone Africa

! New bounce in India-Libya ties

! In Conversation: Nana Akuffo-Addo

! Conference on African Literature


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