World Bank urges African solutions to conflict

Though great efforts have been made to resolve conflicts in Africa over the last year, the importance of Africa-based peace initiatives cannot be over-emphasised, World Bank President James Wolfensohn has said.

"Without peace, there is no future. It is very simple. You are not going to get anywhere in Africa unless you have peace, and that is something that only Africa can solve," he told reporters on Wednesday in Dar es Salaam, after meeting nine finance ministers from countries in post-conflict recovery.

Rounding off a weeklong, three-nation African visit that focused on post-conflict recovery, he said the continent's future was in its own hands and the less outsiders interfered, the better.

"Participants recognised that important challenges remained and that there was need to strike a balance between emergency requirements and long term issues, the early support to restart growth in fragile conditions and for more coordinated donor assistance," the World Bank stated.

Wolfensohn also visited Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where presidents Paul Kagame and Joseph Kabila expressed their determination to restore peace and security to the Great Lakes Region, strengthen governance, implement sound policies and invest in their people.

The World Bank added it had broadened its response to conflict, from an approach focused on rebuilding infrastructure, to a comprehensive approach that includes initiatives to promote economic recovery, assess vulnerable groups, build institutional capacity, as well as specific humanitarian efforts.

Before leaving Tanzania, Wolfensohn underlined his faith in the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) as an opportunity for leaders to resolve the continent's problems. NEPAD is directed towards the sustainable development of Africa by ending conflict, improving economic and political governance and strengthening regional integration.

"The big positive step in development is NEPAD,” he said. “It is the leadership grasping the future of Africa into its own hands and I really do believe that Africa will take its rightful place, and it will not be because of people like me.”