OAU chief says world has failed Africa

The head of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has accused the international community of failing the continent. Amara Essy said the refusal to alleviate Africa's huge debt burden "continues to compromise" its development.

In a key-note speech marking the New Year, he said that calls for financial help to relieve the spiralling debt of many countries had fallen on deaf ears. Essy also spoke of the "litany" of disasters that blighted Africa last year and warned of the difficulties faced by the continent in the future.

"The debt burden unfortunately, continues to compromise seriously the development prospects of the continent," he said. "Although commendable initiatives have been taken for the alleviation and cancellation of the debt of some African countries, the international community in general has turned a deaf ear to the appeals of the continent...The past year has not made it possible to make significant progress in the area of food security and in general the reduction of poverty."

Essy, who was appointed OAU Secretary-General in September last year, painted his bleak picture at the headquarters of the OAU which are based in Addis Ababa.

"The mobilisation for the building of the African Union is all the more imperative as the challenges facing our continent are both many and complicated," he added. "The year 2001 has been another difficult year for our continent with its litany of conflicts, tragedies, natural disasters and other hardships linked to poverty and pandemics, which persist on our continent."

He said the spread of AIDS, which last year killed more than two million people in Africa, only added to their many difficulties. "Violation of human rights unfortunately continues to prevail," he said. "Furthermore, there is still progress to be made in the area of good governance and the consolidation of democratic institutions."

While he welcomed peace efforts between Ethiopia and Eritrea he warned that more needed to be done to further the cause of peace in Angola, Somalia and Sudan. But despite his bleak portrayal he said he was optimistic about the future and praised the "real progress" that had been made during the last year. He said he hoped that African states would work towards making the new African Union - which will replace the OAU later this year - as effective as possible.