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Africa's best hope for growth and development currently lies in NEPAD, an independent UN panel concluded on Tuesday, saying that international initiatives had "essentially failed" to bring about much-needed change.
The recommendation were contained in the final report on the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa (UN-NADAF), an international UN-led effort to boost Africa's development during the 1990's. The 12-member panel which described the past decade as "another decade of poor economic performance", called on the UN to "throw its weight behind the African leaders new home-grown strategy, the NEPAD."
It said in order for NEPAD and other efforts to be successful, rich countries must increase aid, open their markets to Africn exports and provide greater debt relief, while African countries must in turn work toward peaceful resolution of conflicts and democratisation.
Democratisation, the panel said, was the area where Africa had made the most positive strides. In contrast, the continent had failed in the areas of economic policies and growth, trade, debt reduction, school enrolment, women's development and others.
[The panel's full report is available at http://www.un.org/ecosocdev]
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