Leaders launch voluntary peer-review system

African leaders have initiated a mechanism for assessing one another's performance in areas such as democracy and good governance. The African Peer Review Mechanism was launched on Sunday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, at a summit on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), an initiative aimed at spurring development and reducing poverty on the continent.

Some 21 African countries, including seven heads of state, were representated at the meeting, which was presided over by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and attended by NEPAD's other initiators - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Abdelazziz Bouteflika of Algeria and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal.

A communique at the end of the meeting described the mechanism, to which 10 countries immediately acceded, as a "system of voluntary self-assessment, constructive peer dialogue and persuasion". It also set out criteria and indicators of democracy and good governance expected of member countries of the African Union (AU).

Obasanjo, chairman of the NEPAD implementation committee, was asked by the summit to set up a special committee by the end of March with responsibility for monitoring compliance with the peer-review requirements.

Officials said the peer-review system was designed as a means of bringing pressure to bear on governments falling short of NEPAD's expectations in the areas of good governance and respect for human rights, but contained no punitive measures.

Under NEPAD African countries are expected to create an environment that encourages investment capital inflows to stimulate rapid development. About US $6 billion has already been pledged by the Group of Eight (G8) highly industrialised countries.

Obasanjo said at the summit that substantial progress had been made towards meeting the objectives of the NEPAD initiative. "NEPAD has moved beyond the level of rhetoric to the concrete and pragmatic stage of implementation," he said.

In addition to Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria and Senegal, six other countries signed the peer review mechanism: Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Botswana and Ghana.

The imminence of war in Iraq was a major issue of concern at the summit. A special committee headed by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa was appointed by the summit to study and present a report on the likely effects the war on Iraq would have on Africa.