Annan honours Nyerere input on development

The life and work of the late president of Tanzania, Julius K. Nyerere, was praised by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a tribute ceremony at UN headquarters in New York, USA, on Monday, with Annan describing him as "a true giant of Africa". Marking what would have been Nyerere's 80th birthday (but for the fact that he died in October 1999), Annan said Nyerere had not only led Tanzania to nationhood but had also played a key role in independence struggles throughout southern Africa, according to a UN press statement on Tuesday. Nyerere was one of the founders of the Organisation of African Unity and was also a key figure in establishing the Frontline States, a grouping of African states that coordinated African support in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and for the liberation of southern Africa. The Southern African Development Community evolved from this grouping and he became its first chairman. Beyond being a nationalist hero, Nyerere - known in Tanzania by the Kiswahili honorific title Mwalimu, or "teacher" - was "an articulate and highly effective advocate who helped place the issues of poverty and development squarely on the international agenda", Annan said in a statement read on his behalf by Abdoulie Janney, Assistant Administrator of the UN Development Programme. Nyerere had championed the causes of debt relief, fairer international terms of trade for developing countries, and increased official development assistance, and had also contributed to peace efforts in Burundi, according to Annan. The late Tanzanian president was facilitator of the Arusha Peace Process on Burundi until his death, a process which laid the foundation for the transitional government established on 1 November 2001 and which mediators hope will restore peace to that country. Though his "ujamaa" experiment with nationalisation of land and mass villagisation - an attempt to combine a socialist system with African communal living - met with significant political resistance (especially when people were forced into rural communes) and little economic success in Tanzania, observers consider that Nyerere's focus on human development and self-reliance brought some success in in health, education and people's strong sense of national belonging (rather than a primary ethnic or religious affiliation). Meanwhile, the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, established in tribute in June 1996, continues to seek to improve the sustainability and quality of human relations based on the principle "that all humanity, regardless of their differences, are the purpose and justification for the existence of society, and all human activity in any given society". [see www.nyererefoundation.or.tz/] The best way to honour Nyerere's memory would be to renew the collective resolve to help make the continent "strong, healthy and peaceful", Annan said on Monday.