The dawn of world political governance?

The presence of the African Union Commission at the G8 Summit in Deauville (26-27 May 2011) underlined the importance of reinforced partnership between the G8 and Africa. Africa is on the move and becomes a new pole of a worldwide growth, in spite of remaining difficulties, notably in the least developed and vulnerable countries. Both sides promised to work jointly during this crucial period of change, to continue promoting shared values, like peace, human rights, democratic governance, transparency and sustainable development.

Forty billion dollars were promised as a reward for those North African countries which have come out in force to reject dictatorial regimes, and the G8 promised similar generosity to the peoples of Africa that choose democracy peacefully, without allowing themselves to be fooled by the siren calls of demagogues and extremists who make their living out of the poverty of the many. Time will tell.

According to David Matongo, the co-president of the ACP-EU joint parliamentary assembly, poverty is the major threat to democracy, or so he said in his interview with The Courier entitled "No turning back". A concerned Matongo stressed that development strategies must endorse the economic partnership agreements between the EU and the ACP. Otherwise, to paraphrase his views, the only freedom involved would be that of a wolf in a sheep fold, given the reality of American, European and other Western farmers receiving 400 million dollars a year in subsidies.

In the wake of the Deauville summit, the presidents of the European Council and Commission, Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso, made a commitment to present by October draft legislation requiring greater transparency from the European mining corporations which operate in Africa, in particular. Our general news round-up also highlights the concerns which the fishermen of West Africa, for example, have expressed to the European Parliament as regards overfishing by European trawlers in African waters.

The major feature of this issue of the Courier is devoted to defence and security, including questions such as the role of mercenaries. Military force, like the tongue in Aesop’s fable, may be the worst and also the best option as regards defence and security outside the borders of developed nations, which have recently seen fit to intervene in Côte d’Ivoire and again in Libya in support of democracy, as well becoming involved in genuine wars such as in Afghanistan. As we shall discover, Africa may soon become the laboratory for European defence and security policy, in which intervention is based on a whole gamut of legal instruments, including the Cotonou Agreement.

The Courier also provides an overview of defence and security initiatives in Africa itself, the most promising of which is the creation by the African Union of an African “Rapid Response Force”. Another important development described is the formation of a true army in Somalia, and, on another continent, the regional and international pressures on Fiji which have led to a series of military coups during the three last decades.

The major report in this issue deals with Papua New Guinea, a country that suffers a child mortality of 733 out of 100,000 births, and which, paradoxically, is also an authentic garden of Eden, with fabulous landscapes and mineral wealth, mountains of gold in a sea of oil. The country, however, labours under the constraints of its history and the tyranny of distance, made up as it is by some 600 islands and as many tribes, speaking a total of 800 languages. Its European partners have taken up the challenge of accompanying it in its development.

Our special feature on a European region focuses this time on Greece, and especially on Athens and Rhodes.  Rhodes is simply beautiful, and Athens too has become a very well turned out and appealing city. Just as the Greece’s progress in a variety of fields, such as the raising of living standards almost to the level of the rich countries of the EU and advances in scientific research, were being reported, the fates came down on the country like a ton of bricks, and it became the object of attention of the financial ratings agencies. This required and continues to require massive intervention on the part of Europe and Bretton Woods institutions, which had to come to the rescue of the Greek economy. These events placed the spotlight on the need to strengthen regional and worldwide political governance to counterbalance the dominance of high finance in a globalized world.

Hegel Goutier