Africa Walks Out of Difficulties

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 09, 2003

Africa Walks Out of Difficulties

Africa has been gradually walking out of difficulties both politically and economically under the guidance of the African Union (AU) since the continental organization was established one year ago.

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Africa has been gradually walking out of difficulties both politically and economically under the guidance of the African Union (AU) since the continental organization was established one year ago.

As many countries in Africa have enhanced the efforts to end the unstability, regional conflicts or civil wars in some states have been taken under control.

On April 2, representatives from the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and rebels signed an agreement on the formation of the interim government in the war-torn country.

Five days later, incumbent President Joseph Kabila was sworn in as the head of the interim government, which means a glimmer of brightness toward peace for the vast central African country.

The new government of Angola set up at the end of last year has taken some active measures to consolidate the peace in the country and reconstruct the country, after the civil war in Angola starting from 1975 came to an end as Jonas Savimbi, leader of the major opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), was killed in April 2002 in a battle and both the government and opposition seized the chance to reach a ceasefire agreement.

The eased border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea got some improvement as the two sides just recently finished the exchange of prisoners of war. The process of demarcation in the border areas are also underway.

Besides, unstability in some countries like Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Burundi as well as the Great Lake region has, to some extent, been either settled or eased, which indicated the era for Africa under a stabilized political environment has been gradually arriving.

With the improvement of political situation in Africa, the economy of the continent also got some development in recent years.

Last year, the economic growth rate of Africa was 3.4 percent, and as many as 13 countries have their growth rates above 5 percent, according to an available statistics.

Meanwhile, the average inflation rate decreased to 10 percent last year from 31 percent in 2001 due to the positive measures on finance by most of the African countries and it has been controlled under 3 percent of the gross domestic product, said the statistics.

The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the economic growth rate of Africa this year is expected to reach 3.9 percent, higher than the global rate of 3.2 percent.

At the same time, African countries have been actively pushing forward their New Partnership for Africa's Development program, urging to turn the plan into action.

During the meeting of African trade ministers held in Mauritius recently, the participants agreed to coordinate their stance to face the challenges from the outside.

However, there are still challenges facing the African continent despite some achievements it made in the integration of politics and economy, ranging from low economic growth and high poverty levels, to preventable diseases and conflicts.

These will be surely on the agenda of the upcoming Maputo summit of the AU, which has renewed hopes that the body will steer the continent to greater economic and social development.

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