Maravi

Africa shouldn’t mourn over European markets - Nawakwi

Africa shouldn’t mourn over European markets - Nawakwi
By Bivan Saluseki in Tripoli, Libya
Friday June 22, 2007 [04:00]

AFRICA should not mourn that European markets are closed to its goods, opposition Forum for Democracy and Development president Edith Nawakwi has said. And Nawakwi yesterday said some people should not take out of context or misunderstand her attending the African Union (AU) meeting in Tripoli as President Gaddafi was merely trying to explain the concepts of the African Union in terms of coming up with one government.

Meanwhile, Kawambwa Central Patriotic Front member of parliament Elizabeth Chitika Molobeka said people should not gloss over the challenges the AU faces in terms of looking at one government. In separate interviews, Nawakwi who is also invited by the Libyan leader said Africa could easily exploit its own 800 million inhabitants.

"This is a huge market waiting to be exploited. It (population) holds the key and answer to the poverty and getting this continent out of its current backward state," she said. "It's an exercise in futility to continue to mourn the fact that European markets are closed to our goods. We can amongst ourselves increase demand for goods and services we produce."

Nawakwi said if every child in Africa needed a book and pencil, large volumes of timber would be required to produce the books and pencils and Africa had the timber.
"If every child would have a glass of milk, how many cows would be needed? The issue here is about creating a market for ourselves and stopping looking at the World Trade Organisation. It's a simple issue of trade and resources available."
She said there were many countries that had energy deficiencies and countries with enough energy could help those in need.

"These are critical issues. We have to move from politics of isolation," she said.
Nawakwi said it was feasible for Africa to work together economically.
And Nawakwi said some people might put her attendance in the Tripoli meeting out of context. She said people that had not read the AU agenda might misunderstand the meeting.

Nawakwi said when heads of state meet at summits, none of the people got to know what they had discussed and agreed on and that was why President Gaddafi wanted to explain to the civil society, politicians and several prominent Africans on the AU.
"President Gaddafi has made significant attempts to inform civil society," she said.
Nawakwi said the unity of Africa was enshrined in the constitutional agreement of the AU.

She said the issue at hand was that of integration.
Nawakwi said at first there was a theory that the larger the population, the poorer people would be. But she said that theory had crumbled.
She said countries like China, India and the United States had shown that populations could help marshall development.

"Population alone has played a role as an engine of growth," she said.
And Molobeka said uniting Africa was feasible and President Gaddafi's ideas should not be glossed over.

Molobeka said there were a lot of challenges though and just as the EU took decades before it became a formidable union, the AU might also take time.

She said what was important was to start the process.
"It's important that as Africans we stand together and we start from somewhere," said Molobeka.

And UPND's Edward Kasoka said even former heads of state in southern African such as Dr Kaunda should be recognised when talking about the AU.
He said the Libyan leader's concept was very good but there were a lot of issues that needed to be ironed out.

"The start is good but we should go in phases," said Kasoka.

Labels: AU, EDITH NAWAKWI

posted by MrK @ 3:28 AM