Addressing a news conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, at
the end of a meeting of the Danish Africa Commission, Migiro said the
crises should not overshadow Africa's development agenda.
The Africa Commission's development comes at a time when the world is
facing four major crises – the financial crisis, food crisis, the fuel
crisis and the environmental crisis – all these just as we are passing
the mid-point in the [UN] MDGs [Millennium Development Goals], she
said. The Africa Commission's agenda falls squarely on aspirations of
the MDGs.
Since women are the backbone of agriculture in Africa, Migiro said, the
commission's commitment to gender parity would help in the alleviation
of the global food crisis being experienced mostly by African countries.
Focus on youth
Migiro is one of 17 commissioners of the grouping, established by
Denmark in April 2008 to focus on strategies aimed at creating more and
better employment opportunities for the continent's estimated 190
million young people aged between 15 and 35.
Migiro, with the chairman, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen,
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and several other prominent world
leaders were in Addis Ababa for the second meeting of the commission,
where they received proposals from representatives of youth in 23
African countries on ways of fostering economic growth.
The commission's ambition is to bring about real change for Africa's
growing number of young people by improving its competitiveness in the
global market, stated a communiqué.
Strengthening regional cooperation is crucial and we will make regular
evaluations of the initiatives ahead of the next meeting of the
commission to be held in May 2009 in Copenhagen, Rasmussen said.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro
DRC crisis
Kikwete said although insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) could affect the commission's initiatives in the Great
Lakes region, the political leadership in the area was committed to
resolving the civil war in the DRC.
Leaders in the Great Lakes are committed to resolving this matter; we
have mandated former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and former
Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa to mediate and facilitate talks
between the parties involved in the conflict, Kikwete said. In a
month's time, we will meet again in Nairobi [the Kenyan capital] to
review the facilitators' efforts and to chart the way forward, we want
to create jobs for the youth and we know this is not possible where
there is war.
Another commissioner, Betty Maina, who is the executive director of the
Kenya Association of Manufacturers, told IRIN the fight against poverty
would be greatly strengthened by the involvement of private enterprise
as envisioned by the commission.
Making it possible for enterprise to thrive; merging business ideas
and maximising on the possibilities by establishing a mechanism to fund
good business ideas would go a long way in lifting African youth out of
poverty, she said.
The commission's meeting on 20 November was preceded by three days of
deliberations by 60 youngsters, who submitted several recommendations
to the commissioners, key among them being that aid is not the answer
for Africa – competitiveness is.
Aid is not a solution; we are calling for quality partnerships between
the north and the south, Humphrey Polepole, a youth representative
from Tanzania, said. Any aid terms that inhibit Africa's
self-management should be discouraged; we are not here for aid, we want
to be listened to because the youth in Africa is a powerhouse, we are
the majority.