Development & Aid, Global, Global Geopolitics, Headlines

COOPERATION: Brazilian Discord Dampens Portuguese Language Union

Mario Dujisin

LISBON, May 18 1996 (IPS) - Government officials, church leaders and entrepreneurs from Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa are gearing up for a summit in July aimed at forming a Community of Portuguese-Language Countries (CPLP).

But Portuguese officials and diplomats from the five African countries where Portuguese is the official language are concerned about the less than active role being played by Brazil in the runup to the meeting.

Local observers say the Community, which aims to institution- lise cooperation among the world’s 219 million Portuguese-speaking inhabitants, could be affected by the internal bickering impeding Brazil’s participation.

There are differences in that country over the role of the “father” of the proposed organisation — former Brazilian Culture Minister Jose Aparecido de Oliveira.

Some have begun to doubt the future of the CPLP after reports in the Portuguese press that Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Filipe Lampreia vetoed De Oliveira’s candidacy to the post of executive secretary.

According to former Portuguese President Mario Soares (1986- March 1996), De Oliveira “is without a doubt the father of and driving force behind the CPLP.”

Analysts Jose Carlos de Vasconcelos, Luiz Alberto Braga and Carlos Albino, the top experts on the proposed Community, echo Soares’ opinion. They warn that without De Oliveira, the CPLP could be in danger.

The proposal to create the CPLP was confirmed following a flurry of visits and exchanges between Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio and leaders of Cape Verde, Brazil, Angola and Sao Tome and Principe.

Bishops from the seven Portuguese-speaking countries — Portugal, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Cape Verde and Mozambique — meeting last weekend in Fatima, 160 kilometres north of Lisbon, stressed that “giving priority to language and culture” will be crucial for reinforcing “our common identity.”

Twenty-seven members of Portugal’s business community arrived on Monday in Sao Tome and Principe, an island off the coast of West Africa with a population of 140,000, which despite its small size “could open the door to an African area of 140 million people,” according to a member of the delegation.

Meanwhile, the president of the Guinea-Bissau Chamber of Commerce, Canjura Injai, visited Lisbon last weekend to invite Portuguese entrepreneurs to visit his country and identify areas for investment.

Injai pointed out that as well as investment opportunities in tourism, fishing and agriculture offered by Guinea-Bissau, its location between Senegal and Guinea — former French colonies in West Africa — “makes the country a crucial element for the expansion of investment by the Portuguese-speaking area.”

Guinea-Bissau, said Injai, could serve as the greater Portuguese-speaking business community’s entrance to the West African Economic Union.

While Brazil has taken part in all ministerial-level meetings leading up to the Lisbon summit, and a Brazilian bishop actively participated in the Fatima meeting, Portuguese analysts stress that the active role previously played by that country in the creation of the CPLP has diminished over the past few months, due to internal quarrels.

Added to that is the unfavourable impression left by foreign minister Lampreia during Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s visit to Portugal last year.

Asked about the violation of human rights in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor – where according to Amnesty International 210,000 people have been killed as a result of the Indonesian invasion that began 20 years ago – Lampreia said “it is not a good idea to irritate” Jakarta.

Lampreia’s position on East Timor, which is one of the main foreign policy concerns in Portugal, was supported by Cardoso. It caused a negative impression in Portugal and in the five Portuguese-speaking African countries, which have accorded East Timor priority as a foreign policy issue.

African countries’ mistrust of Brazil’s size and potential influence had virtually disappeared when De Oliveira, then- ambassador to Portugal, visited the capitals of the five countries in 1993 and 1994, and assured the heads of State that cooperation in the proposed CPLP would be “between equals.”

For diplomatic reasons, Brazil’s internal bickering is not openly discussed in Portuguese and African official circles. But on the condition of anonymity, sources from the six countries admitted they were concerned.

“Angola would feel very honoured to occupy the executive secretaryship of the CPLP. But are concerned that at its very birth, its ‘father’ – who is without a doubt Aparecido de Oliveira – may not play a key role,” a minister on the Angolan delegation visiting Lisbon told IPS.

 
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Development & Aid, Global, Global Geopolitics, Headlines

COOPERATION: Brazilian Discord Dampens Portuguese Language Union

Mario Dujisin

LISBON, May 16 1996 (IPS) - Government officials, church leaders and entrepreneurs from Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa are gearing up for a summit in July aimed at forming a Community of Portuguese-Language Countries (CPLP).
(more…)

 
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