TRADE: African Groups Set to Protest U.S. Forum in Mauritius

Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (IPS) - Next week, the United States and 38 Sub-Saharan African nations will discuss a trade pact that Washington says would give Africa greater access to the U.S. market but that critics call little more than a ''colonial'' sham.

The second annual trade and development forum in Mauritius, Jan. 13-17, is organised under the controversial African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade deal passed in the United States in 2000 to offer preferential access for about 1,800 African products.

U.S. officials who will lead some of the meetings say that trade will again top the agenda, followed by foreign investment and reform of Africa's agricultural sector.

”The focus is on trade, and that reflects the fact that we believe trade is an essential part of a successful development strategy,” U.S. Undersecretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, Allan Larson, told reporters.

But Larson also said U.S. officials will press for new ''standards'' and ''trade capacity'', which African nations would have to adopt to qualify for the deal.

Critics say the United States is imposing ''eligibility requirements'' or conditions that African nations must follow before they take part in AGOA.

Under the deal, African countries can only export tariff free to the U.S. market if they meet certain criteria and U.S. officials certify that they have liberalised their economies, privatised their public assets, minimised government interference in private business and created a U.S.-style legal system.

''These imposed conditionalities are bluntly referred to as 'eligibility requirements','' said a statement by a coalition of African groups that plan to protest the meeting.

''What these overt and other covert conditionalities in AGOA amount to, is a re-colonisation of Africa,'' said the coalition, known as The Peoples' Forum.

African civil society groups have been leading critics of the forum, saying that U.S interest in Africa does not go beyond the continent's oil and using African territory for Washington's self-styled 'war on terror'.

The groups plan to hold many protest activities, including an arts protest and street demonstrations in Port-Louis, the capital of Mauritius, to coincide with the meetings, which will be attended by at least 300 delegates, including 40 cabinet ministers.

The African groups said in their statements that African governments are now forced to adhere to U.S. foreign policy, U.S. national security policy, and U.S. imposed economic and social policies in order to get access to the lucrative U.S. market.

They are particularly angered that under AGOA, African nations must agree not to ''engage in activities that undermine United States national security or foreign policy interests''.

That means, they say, that African countries' foreign policies and national security policies will be determined by the United States and by Washington's interests on the continent.

The Forum is backed by dozens of African organisations, including Jubilee South (South Africa), the Africa Trade Network, the Southern African Peoples' Solidarity Network (SAPSN), the Pan-African Women's Network, and Women and Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF).

The groups charge that AGOA actually assists U.S. multinational companies to control over Africa's precious resources, such as oil, gold, diamonds and other minerals and metals.

The coalition's statement claims that U.S. multinationals have requested land titles to the sites of their operations and even asked the U.S. military to guard these operations to safeguard against civil and military disturbances.

African countries are also required to adopt ''free market policies'', privatise social services and withdraw price controls and subsidies in areas such as agriculture and fishing, which the Forum says can hurt the poor.

Some African officials have previously voiced concern that AGOA places too large a burden on potential beneficiaries, for instance, by requiring banking reform and strict quality-control measures that require the countries to import U.S. expertise.

Under AGOA, the U.S. president has to determine annually which countries are following ''eligibility requirements'': advancing toward a market-based economy, promoting free trade, attracting foreign investment and supporting job-creating businesses.

AGOA also requires the president to convene biannual meetings of African heads of states whose countries are eligible for the deal.

''What AGOA does is to give the U.S. president king-size power to open or close the U.S. market to goods and services originating from 48 African countries, depending on whether an African country is following AGOA conditions or not,'' says the coalition.

The U.S. has a leading role in imposing corporate globalisation worldwide, it adds, through Washington-based institutions such as the International Monterey Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, through its domination of the WTO and through laws and trace pacts like as AGOA.

U.S. President George W. Bush was scheduled to attend the AGOA Forum but cancelled two week ago. Pro-Africa activists say the move is a snub to African concerns.

But Larson defended the decision. ''The president of the United States can't always go to every meeting at any particular time,'' he said.

''But the president's commitment to Africa is reflected both in the support for AGOA, the very large number of African leaders that he's met throughout his term and many of them in the first six months.''

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will head the U.S. delegation to the Forum. Larson and the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Andrew Natsios will also attend. (END/2003)