Annan says Africa must guard against racism

Mhambi was impressed with former UN chief Kofi Annan's speach at the annual Nelson Mandela lecture, held yesterday in Johannesburg.

Annan says Africa must guard against tyrants : Mail & Guardian Online: "'Africans must guard against a pernicious, self-destructive form of racism that unites citizens to rise up and expel tyrannical rulers who are white, but to excuse tyrannical rulers who are black,' he said.

Annan said more than 300-million people south of the Sahara lived on less than $1 a day, and others were ravaged by disease, 'betrayed by their leaders, starved not only of food, but of opportunity and hope'.


Cautious optimism

But, he said, there is reason for cautious optimism on the continent, with inflation at historic lows in many countries, and 27 African economies projected to grow by more than 5% this year. Direct investment in Africa has risen more than 200% in the past five years, he said.

Exports are rising, and there are advances on debt relief such as in Nigeria, which used part of its windfall oil earnings to pay back $12-billion in debt and arrears to the Paris Club of sovereign lenders in a deal concluded last year, he said.

South Africa is also experiencing a 'virtuous cycle', where, despite setbacks, much has been achieved in economic growth and social integration after decades of apartheid white rule."

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