KEHL AM RHEIN, Germany, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- German President Horst Koehler has launched an initiative to refocus attention on helping some of the world's poorest people.
His "Partnership with Africa" kicks off this weekend, when the German president will meet with African political leaders, business representatives, intellectuals and NGOs in Bonn.
Africa is a troubled continent: It has the lowest life expectancy and the highest infant death rate. Thirty million men and women are HIV-positive; civil wars, famines and mass migration are daily news.
The initiative, however, is not aimed at funneling more money into the region, but is a bid to improve relations between European and African nations by increasing political, economic and social contacts.
"The fact that North and South in their dialogue still talk past each other way too much is one of the reasons that progress there is inefficient and slow," Koehler, who from 2000 to 2004 headed the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, told the German weekly Die Zeit. And he is seeing hope on the horizon. "School enrolment levels are now rising, for example, albeit still far too slowly. People have better access to water. And in areas where AIDS is not rife, people are also living longer."
Koehler's dream of helping Africa is one he has worked on for years. As an economics student in the 1960s, he worked part-time in a shop that sold goods from third world countries. His visits to Africa as head of the IMF showed Koehler the hardship and the potential of the people there.
At his accession speech on July 1, 2004, Koehler called on industrial nations to foster a better relationship with developing countries.
"The humanity of our world will be measured against the fate of Africa," he said.
Koehler invited South African Presdient Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to join him on Saturday and Sunday in his residence in Bonn. Literature Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka and the Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell, who lives in Maputo, Mozambique, are expected to ask the diplomatically tough questions.
Zenawi's presence is set to spark controversy, as civil unrest has gripped the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, over the past few days, resulting in the death of more than 40 people. Ethiopians are protesting at what they believe was a bogus May parliamentary election. The country's ongoing conflict with neighboring Eritrea has caused human rights advocates to sound the alarm.
"This important conference shouldn't include heinous dictators," Ulrich Delius, head of the Hamburg-based Society for Threatened Peoples, said Friday. "Ethiopia's strongman doesn't symbolize peace and democracy for Africa, but is responsible for the death of 100,000 individuals in an absurd war with Eritrea."
In Nigeria, Obasanjo has to rely on the protection of the military to keep the religious and ethnic conflicts from unseating his government. The country is rich in natural resources, but large parts of the population remains hungry. In Sudan's Darfur region, civil wars and what Washington has called "genocide" is wiping out entire generations. But will the conference tackle these issues?
"I would very much hope so, and I think it is important to talk openly about these issues," Andreas Mehler, head of the Institute of African Affairs, a Hamburg-based think tank, Friday on his way to Bonn told United Press International in a telephone interview. "We need to urge the African governments to become more transparent. That's one of the key requirements for improvement there."
Mehler said cooperation with Africa is more than just development aid. "We need to speak at eye level about issues such as trade, security and culture. Then other dialogues might follow."
Massive amounts of money have been channeled into Africa, but because of widespread corruption, the cash often ends up in the bank accounts of politicians, rather than in the hands of ordinary Africans.
Experts doubt the Koehler initiative will end with concrete results.
"I am doubtful that such a high-level conference is really doing anything," Rolf Hofmeier of the same institute Friday told UPI. "The power of the German president is limited. But it is at least putting Africa back on the political agenda. And maybe he wants to indicate that our government as well needs to do more there."
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who will attend a formal dinner at the president's residency on Saturday, earlier this year opposed an African "Marshall Plan" proposed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to double financial assistance to Africa to a total of nearly $48 billion.
"The leaders of the world, despite the rhetoric, are stil taking the issue of Africa not seriously enough," Koehler said. "It doesn't affect the election outcome in their countries nor is it important for the power structures inside the United Nations Security Council."
Koehler plans to extend his Africa initiative over his entire presidency, with at least one conference each year. According to a senior German Africa expert, he has already planned a trip to Botswana, Mozambique and Madagascar.
Mehler said Schroeder rightly refused to simply beef up money. "You can't help Africa with money alone," he said.
For Koehler's initiative to be effective, Mehler said the next conferences should include second-tier officials, such as business leaders and administrators from Africa.
And in the wake of Africans migrating in the masses to Spanish enclaves in Morocco, the entire world seems to slowly refocus its attention on Africa's problems. European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and African Union President Alpha Oumar Konare last month announced a new strategic partnership between the two continents to increase cooperation on development aid. Africa has been a topic at the G8 summit last July as well as at the United Nations summit in September. And with more conferences initiated by Koehler, the chances for the world's second-largest continent to get back on track are improving.
