Setting the scene: Africa's record

It is appropriate to begin with some general reflections upon Africa's successes and failures in the field of governance since independence and upon the future of democracy on the continent in the new millennium. Africa, with a land area three times the size of the United States and a population in excess of 600 million people, is both the least developed and, in terms of natural resources, the most endowed continent in the world. With its vast mineral, oil, water, land and human resources, the continent has the ability to attain sustainable development, that is to say ‘increasingly productive employment opportunities and a steadily improving quality of life for all its citizens’. Yet millions of Africans live in acute poverty, have no access to safe drinking water and are illiterate. The ambiguity in Africa's position is revealed with particular clarity in relation to food production. In pre-colonial times, the continent was self-sufficient in this area. Now, however, many African countries are dependent upon external food supplies. On the face of it, the inability of the African continent to feed itself is paradoxical, since one of its chief assets is its huge agricultural potential. Further it has all the conditions for becoming one of the world's major food baskets.

Unfortunately, Africa lacks the domestic capital necessary to translate its enormous wealth into realisable benefits for its people and it has failed to attract sizable foreign investment to fill the gap.