INTRODUCTION

This New Partnership for Africa’s Development is a pledge by African leaders, based
on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction, that they have a pressing duty
to eradicate poverty and to place their countries, both individually and collectively, on
a path of sustainable growth and development and, at the same time, to participate
actively in the world economy and body politic. The Programme is anchored on the
determination of Africans to extricate themselves and the continent from the malaise
of underdevelopment and exclusion in a globalizing world.

The poverty and backwardness of Africa stand in stark contrast to the prosperity of
the developed world. The continued marginalization of Africa from the globalization
process and the social exclusion of the vast majority of its peoples constitute a serious
threat to global stability.

Historically accession to the institutions of the international community, the credit
and aid binomial has underlined the logic of African development. Credit has led to
the debt deadlock which, from installments to rescheduling, still exists and hinders the
growth of African countries. The limits of this option have been reached. Concerning
the other element of the binomial . aid . we can also note the reduction of private aid
and the upper limit of public aid, which is below the target set in the 1970s.

In Africa, 340 million people, or half the population, live on less than US $1 per day.
The mortality rate of children under 5 years of age is 140 per 1000, and life
expectancy at birth is only 54 years. Only 58 per cent of the population have access to
safe water. The rate of illiteracy for people over 15 is 41 per cent. There are only 18
mainline telephones per 1000 people in Africa, compared with 146 for the world as a
whole and 567 for high-income countries.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development calls for the reversal of this abnormal
situation by changing the relationship that underpins it. Africans are appealing neither
for the further entrenchment of dependency through aid, nor for marginal
concessions.

We are convinced that an historic opportunity presents itself to end the scourge of
underdevelopment that afflicts Africa. The resources, including capital, technology
and human skills, that are required to launch a global war on poverty and
underdevelopment exist in abundance and are within our reach. What is required to
mobilize these resources and to use them properly, is bold and imaginative leadership
that is genuinely committed to a sustained human development effort and the
eradication of poverty, as well as a new global partnership based on shared
responsibility and mutual interest.

Across the continent, Africans declare that we will no longer allow ourselves to be
conditioned by circumstance. We will determine our own destiny and call on the rest
of the world to complement our efforts. There are already signs of progress and hope.
Democratic regimes that are committed to the protection of human rights, people-centred
development and market-oriented economies are on the increase. African
peoples have begun to demonstrate their refusal to accept poor economic and political
leadership. These developments are, however, uneven and inadequate and need to be
further expedited.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development is about consolidating and
accelerating these gains. It is a call for a new relationship of partnership between
Africa and the international community, especially the highly industrialized countries,
to overcome the development chasm that has widened over centuries of unequal
relations.