SOUTH AFRICA: Former South African president FW de Klerk talks to Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Countries in the developed world could not afford to "marginalise" the continent of Africa, former president of South Africa FW de Klerk said in Dublin yesterday. In an interview with The Irish Times he stressed that the best way to help Africa was for the EU and the US to drastically reduce the "over-protection" of their own farmers and allow free access for African farm products to the marketplace.
"It's the one area where Africa can lift itself out of the doldrums," he said, "but the markets of the developed world need to be opened."
Farmers in the EU and US should be persuaded to focus on more sophisticated products and help create a gap in the market for Africa to supply maize, sugar, coffee and beans, "basic products".
Mr de Klerk was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela in recognition of their joint role in South Africa's transition to democracy. He remains generally optimistic about Africa's future.
In the past 15 years the number of democracies that were working reasonably well had increased substantially, he said.
Nor should governments in the developed world be deterred from giving aid to Africa, despite the level of corruption.
"My advice to governments giving aid is to be project-orientated," he said. The aid should be targeted to achieve specific goals and mechanisms put in place to "follow the money" through the expenditure process.
His main focus of interest is the Global Leadership Foundation which he established two years ago with other former leaders and high officials from Africa, Asia, Europe and the US.
They include such figures as former prime minister of France Michel Rocard and former British foreign secretary Douglas (now Lord) Hurd. Serving politicians or officials are excluded, and all concerned must be prepared to work quietly.
"There are quite a number of former leaders that have wonderful experience but they are still on ego trips," Mr De Klerk said.
He maintains an interest in Northern Ireland and, asked to compare the successful transition in South Africa with the continuing peace process there, he said one major lesson they had learnt in South Africa was that "agreements can only be reached between people who are sufficiently representative of major constituencies."