Country, Mali Stengthen Cooperation

27 April 2011

The US- bequeathed Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is in its 12th year. However, many of its Africa subscribers, more than 30, cannot say export to the US is now better than it had been. For this reason, it appears a number of African countries including Liberia, are looking back to the ignored (or rejected?) cornerstone – subregional economic cooperation. The case of Liberia and Mali, this week, is classic. The Analyst, reports.

A communiqué issued yesterday by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and her visiting Malian counterpart, President Amadou Toumani Toure, says the two governments have agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of security and the economy.

The two leaders also hailed improvements in security and democratization in neighboring Ivory Coast and Guinea, in that order. They however expressed concern over the form the violence in the North Africa country of Libya has assumed. President Toure returned to Mali yesterday.

The communiqué is the result of prior diplomatic dialogues and several man-hours of discussions between both leaders and their lieutenants during the Malian leader’s two-day official visit to Liberia.

“But just what are the specifics of communiqué?” is the question many are asking.

The Communiqué: on Liberia-Mali cooperation

“[The two leaders] agreed that cooperation in the areas of trade, commerce, agriculture, air transport service, and transshipment of goods, investment, and the security sectors could be further expanded,” the communiqué said.

It said Mrs. Sirleaf and Mr. Toure have therefore directed their lieutenants, who are in charge of the identified areas of cooperation, to take the necessary actions for the establishment of the Liberia-Mali Joint Commission.

The two leaders expect the first sitting of the commission by October this year. It is perhaps then, observers believe, that they would put into place modalities for headquarters and the form the trade and security cooperation will take.

Until then, observers say, the Liberia-Mali Joint Commission will join other dormant commissions Liberia has established, including the Liberia-Guinea Commission.

Meanwhile, President Toure has commended President Ellen Sirleaf for what he called the rapid recovery of the Liberia from years of conflict, especially in the areas of infrastructural development and national reconciliation and unity.

He said President Sirleaf’s achievements in Liberia testify to what African women were capable of doing, noting that that also serves as inspiration to women across the African Continent.

President Sirleaf, in turn, congratulated the Malian leader for what she called his “prudent economic policies,” which she said brought economic vibrancy to Mali at the time of difficult global economic recession. She also praised the Malian leader’s mediatory role in conflict resolution across Africa.

Realizing that their achievements would be fleeting unless they each built strong national institutions, the two leaders recommitted their individual governments to upholding the tenets and practice of democracy, good governance, the rule of law, and respect and protection of human and people’s rights.

According to them, these pillars of society and governance were necessary for the maintenance of peace, stability, national unity, and the promotion of economic growth and progress.

The Communiqué: on African affairs

Off the home front, Presidents Sirleaf and Toure said their review of the security situation in the subregion indicated that the storm has passed and that it was time to consolidate the evolving peace and security.

They hailed the recent democratic election in Guinea that brought Prof. Alpha Conde to power and the improving security situation in Ivory Coast, following the accedence of President Alansane Ouatara to helm of the Ivorian state.

Neither the Liberian nor the Malian leader say what he thought about the forceful ousting of Mr. Laurent Gbagbo even though each of them had officially opposed the use of military force to settle the then power impasse in that country.

With calm gradually returning to the country, both leaders are urging President Ouatara, to work with all Ivoirians in order to restore to normalcy. They also called on the Ivorian people to embrace the healing process and reconcile the nation, falling short of commenting on the plight of Ivorian refugees many of whom, reports say, were facing acute food storages amidst harassment by prowling armed elements.

The two leaders also welcomed the outcome of the Nigerian elections, which reports say have left more than 200 innocent people dead or maimed, and congratulated President Goodluck Jonathan on his election as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Liberian and Malian leaders say they were howeve concerned with what was going on elsewhere on the African Continent, mainly Libya, where a recent civil uprising has become a full-blown civil war.

They have accordingly called on all sides to observe a ceasefire to allow negotiations and give the people of Libya a chance to determine their own future.

Recently, an AU delegation flew to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the opposition’s port-city stronghold of Benghazi, to call for ceasefire in order to begin dialogue that will lead to governance reforms.

Even though the Libyan government thought the AU suggestion made sense, the opposition called it belated, vowing that under no condition Col. Kaddafi, Libya’s ruler for more than 40 years, would head a peaceful Libya.

The opposition has not backed down from that position even though a recent joint Arab League and Allied Forces meeting in Qatar drew similar agenda for peace in Libya.

Concerning the economic situation on the continent, the two leaders reaffirmed their determination to work cooperatively together for the expansion of economic linkages among African countries and to promote the speedy realization of genuine African integration.

They therefore agreed to share views on international issues of mutual concern and to coordinate their policies within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), Non-Aligned Countries Movement, and the United Nations Organization.

President Sirleaf is expected to reciprocate the Malian leader’s official visit at the invitation of President Toure. No time was set for the visit.

 About President Toure

In March 1991, after public demonstrations were violently quelled, he participated in a coup d’état against Moussa Traoré and became leader of the Transitional Committee for the Welfare of the People, and performed the functions of the head of state during the transitional period towards democracy.

He organized the national conference (between 29 July and 12 August 1991) which drew up the Constitution of Mali and the legislative and presidential elections in 1992. When the results of the election became known, he relinquished power to the newly elected president, Alpha Oumar Konaré. Because of this, he gained the nickname “The Soldier of Democracy.”

In June 2001, he became the special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the Central African Republic after the failed coup attempt there.

In September 2001 he asked for and was granted his expected retirement from the army. He decided to restart his political career by becoming a candidate in the upcoming presidential election. He was elected President of Mali in the 2002 presidential election. In the first round, he placed first with 28.71% of the vote, while in the second round he won 64.35% of the vote, defeating the ADEMA candidate, former cabinet minister Soumaila Cissé, who obtained 35.65% of the vote. Touré was sworn in on June 8, 2002.

His presidency has been rather atypical; he is not a member of any political party and his government has members from all of the political parties in the country.

AllAfrica – All the Time