AQ-Feb-2007-Apr-2007

africaVolume 47, No. 1

February-April 2007

I N D I A N C O U N C I L F O R C U L T U R A L R E L A T I O N S

Q U A R T E R L Y

! India’s energy safari in Africa

! India and its peace-keeping missions

! Ethiopia-India ties: Upward spiral

! Globalisation and democracy in Africa

! In Conversation: Wangari Maathai

! Trade ties: India and Zambia

! U.N. reforms: An African perspective

Indian Council for Cultural RelationsAzad Bhavan

Indraprastha EstateNew Delhi-110 002

E-mail: [email protected] with the Registrar of Newspapers of India

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Indian Journal of African AffairsVolume 47 No. 1, February-April 2007

INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONSNEW DELHI

africaQ U A R T E R L Y

A F R I C A Q U A R T E R L Y

IN FOCUS: INDIA ETHIOPIA TIES ONUPWARD SPIRAL

K. Mathews traces India-Ethiopia relations down thecenturies and envisages a robust economic partnershipbetween the two countries with the rapid modernisation

and growth of their economies.

conte

nts

U.N. REFORM: CHASING THESECURITY COUNCIL DREAMYeshi Choedon traces the contours of variouscompeting initiatives for reform of the U.N.Security Council and underlines the need forunity among African countries to translate thisdream into reality.

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OIL DIPLOMACY: INDIA’S ENERGY SAFARI IN AFRICA

Ruchita Beri argues for a more proactive Indian diplomacy to revitalise its ties with the oil-rich

sub-Saharan Africa that may emerge as a crucial pillar of the country’s search for

energy security.

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KEEPING THE PEACE: INDIAN TROOPS IN U.N.

PEACE MISSIONSRanjit Kumar chronicles the

contribution of Indian troops in U.N. peace-keeping operations in various

conflict zones in Africa and evokes therich harvest of goodwill they reap for

themselves and their country.

BILATERAL RELATIONS: India and Zambia:Growing trade ties

Kamini Krishna looks at the genesis of Indo-Zambian ties andthe evolution of this relationship into one involving economicgrowth and development in the two countries.

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AFRICAN SOLUTIONS: Globalisation andcrisis of democracy in Africa

Jamal M. Moosa argues that democratic ethos is not aliento Africa and analyses the impact of globalisation on variousexperiments with democratic processes in the continent.

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NEIGHBOURS: ETHIOPIA- ERITREATIES: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

M. Venkataraman analyses the transformation ofEritrea-Ethiopia ties from one of harmony andmutual gains to hostility and conflict, and the

prospects of resolving the border row between thetwo neighbours.

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INCREDIBLE INDIA: ENCHANTINGNAGALANDThe state of Nagaland, in India’s northeast, is an unex-plored paradise that offers breathtaking scenery, exoticflora and fauna, a “laid-back” environment and the inher-ent hospitality of the Naga people. It is a place where youcan put the brakes on, recharge your energy, feel goodabout yourself, go back to basics and learn to appreci-ate life and Mother Nature.

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BOOKS & IDEAS70

DOCUMENTS74

CONTRIBUTORS78

A destroyed tank on the frontbetween Ethiopia and Eritrea

IN CONVERSATION: Wangari Muta Maathai

The iconic Kenyan environmentalist –– the first African woman towin the Nobel Prize for Peace –– speaks about her passion for aclean environment, the emerging breed of new leaders in Africaand her impression of India.

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6 February-April 2007


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Printed and Published byPavan K. Varma

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Azad Bhavan, Indraprastha EstateNew Delhi - 110002

Editor:Manish Chand

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ISBN 0001-9828

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February-April 2007

IIndia and Africa are in the throes of redefining an oldrelationship moored in the common historical expe-rience of fighting against colonialism and injusticeas they wake up to the full potential of theireconomies and the role they can play in shaping an

evolving post-cold war world order. High principles and idealism that imbued them in the

shared anti-colonial struggle have now transmuted into newsynergies and shared interests in areas as diverse as informa-tion technology, peace-keeping and the creation of a moreequitable and harmonious world that reflects contemporaryrealities and not outdated power equations.

The new strategic equation finds expression in a commonpursuit of the expansion of the U.N. Security Council,although their approach has so far tended to diverge in termsof specifics. Yeshi Choedon analyses initiatives by both sidesto democratise the Security Council and finds that for all theirenthusiasm for a more accountable and representative U.N.,the two can’t agree on a common plan. The lack of unityamong African nations has proved to be a crippling factor thathas frozen chances of a restructured and rejuvenated council,at least for now.

But all is not lost. Both sides have redoubled their effortsto find a common ground and achieve a two-third majority inthe General Assembly, required as a first step towards reform-ing the council. Whatever may be the final outcome of theseendeavours, the multi-faceted ties between India and Africa inother areas, be it business, technology, energy or culture, haveacquired new strength and character in recent years. India-Ethiopia ties spanning centuries, in many ways, form a micro-cosm not only of the larger India-Africa relationship, but couldalso be a model of South-South cooperation. Prof. K.Mathews, who has taught in Ethiopia for more than a decade,is in a unique position to give a privileged insight into whatmakes this special relationship tick. As he delves into the past,he comes upon rare discoveries that give a special emotionalresonance to relations between two of the world’s oldest civil-isations. Mathews goes back to a time when “Ethiopia in theMiddle Ages as well as in ancient times was frequently calledIndia and its inhabitants were often designated as the Indi orthe Indians of Africa”, in the words of Afro-American histo-rian William Leo Hansbury.

Small wonder, when Ethiopia was colonised by Italy for abrief while nearly seven decades ago, it elicited outrage fromIndian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and S. Radhakrishnanand the poet Rabindranath Tagore. Mathews weaves these lit-tle-known nuggets about India-Ethiopia ties in a larger narra-tive about what the two countries can achieve in the econom-ic sphere.

Peace-keeping is another crucial area that illuminatesIndia’s enduring commitment to stability and development of

the continent that has proved to be fertile ground for a hun-dred mutinies. Ranjit Kumar writes about the contribution ofIndian troops in U.N. peacekeeping operations in variousconflict zones in Africa like Sudan, Somalia and Sierra Leone,and evokes emotive connections Indian troops inspire amongordinary Africans. The popularity of Hindi films in Africamakes a difficult job slightly easier for Indian troops in dan-gerous conflict-like situations, says the author who had achance to see the magic of Bollywood up close in Sierra Leone.“Africa has a special emotive resonance for Indian forces, whohave won accolades from the local communities for promot-ing cooperative living among various tribal communities,” hewrites.

India’s growing energy needs sparked by its booming econ-omy have also added another vital dimension to its ties withAfrica. Ruchita Beri argues for a more proactive Indian diplo-macy to revitalise its ties with the oil-rich sub-Saharan Africawith the entry of other players like China targeting the regionfor hydrocarbons. In her article ‘India’s Energy Safari in Africa’,Beri captures the ongoing battle for the control of equity oilin Africa that is bound to get fiercer in days to come.

Besides the many hues of India-Africa relations, this issueof Africa Quarterly turns the spotlight on the state of democra-cy and governance in this continent that has seen many a cor-rupt and authoritarian regime come and go. In his article‘Globalisation and Crisis of Democracy in Africa’, Jamal M.Moosa traces forms of democratic governance in pre-colonialAfrica which were sadly replaced during the colonial periodwith authoritarian states. Moosa analyses the impact of glob-alisation on various experiments with democratic processes inthe continent and points to a “long and difficult road” towardsending violence and achieving durable democratic systems inAfrica.

It’s easy to become pessimistic about Africa. But there ishope aplenty. And nobody epitomises this can-do spirit andmood of infectious optimism as Wangari Muta Maathai, theiconic Kenyan environmentalist who became the first Africanwoman to win the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2004.

In an interview with Africa Quarterly, Maathai speaks abouta host of issues like her undying passion for the environment,her belief in a more equitable, clean and harmonious worldand the emerging breed of new leaders in the continent whopromise a break from the past. Today there is a new effort bythe new African leadership to bring in more democratic andresponsible governance in Africa and to protect the Africanpeople from the kind of tragedies that stalked her in the past,says the 67-year-old Maathai, her eyes radiating a serene hopein the future of Africa and of this planet called earth. Let a mil-lion seedlings sprout into lush trees and let as many greenthoughts germinate while you read what she has to say.

–– Manish Chand

India and Africa: Planting a New Future

■■ From the Editor’s Desk


N E W S & E V E N T S

UUganda is a perfectlypeaceful country andwants Indianentrepreneurs toinvest there, an

Ugandan delegation on a recent visit toIndia has said. The delegation, led byUganda’s Internal Affairs MinisterRuhakana Rugunda, sought to removethe idea that there is racial discriminationagainst Indians following the death of anIndian in April in a riot in Kampala.

Devang Rawal, hailing fromAhmedabad and working with a privatefirm in Uganda, was stoned to death April12 by a mob that was protesting the moveby The Sugar Corporation of UgandaLtd. (SCOUL), part of the Indian-owned Mehta group, toexpand its sugar estates by clearing the Mabira rain forest ––one of Uganda’s last remaining patches of natural forest. It hasbeen a nature reserve since 1932. Two others, both Ugandans,were also killed in the riot.

“Apart from building further the already excellent tiesbetween India and Uganda, we are also here to personally con-vey our condolences to the family of the victim,” the Ministersaid. The Ugandan government has announced a compensa-tion of 18 million Ugandan shillings ($10,000) to Rawal’s fam-ily.

The delegation called on Minister for Overseas IndianAffairs Vayalar Ravi to convey a message of condolence fromUgandan President Yoweri Museveni on Rawal’s death.

“(They assured me that) there is no racial discriminationagainst Indians. What happened was indeed very unfortunatebut among the three people killed by the mob, two were fromUganda itself while one was Indian. So the delegation camehere to give the Indian government a re-assurance that whathad happened was the work of a few bad elements of the soci-ety,” Ravi said.

Speaking at an interactive session for potential investorsorganised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),Rugunda said, “We are happy that the Asian community in

Uganda is doing very good.”“Ugandans of Asian origin (mostly

Indians) are playing a vital role in theeconomy... They are the single mostvoracious investors there,” he said.

Stating that Uganda’s growth rate hasbeen around the 6 percent mark in pastseveral years and inflation controlled at 7percent, he said, “Come to Uganda, youbenefit, we benefit. Your investments willcreate jobs for us.”

He said that investing in Ugandawould also mean access to the whole ofeast and central African market.

Stating that Rawal’s death was a one-off incident, Sanjiv Patel of the IndianAssociation of Uganda, who was a mem-

ber of the delegation, said that Uganda has been peaceful forthe past 20 years and all communities –– Ugandans of Indianorigin and indigenous Ugandans –– have been living harmo-niously.

“Ever since President (Yoweri) Museveni and his NRM(National Resistance Movement) came to power in 1986,Uganda has been completely peaceful. And Indians doingbusiness there have been very successful,” he said. “Look at allthe NRIs (non-resident Indians) who have come and flour-ished in Uganda,” added Patel, a third-generation Ugandan ofIndian origin.

Calling upon investors not to be swayed by the Rawal inci-dent, he said, “We are there to help you. You don’t have to beworried. The Indian Association is always there.”

Asians, mostly Indians, have been the most affected lot inthe volatile politics of Uganda prior to Museveni’s ascent topower. During Idi Amin’s despotic rule in the 1970s, 75,000Asians were expelled without being allowed to take their assetswith them. After Idi Amin’s rule, the country has seen warswith neighbouring countries and military coups.

Today, there are around 17,000 Indians and most of themare NRIs who had gone there for work or business. Ugandansof Indian origin number only around 2,500. ■■

–– Aroonim Bhuyan

Uganda woos investors, says Indians are safe

Uganda’s Minister for Internal AffairsRuhakana Rugunda

TThe Ministry of ExternalAffairs has formed a CrisisManagement Group to pre-

vent targeting of Indians in foreigncountries as recently happened inUganda where an Indian was killed inracial violence.

“The Ministry has formed thegroup, which gets activated on the basisof inputs received from our missionsabroad for providing assistance toIndians wherever they are targeted inlarge numbers,” External Affairs

Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.The Minister said that the govern-

ment took up the matter with theUgandan authorities and also lodged animmediate request for providing pro-tection to Indian nationals in Uganda.

“President of Uganda met Asians inUganda and assured them that the

Government of Uganda will ensure thatsuch incidents do not happen again,”the Minister said.

Devang Rawal, a native of the west-ern state of Gujarat, was stoned to deathApril 12 by a mob that was protestingthe move by The Sugar Corporation ofUganda Limited (SCOUL), part of theIndian-owned Mehta group, to expandits sugar estates by clearing the Mabirarainforest –– described as one ofUganda’s last remaining patches of nat-ural forest. ■■

Crisis group to tackleUganda-like situation

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February-April 2007

TThe worst NRI night-mare is Idi Amin’sUganda,” recalledShanti Lakhani inLeicester, U.K. “A

glimpse of the same horror was repeatedlast week.” No matter where they live, allnon-resident Indians (NRIs) recoil at thebrutal treatment by the Ugandan despotAmin. The recent violent demonstrationsnear Jinja and in the capital Kampala werea reminder of the dark days of the Aminera from 1971-1979 during which thedictator ordered all Indians to leaveUganda in 1972. This mass expulsionfrom their homes and businesses withouttaking any assets remains the ultimate dis-aster for all NRIs.

Lakhani should know. He and hisfamily came with just 50 pounds toBritain 35 years ago as “UgandanRefugees”. Before he flew out, he buriedhis gold ornaments in a secret spot in hishome.

Moving to Leicester where other Ugandan Indians wereconverging, he started from scratch as a petrol station atten-dant. Working almost round the clock, he bought the businessa few years later with a bank loan. It took some more years torepay this loan. By then, the new Uganda President YoweriMuseveni invited the Ugandan Indians back to Uganda “to re-construct” their former homeland. Lakhani went back, butonly to dig up his ornaments from hishome now taken over by Africans.Other Indian traders, including thetwo major Indian business groups, the Madhvanis and theMehtas, returned to restart operations and prospered again.

And now, 35 years after this exodus that grabbed worldheadlines, the anger against Indians in Uganda resurfaced inall its ugliness when Indians were attacked, forced to closetheir shops and a young Indian was lynched to death.

It all started with a protest by environmentalists who want-ed to save part of a forest that the government wanted to handover to the Mehta Group for developing a sugarcane planta-tion. “Save the forest” protest by the opposition morphed intoan anti-Indian diatribe. From Jinja, trouble spread to Kampala.

Indians hurriedly downed their shop shutters to save themfrom being ransacked. Indian banks also closed down. SomeIndians sought refuge in a temple that was attacked. And anIndian, Devang Rawal, was stoned and beaten to death by avicious mob during a protest. A day after his death, obliviousof what had happened in Kampala, Devang’s mother inAhmedabad was joyfully informing friends of her son’s returnin May and his wedding preparations. When his body arrivedin Ahmedabad, his mother and family were inconsolable.

“Although Indian shops in Kampala opened a couple of

days later, the mob attack that saw Indians being dragged offmotorbikes and beaten, their shops looted and a Hindu tem-ple attacked, revived bitter memories of virulent anti-Indianbashing by former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin who expellednearly 75,000 Asians in 1972,” wrote the Hindustan Times.

Leading Ugandan newspaper New Vision editorialised:“The violence against the Asian community, resulting in one

Asian killed, is unforgivable. It hasled to the loss of life and the destruc-tion of property of innocent people.

It has diverted a noble cause into a racial one.”After the Indian government expressed concern over the

safety of Indians in Uganda, the Ugandan government assuredthat no harm will be done to Indians in Uganda. PresidentMuseveni promised, “Such hooliganism will not be allowedto happen again.”

He added: “Ugandans need ‘foreigners’ to develop ourcountry. They bring their savings here, their technology, theirmanagement skills and buy what we produce. Others comehere as tourists and bring money. How can anybody claim tobe pro-Uganda and be anti-foreigners, who are contributingto our prosperity?”

But the incident shows how quickly the hatred against theimmigrants flares up when peaceful protestors become hys-terical attackers.

As a witness to the Amin era, I have observed all this at closequarters from Kenya and reported on the plight of Ugandanrefugees in Britain. Visiting Kampala a year after Amin tookover, it was clear that the richly-endowed country was on asteep slide into the poverty and anarchy that ensued.

–– Kul Bhushan

For Uganda’s NRIs, a reminder of Amin’s days

C O M M E N T A R Y

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin on a visit to Britain in 1971.


N E W S & E V E N T S

IIndian Agriculture MinisterSharad Pawar has called forincreased trade relations withAfrican countries. Inaugurat-ing the first ever India-Africa

Agrifood Summit in New Delhi inMarch, Pawar stressed on the impor-tance of sharing experiences for mutualbenefit.

He said the summit –– organised bythe Federation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FICCI), theCommerce and Agriculture Ministriesand the World Bank –– should addressresource management, mechanisation,backward and forward linkages, creditand markets.

Pawar said that training and empow-erment of human resources is India’sstrength and a large number of expertsfrom sub-Saharan Africa have receivedtraining in this country.

He said there are opportunities forIndia-Africa collaboration in agricultur-al research, crop varieties that requireless water, eco-friendly fertilisers, high-tech agricultural and soil and water man-

agement. India has always been a keen collab-

orator in development of technologiesand scientific research and sharing themwith other developing countries, theMinister said.

World Bank Country-Director forIndia Rachid Benmessoud said that Indiacan play an important role in the emer-gence of Africa in the 21st century andcan help in developing its agriculturepotential.

He expressed satisfaction over themeasures taken by India in encouragingself-help groups to play key roles in thefield of agriculture. Africa can benefitfrom the experience of Andhra Pradesh,Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar andJharkhand, which are reaping the bene-fit of investments in economic empow-erment, he said.

In his welcome address, FICCI pres-ident Habil Khorakiwala said that indus-try and the governments of both thecountries should work together toincrease bilateral trade and economiccooperation. ■■

India calls for increased trade relations with Africa

Agriculture MinisterSharad Pawar said that

training and empowermentof human resources isIndia’s strength and a

large number of expertsfrom sub-Saharan Africahave received training in

this country.

EExporters must now preparecountry-specific strategies to tapthe growing trade potential

among emerging markets, specially tar-geted at Africa, the Caribbean and theRussian Federation, Commerce andIndustry Minister Kamal Nath has said.

“If we do not occupy the space now,somebody else will,” the Minister toldthe fourth meeting of the Board of Trade,ahead of presenting the annual supple-ment for India’s trade policy in earlyApril.

Kamal Nath said India had managedto reach the target set in 2004 to doubleits exports and corner a 1-percent share ofthe global trade, but added that the needof the hour was to target new, non-traditional markets.

“When in August 2004, the United Progressive Alliance(UPA) government set the target of doubling India’s share ofglobal merchandise trade in five years, many of you found itto be too ambitious,” the Minister said.

“Yet, these three years have proved us right,” he told themeeting, attended by the representatives of various industry

chambers, export promotion councilsand senior officials from the government.

The Board of Trade –– set up in April2005 with 39 members under the chair-manship of industrialist KumarMangalam Birla –– advises the govern-ment on India’s foreign trade policy andhow to push the country’s exports toachieve the desired targets.

At the meeting, representatives of theFederation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry called forgreater focus on labour-intensive indus-tries and those that have large employ-ment potential.

They also wanted transaction costs onexports pruned. “A World Bank study

points out that the transaction cost per container is as high as$865 in India against $338 in China and $481 in Indonesia,”chamber president Habib Khorakiwala said.

Exporters were critical of the imposition of services tax andminimum alternate tax since it eroded the competitiveness oftheir exports and urged Kamal Nath to take up the issue withthe Finance Ministry. ■■

Exporters told to focus on Africa, the Caribbean

Commerce & Industry Minister Kamal Nath

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February-April 2007

SScientists from India, Braziland South Africa –– the so-called IBSA countries ––met in Tamil Nadu to dis-cuss ways and means of

collaborating in the field of nano-tech-nology. The collaboration in science andtechnology between the IBSA nationsbegan in April 2005. Indian scientistsand experts had visited Brazil inNovember and South Africa in April2006.

From April 1, a dozen scientists fromBrazil and South Africa have been tour-

ing India to identify common areas ofresearch interest, strength and mutualweaknesses to be able to decide on spe-cific collaboration projects. IGCARDirector Baldev Raj, India’s coordinatorfor the programme, explained, “Theemphasis of this collaboration will be touse nano-science for technology deliv-ery.”

“Researchers from Indian universi-ties and institutions, both private andgovernment, will be beneficiaries of thetri-nation collaboration,” he added. Hesaid, even scholars doing research in

small institutions will be able to work inSouth African and Brazilian institutionsduring their project period.

Scholars from partner countries willbe coming to work in Indian institutionsof science and research.

The areas identified by India for col-laborative study are in advanced materi-al studies, health (TB and HIV, malar-ia) and clean water and industrial watermechanisms, energy, drug delivery sys-tems, agri-sensor and nano-sensordevelopment and education in nano-technology. ■■

India, S.Africa to collaborate in nanotechnology

TThe U.N. Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) Governing Council kicked off its 21stsession in Nairobi on April 16 with a call for

improving quality of life to achieve sustainable urban devel-opment.

UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka saidunless the majority of households enjoyed some measure ofwelfare, which accrued from productive employment, sus-tainable urban development was likely to remain an illusion.

She said the U.N. housing agency has unveiled a six-yearstrategic plan to stabilise the unplanned and chaotic aspectsof urban growth and unleash the productive potential of theurban poor.

Tibaijuka said sustainable urban development will alsolikely remain an illusion if the urban poor, who are themajority of the urban population in most developing coun-tries, are excluded from decision-making and from being fullurban citizens.

“The proposed six-year Medium-term Strategic andInstitutional Plan for 2008-2013 is pivotal to this vision. It

will maximize our collecting chances of success. It recog-nizes that sustainable urbanization requires a stakeholder-supported roadmap,” Tibaijuka told housing ministers andurban planners from 100 countries across the world.

“The plan calls for ongoing and increasing alliance build-ing with all those committed to making a difference. Thisimplies first and foremost that we work with member statesto develop effective policies and strategic to meeting thesocial, economic and environmental challenges of rapidurbanisation,” she said.

Tibaijuka, who is also the director general of the UnitedNations Office in Nairobi (UNON), said the increase ofslum dwellers would be caused by rural urban migration,increasing poverty and insufficient investment in new low-income housing.

“We must work together like never before to stabilise thechaotic aspects of rapid urbanization and begin to reverse thetrend of the urbanization of poverty and slum formation,including slum prevention through participatory planningand land tenure reforms with a gender perspective,” she said.

AAn Indian origin businessmanand philanthropist in Durban,South Africa, was scheduled to

stage a mammoth Bollywood fashionweek in Mauritius.

Sharan Haricharan invited topBollywood stars for the show, the pro-ceeds of which was to be donated tochild welfare in Mauritius, according tothe Post newspaper.

“The idea behind the fundraiser came after I facilitated theinvolvement of my friend, fashion guru Haroun Hansrot, inthe latest Durban-shoot of the film ‘Race’, which starred Saif

Ali Khan,” Haricharan said.“We were pleased when Sameera

Reddy agreed to get involved. She willdonate her services free of charge for thecause. We tried to get Bipasha Basuinvolved as well, but she said her assign-ments over the next few months wouldbe gruelling,” the businessman said.

Apart from Bollywood stars,Haricharan and Hansrot also plan to rope in two modelsfrom KwaZulu Natal and a few talents from Mauritius itself.

The event was slated to take place at the plush seasideresort of Sugar Beach.

Bollywood fashion extravaganza held in Mauritius

U.N. calls for joint efforts to tackle urban poverty


I N F O C U S

There are multiple bonds that bindIndia and Ethiopia together, encom-passing civilisational, historical, cul-tural, commercial, economic, social,political and diplomatic ties. Closecultural affinities and complementar-ities of their economies provide thebedrock of socio-cultural and com-mercial links between the two peo-

ples. With its own alphabet, calendar and clock, Ethiopia is aunique ancient African country, oneof the oldest states in the world. Ithas a recorded history which stretch-es back to the biblical times.Throughout the centuries, Ethiopiahas always been the symbol ofancient African civilisation and state-hood, one that can boast the mostremarkable achievements and a glo-rious past from times immemorial.Ethiopia is also the only country inAfrica which has never beencolonised by a European power andthus it remains a symbol of indepen-dence and freedom in Africa.

Despite the divergence in size,population and power, India andEthiopia have much in common.Their economies are complemen-tary. Both are multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic,multi-religious and face identical problems and challenges ofnation-building. Both are engaged in the struggle for democ-racy and development. While India is the largest democracy inthe world, Ethiopia is in the process of consolidating its demo-cratic institutions and practices since the overthrow of thedetested Derg regime in 1991. With the adoption of the newConstitution in 1994, Ethiopia, like India, has adopted a fed-eral and democratic structure. There is a proud historical lega-cy and profound socio-cultural basis on which the diversebilateral cooperation arrangements could be strengthened andpromoted. We may now start with providing a brief historical

background to the development of Indo-Ethiopian relationsthrough the ages.

Historical Background

Both India and Ethiopia are ancient civilisations of at least5,000 and 3,000 years, respectively. India was the cradle ofcivilisation along with a galaxy of other great civilisations likeEgypt, Sumeria, Babylonia, etc. Contacts between the Indiansubcontinent and the Western countries, especially Egypt,

Greece, Syria, Mesopotamia and eastAfrican lands, began during the daysof the Mahabharata, which takes usback to about 3000 years B.C. TheIndian Ocean served as a connectinglink between India, the Middle Eastand Africa. Traders, explorers andseafarers had in this great southernocean a very useful phenomenon oftrade winds and our ancestors knewhow to make good use of this phe-nomenon.

A number of scholars of ancientIndian history has noted that inancient times a large number of peo-ple migrated from the west coast ofIndia in search of new lands and set-tled in Egypt, Nubia (the Sudan) andEthiopia. In those days, the famous

Nile Valley and Indus Valley civilisations interacted with eachother. The Nile and the Red Sea provided well-known routesto Indian traders and visitors. The mass migration of theHamitic people from Asia to Ethiopia is generally believed tohave reached its zenith around 3000 B.C. and the Semiticmigrations followed 2,000 years later, both arriving throughthe regions of Tigrai and Eritrea. These Hamitic people had along history of commercial links with the regions on bothsides of the Red Sea. It is believed that the arrival of Semiticsettlers from Asia to Ethiopia was only the last decisive phaseof the long intercourse between the Ethiopian region and theother side of the Red Sea.

K. Mathews traces India-Ethiopia relations down the centuries andenvisages a robust economic partnership between the two countries

with the rapid modernisation and growth of their economies

India-EEthiopia TTies oonUPWARD Spiral

Despite the divergence in size, population and power,

India and Ethiopia have much in common. Their

economies are complementary.Both are multi-cultural,

multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and face identical problems and

challenges of nation-building.Both are engaged in the

struggle for democracy anddevelopment.

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February-April 2007

Many historians have noted that ancient Indians came intodirect touch with the Egyptians and Ethiopians through themediation of the Iranian rulers and organisers of the greatPersian empire from the 6th Century B.C. Some classical his-torians have also pointed out that Ethiopians were originallyan Indian race. They also provide ethnological grounds whichsupport the assumption that the ancient Ethiopians are ofIndian origin. The physical similarities, both in colour andshape of the body, for instance, between South Indians andEthiopians, are presented as an additional proof. Says wellknown Afro-American historian William Leo Hansbury:“Ethiopia in the Middle Ages as well as in ancient times wasfrequently called India and its inhabitants were often desig-nated as the Indi or the Indians of Africa.” Furthermore, thesehistorians have pointed out that it was on record that duringthe days of Marco Polo, Africa was called “Greater India” andEthiopia was “Middle India”.

There is a mass of evidence, both Indian and Ethiopian, withrespect to exchange of commodities between the two coun-tries in ancient times. During the Axumite Empire (1st to 6thcentury A.D.) in Ethiopia, Indian traders flocked to the ancientport of Adulis (now called Zula near Massawa) in the easternpart of Ethiopia for trade. The port of Adulis had become ameeting point for maritime trade and served as an outlet forAxum, itself a main collecting centre for ivory from variousregions. The position of Axum in commerce was further evi-dent in the minting of its own gold, silver and copper coins.The importance of India’s trade relations with the AxumiteEmpire was brought to light by the discovery of 103 Kushanagold coins around 230 A.D. in Axum. The Axumite periodwitnessed the expansion and intensification of trade contactsbetween the two countries and vividly showed that some ofthe products exported to India from Ethiopia were of high

value. Ethiopia was a great source of gold, ivory, rhinoceroshorn and slaves, all of which were in great demand in India atthe time. India, in turn, supplied cotton and silk, pepper andother spices, which were equally in great demand in Ethiopia.Indian spices greatly influenced Ethiopian cuisine. Anotherimportant dimension of the Indo-Ethiopian trade relations inthe earlier periods was the slave trade. Axum at that time rep-resented the global commercial significance of Ethiopia and itstrade with India was a factor of supreme importance in the evo-lution of India-Ethiopia relations in the past. The strategiclocation of Axum at the heart of a series of trade routes madeit suitable for international commerce and human settlement.

The existence of flourishing trade and commercial inter-course at the time was further supported by archeological evi-dence. These evidences were mainly gold coins used forexchange of commodities between the two countries. Thesecoins were later discovered in several parts of south-west Indiaand northern Ethiopia. The Axumite trade with the East wasan on-going affair in ancient times and it traded with India,Ceylon as well as Arabia and Persia. It is an established fact thatthe Indian maritime presence in the Red Sea had by the 6thcentury A.D. impressed Axumites sufficiently for EmperorKaleb to commission nine Indian ships in his retaliatory expe-dition to South Arabia. That the Indian silk trade, as distinctfrom traditional cotton, was also highly prized in the region isevident from the records of Byzantine historian Procopious,who relates how the Roman Emperor Justinian tried to per-suade the Ethiopians to directly purchase silk from India andsell it to the Romans in order to break the monopoly ofPersians, their enemy. Adulis was destroyed in 710 A.D. whenIslam spread along the trade routes to the Ethiopian interior.But Indo-Ethiopian economic relations survived the vicissi-tudes of history. There was continuing import of great variety

The Harar Military Academy was set up with Indian help in 1958


I N F O C U S

of Indian textiles, including silks and brocades. Many literaryworks of the early 14th century have revealed the deepEthiopian interest in India. By this time Ibn Battuta, the greatMoroccan traveler in Africa and Asia, was also making sever-al references to the presence of “Habshis” in the slave tradeduring his visit to India (1333-1342)

Ethiopians in India

The flourishing trade relations between India and Ethiopiathat began during the ancient period continued in the subse-quent centuries with the added dimension of the slave trade.According to historian Richard Pankhurst, the coming ofEthiopian and other East African slaves to India a millenniumor so later is abundantly documented in various historicalrecords. Western India, from the 13th to the 17th century, wit-nessed massive forced migration of Ethiopians and other EastAfrican slaves. Such slaves were known mainly by three alter-native names: ‘Habshis’, ‘Sidis’ and ‘Kaffirs’. The term Habshiwas a corruption of Habbash, theArabic name for Abyssinia (nowEthiopia). The word Habshi waslater used more widely for allAfricans. However, most slaves fromAfrica to India would, for geograph-ical reasons, have originated on theeastern coast of the continent, par-ticularly Abyssinia. The term ‘Sidi’by contrast was a corruption of theArabic word “Sayid” or ‘master’. Theterm ‘Kaffir’ was derived from theArabic ‘Kaffir’, originally an infidel,or the ones who did not believe inIslam. The word tended to be used inIndia for any non-Muslim and was inmany cases applied to African immi-grants and their descendants.

“Habshis” (Ethiopian slaves) areknown to have arrived in India as early as the 13th century.Many of them subsequently rose to very high positions. Thefirst prominent “Habshi” of whom we have record was a slavecalled Jamal al-Din Yaqut, a royal courtier in the kingdom ofDelhi. A handsome and most likeable individual, he is report-ed to have won favour of then reigning sovereign QueenRazzia. This aroused much jealousy in court. He was eventu-ally murdered by his rivals. Habshis, it is evident from 14thcentury records, were also prominent in several other parts ofIndia. The largest concentration of slaves was apparently foundin the north-west, facing Africa, in Gujarat, and immediatelyto the east, around the Gulf of Cambay. Both areas had longbeen in close commercial contact, across the Arabian and RedSea, with Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Evidence of anEthiopian slave presence in the Indian subcontinent is also pro-vided by Battuta in the 14th century. These Ethiopian slaveswere also used as famous guarantors of safety on the IndianOcean against pirates and idolators. A sizeable number ofHabshis were also found much further south, at Calicut (now

Kozhikode), which also faced the African continent and trad-ed with Ethiopia. Habshis were also reported in the interiorof north India. Ibn Battuta recalls that at Alipur, north of Delhi,the governor was “the Abyssinian Badr…, a man whose brav-ery passed into a proverb”. He was “continually making raidson the infidels alone, and single-handed killing and takingcaptive, so that his fame spread far and wide and the infidelswent in fear of them”. Later in the century a slave called MalikSarwar, described as a Habshi, was appointed further north asgovernor of Jaunpur.

Numerous Habshis and other foreign slaves were likewisepolitically very prominent in 15th century Bengal, which alsoenjoyed extensive trade with Ethiopia and other parts of Africa.The then Bengali ruler, Sultan Rukun al-Din (1450-1474),reportedly had no less than 8,000 African slaves, some of whomrose to positions of considerable importance. Such slaves wereparticularly influential during the ensuing reign of Jalal al-DinFath Shah (1481-1487). Habshis were in fact so powerful inBengal that a group of them conspired to overthrow Jalal al-

Din Fath but were killed later. Thusfrom protectors of the dynasty, theHabshis became masters of the king-dom. There are many such stories ofprotectors becoming masters. TheHabshis, who had shown themselvesso formidable in the bloody strugglesof the time, were subsequently ban-ished from Bengal. Many soughtrefuge further north, in Delhi andJaunpur, after which they drifted tothe Deccan in the south and Gujaratin the west.

The Deccan, in south-westernIndia, was another area in which theHabshis gained prominence, and, aselsewhere, became involved in manyconflicts of the day. At the beginningof the 15th century, the local

Bahmani ruler, Sultan Firuz (1397-1422), had many Habshislaves as his personal attendants, as well as his bodyguards andharem. Indeed, many notable Habshis feature in the Deccanchronicles. Ethiopian and other African slaves were at thistime probably arriving in India in large numbers. Thoughmost Habshis came to India as slaves, their faithfulness,courage and energy often raised them to positions of high trustin the Bahmani court, so much so that they were exalted tothe highest positions in the state. Several Habshis becameprominent during the ensuing periods. The importance ofHabshis of this time is also evident from the fact that a hill out-side the capital city of Bidar, where once they had theirstronghold –– and where many of them were buried –– is tothis day known as “Habshi Kot”.

Habshis at this time were also prominent at several pointsalong India’s western coast, particularly at the island fort ofJanjira, and in the nearby creek of Danda-Rajpuri, where theywere almost invariably referred to as Sidis. There are differentstories as to how the Sidis established themselves strongly at

The trade between India andEthiopia that began during theancient period continued in thesubsequent centuries with theadded dimension of the slave

trade. The coming of Ethiopianslaves to India a millennium or

so later is documented in historical records. Western

India, from the 13th to the 17thcentury, witnessed massive

forced migration of Ethiopiansand other East African slaves.

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Janjira. The Sidis remained in effec-tive control of Janjira for the next 200years. Further north at Daman, onthe coast of Ahmadnagar facingAfrica, the governor at the time of thePortuguese occupation in 1530 was aHabshi chief called Sayf al-MullkMiftah, who had a force of 4,000 fel-low Habshis. To the south mean-while, at Goa, Habshis were alsoprominent. In 1493, the Bahmaniadmiral Sidi Yaqut is said to havebeen sent with a fleet of 20 vesselsagainst the Gujrat fort of Mahim nearBombay, and succeeded in capturingit. Habshis likewise became promi-nent at Calicut, the population ofwhich, according to the modernIndian historian, K.M. Panikkar, con-tinued to include many people from Abyssinia.

Cambay, to the north-west of the subcontinent, also had aconsiderable Habshi population. Some made their way into theinterior, including Mandu, whose sultan, Shah Khalji (1469-1500), reportedly had 500 Abyssinian slave girls dressed inmale attire. In the 15th and 16th centuries, with the advent ofthe Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region and the rise of theMuslim state of Adal, in the East of what is now Ethiopia, bor-dering the Gulf of Aden, and the increase in slave raiding inthe interiors of Ethiopia resulted in considerable expansion inthe slave trade, and in particular the export of numerousEthiopian slaves to Arabia, India and elsewhere. It is said thatEthiopian slaves, serving in India as soldiers, were “strong andvaliant to such a degree that there was a proverb throughoutIndia that good soldiers, or ascaris or servants must be

Abyssinian”. It is said that there wereno less than 5,000 Habshis inAhmedabad, and 1,500 in Baroda, in1561-62. When the Mughal EmperorAkbar (1556-1605) subsequentlyentered Gujarat in 1572, there werelikewise 700 Habshi horsemen onthe scene. The best known Habshi ofthe early 17th century was said to beMalik Ambar (1549-1626), an“Abyssinian” slave purchased inBaghdad, who became chief ministerin the shrunken kingdom offAhmadnagar. He won renown in1601 by defeating the Mughal forcesin south-west Berar. Several otherHabshis held important positionslater in the century. It is said thatthere was at least one prominent

Habshi named Rahut Jung (died 1796) in the 18th centuryHyderabad in the interior of central India.

Though the influence of the Habshis in India was on thewhole declining in the later years, they continued to holdpower in the island of Janjira, on the west coast, where theywere almost invariably referred to as Sidis. The Sidis played anotable role in the struggle between Emperor Aurangzeb andthe Maratha leader Shivaji (1674-1680). It is said that no lessthan three of the principal provinces of Bijapur were then con-trolled by Sidis. The Sidis were said to be at this time rich andreportedly gained as much from their trade as from a stipendfrom Aurangzeb. Besides possessing many vessels of force,the Sidis carried on considerable trade. The Habshi admiralsof the Mughal Empire also enjoyed an influence far beyondJanjira. After the advent of the British in Bombay, in 1773, they

A number of Indian film festivals were also held in

Ethiopia which proved extremelypopular. Indian films, both

documentaries and features, are extremely popular inEthiopia. Every young

Ethiopian is familiar with thenames of leading Indian filmstars and latest films. Indian

film music strikes an instant emotional

connection.


I N F O C U S

concluded an offensive and defensivealliance with the Sidis.

Indian trade with Ethiopia and theGulf of Aden continued to flourish inthe 17th century and beyond and wasaccompanied by many further ship-ments of slaves. The importance ofHabshis in Indian political affairsdiminished subsequently. It is notedthat slave exports from Ethiopia andthe Horn of Africa in the first two-thirds of the 19th century was by nomeans inconsiderable. Such exports(which were destined for Arabia,India and other places) were thenrunning at close to 10,000 a year, i.e.almost a 100,000 per decade, or near-ly a million per century. These fig-ures suggest there was a significantinflux of slaves from Ethiopia and theHorn of Africa, and that they wouldhave at least partially replenished theranks of the long-established Habshipopulation in India. Habshis, or theirdescendants, continued in variousparts of India. Most of the Habshislargely lived a life of near anonymityand scarcely feature in the records ofthe time. The first marriages of theHabshis were said to be with nativesof India, but later they largely marriedamong their own families. Thishelped them to preserve their nation-ality and identity and formed anumerous community distinct in fig-ure, colour and character from all theother races of Mohammedans inIndia.

The export of Ethiopian slaves toIndia, apart from helping to sustain the long-standing trade tiesbetween the two countries, provided an opportunity to ancientEthiopians to contribute significantly to Indian history. Theymade contributions in many fields, particularly architectureand masonry, among others. Regarding the Ethiopian archi-tectural influence in India during the medieval period, in par-ticular their ability in designing and construction in general,I.M. Muthanna has noted that the Habshis who were thechiefs of governments, army commanders and politicians, hadan interest in the Muslim architecture and they continued tobuild great structures during the reign of the Bahmini Sultansand the Mughal chiefs in the north. The greatest Habshi con-struction in India was that of an Abyssinian noble, Sheik Sa’idAl Habshi, Sultan of Ahmadnagar, who got the Sidi Sa’idMosque built. This mosque is now a leading tourist attractionin Ahmedabad. The same writer has noted that little is knownabout this gifted Abyssinian master-mason who created thismarvel of stone in perfect workmanship. He was in India orig-

inally as a slave and then rose in theservice of Sultan Muzaffar Ali, andlater became a big landlord. It is alsovery much evident that Ethiopianstone masons, craftsmen and archi-tects had a hand in the building ofnot only the famous Sidi Sa’idMosque in Ahmedabad but also inthe construction of the same kind inother states in India, particularly theDeccan, Gujarat, Khandesh, Oudhand Bengal. Ethiopian war prisonersof Ahmed Grangn (the left-handed),who invaded Ethiopia in the 16thcentury, were also sent to India asslaves, but were later educated tobecome soldiers, palace guards andtraders. The important roleEthiopians played in India in themedieval times thus continued bytheir holding different positions ofhigh rank close to Indian rulers. Wemay now turn to examine the rolethat Indians played in Ethiopia.

Indians in Ethiopia

As noted earlier, for centuries,Ethiopia served as a bridge betweenIndia, Mesopotamia, Arabia andEgypt. An organised system of com-merce continued during the cen-turies between India and Ethiopiathrough the Indian, Arab, Moor andArmenian traders. Later, after thedefeat of Ahmad Grangn by EmperorLeba Dengel (1506-1546), with thesupport of the Portuguese military,Indian technicians (commoners,

builders, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, shoe-makers andother craftsmen) went to Ethiopia from Goa when Portuguesemissionaries and travelers were shuttling between East Africaand India in the 17th century. The contributions of Indians inEthiopia were significant, especially in the fields of construc-tion and craft. To quote the report of the Jesuit Priest Almeida: “Some masons from India, brought by the patriarch, wereemployed by the emperor to build a palace of stone and lime,a structure that was wonder in the country.” It is said that theIndians played an innovative role, particularly in the buildingof bridges and introduction of lime and mortar construction.By the 17th and 18th centuries, trade continued to dominatethe relations between the two countries. Ethiopian products,especially gold, continued to be exported to India to buy clothfrom India. Commercial contacts led to more visible contactsin the field of culture and arts. The impact of Indian influence,according to Richard Pankhurst, can also be seen from the 18thand 19th century Ethiopian Christian arts. In this regard,

Nationalist leaders like Nehruand Gandhi condemned the

Italian aggression and gave totalsupport to Ethiopia. President

Radhakrishnan, who was then aprofessor at Oxford, said:

“Events in Abyssinia constituteda betrayal of moral values.”

Poet, philosopher and Nobellaureate Rabindranath Tagorevividly conveyed in his poetry

the then friendly sentiments andsympathy that prevailed in India.

Nehru andGandhi

TagoreRadhakrishnan

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February-April 2007

Pankhurst has stated: “Contacts with India, in this period,seem to have had interesting, though by no means, exclusive,influences on eighteenth and early nineteenth centuryEthiopian Christian art… The Virgin Mary is thus occasion-ally depicted in an unmistakably Indian posture; guardianarchangels in the interior of churches are often seen wearingMoghul-type clothes; some manuscript illustrations of build-ings seem of Indian inspiration.”

There are also many other areas where the Indian influenceis clearly evident in Ethiopia. This includes all aspects of cul-ture and calls for a separate, detailed study. I may mention onlysome aspects here. In 1868, for the first time, Indian soldiers,then under the British, came to Ethiopia under RobertNapier’s expedition against Emperor Tewodros of Ethiopia.The expedition at the time had 12,000 troops, out of whichmore than 8,000 were Indian soldiers from Bombay andPunjab Regiments and artillery from Bengal. Later, followingthe defeat of the Italians by Emperor Menelik in March 1896at the famous battle of Adowa, the British attempted to winthe friendship of the emperor by dispatching a mission. It isinteresting to note that this mission, in addition to Britishofficers, included Indians and an Ethiopian surgeon, Dr.Workneh, who studied in India. He had an important officialpost in India before he returned to Ethiopia to become lateron a personal physician to the Emperor Tewdros. At the endof the 19th century, many Indians such as merchants, work-ers and artisans came to Ethiopia and some settled in the coun-try by establishing business shops and trade firms. It is esti-mated that by 1909 there were about 150 Indian businessmenin Addis Ababa with established business enterprises. Leadingtrading houses, with headquarters in Bombay, exported cof-fee, pulses and wheat to Ethiopia while they imported itemssuch as cotton, rayon, yarns, gunny bags, etc. Before Ethiopiawas invaded by fascist Italy in 1935, the number of these busi-ness firms in Addis Ababa is said to have increased to 3,000.

While discussing the role and influence of Indians inEthiopia, it is also pertinent to take note of the Indian responseto the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, as a revenge for theirdefeat at Adowa in 1896. When Ethiopia was invaded by fas-cist Italy, there was vast sympathy and solidarity from the peo-ple of India to Ethiopia. Indian nationalist leaders likeJawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, etc., vehemently con-demned the aggression and gave total political and moral sup-port to Ethiopia. Nehru declined to accept the invitationextended to him by the fascist leader Benito Mussolini to visitRome while he was visiting Europe in 1936 because it “wouldinevitably have led to all manner of inferences and would beused for fascist Italy propaganda”. Besides, shortly after hisreturn to India, the Indian National Congress organised amass demonstration under the banner of “Ethiopia Day” toshow India’s full solidarity with Ethiopia against Italian atroc-ities in the country. Mahatma Gandhi also expressed his deepsympathy to the Ethiopians and revulsion against this barbar-ic act. The total moral and political support extended toEthiopia by a wide section of the Indian intelligentsia, includ-ing the press, was indeed striking and constant. The late IndianPresident Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, who was then a professor at

Oxford University, added his voice to the moral supportEthiopia enjoyed in India by saying that “events in Abyssiniaconstituted a betrayal of moral values”. The famous Indianpoet, philosopher and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagorevividly conveyed in his poetry the then friendly sentiments andsympathy that prevailed in India in the following words:

The savage greed of the civilised stripped nakedits unashamed inhumanity.You wept and your cry was smothered,Your forest trails became muddy with tears and blood,while the nailed boots of the robbers left their indelible printsalong the history of your indignity!

Evidently, the colonial situation in which India found itselfwas a major contributing factor to the unanimous solidarityIndia felt towards Ethiopia. Both India and Ethiopia werewaging their independence struggles against colonial rule andfascism, respectively. In that sense Ethiopia and India were co-victims of colonial oppression.

It was during this time of Italian occupation that the Indiantroops, for the second time, after almost seven decades, cameback to Ethiopia, again under the British flag, but for a differ-ent purpose, that is, to join the Allied armies to fight againstFascist Italy’s occupation forces. During World War II it is esti-mated 5,000 Indian soldiers lost their lives in the decisive bat-tle of Karen alone, where in the famous fortress the Italianforces were entrenched. The Italians surrendered after fiveyears of grim guerrilla warfare and the heroic liberation cam-paign of 1941. The short-lived Italian African Empire (includ-ing parts of Somalia) collapsed. Following the ignominiousdefeat of Fascist Italy and the re-entry of the late EmperorHaile Selassie into Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Emperor on sev-eral occasions expressed gratitude to Indian troops, who alongwith the Ethiopian patriots, fought hard against the aggression.India also supported Emperor Haile Selassie’s measures inintegrating Eritrea with Ethiopia in a federal arrangement.

Ethiopia and Independent India

Ethiopia established formal diplomatic relations with inde-pendent India in July 1948. This led to the visit of an Indiangoodwill mission led by Sardar Sant Singh to Ethiopia inSeptember 1948, who became India’s first ambassador toEthiopia in 1950. During the imperial period in Ethiopia,bilateral relations with India prospered, marked by anexchange of visits at the highest levels. Emperor Haile Selassiehimself visited India twice — in 1956 and 1968. Agreementswere signed in 1969 on trade, technical, economic and scien-tific cooperation. Bilateral cooperation found concrete expres-sions in the establishment of an Indo-Ethiopian textile facto-ry and the Haile Selassie Military Academy in Harar in 1958and the building of Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababain 1955. Large numbers of Indian teachers rendered pioneer-ing service to the Ethiopian people in the field of primary andsecondary education particularly. The then Indian PresidentV.V. Giri visited Ethiopia in 1973.


I N F O C U S

Political changes in Ethiopia, triggered by the PopularRevolution in 1974, however, have not in the least affected thewarmth, goodwill and regard for India and Indians with whomEthiopians had enjoyed close customary cultural, social andbusiness links. India is one of the few countries with whichrelations are firmly based on grassroots support and even thenormally xenophobic Ethiopian finds it the most natural thingto support good relations with India. India continued to extendits cooperation to the Ethiopian people, significantly in areasof technical cooperation and development of small-scaleindustries. Indian universities and institutions of higher learn-ing began to receive large numbers of Ethiopian students pur-suing professional and higher studies. After the 1974 revolu-tion in Ethiopia, India was perhaps one of the few countrieswith which its relations were never hostile, unlike with mostof the Western, Arab or even other Asian countries. India’ssupport to Ethiopia during the Ethiopian-Somalia war of1977-78 over the Ogaden is remembered with gratitude.

Ethiopia and India supported each other in the UnitedNations and the Non-AlignedMovement (NAM). Ethiopia paidclose attention to India’s policies andpostures on disarmament, North-South dialogue, South-South coop-eration, the Indian Ocean andnumerous other issues. PresidentMengistu Haile Mariam visitedIndia in 1983 (NAM Summit) andin 1985. India’s sympathetic attitudetowards the problems of economicdevelopment of African countriesand their sensitivities has struck achord with Ethiopia. Viewed againstthis background, it is, therefore, notsurprising that there has been aremarkable intensity of bilateralexchanges in diverse fields charac-terising the Indo-Ethiopian relations.Most of these exchanges are connected with the upgrading ofEthiopian skills for which India has been identified as a pre-ferred source. Ethiopia considered India’s experience in grap-pling with the problems of economic reconstruction afterindependence as more relevant in its present context and hastried to pattern its development and institutions after India’s.Ethiopia has been keen to study India’s experience in sugartechnology, textiles, small-scale industries, engineering indus-tries, agriculture, water resources management, and, morerecently, information technology and telemedicine. EthiopianPrime Minister Meles Zenawi visited India in 1997. Therewere many other exchanges of high-level delegations betweenthe two countries in more recent years.

India has also been providing modest economic and tech-nical assistance to Ethiopia. Such assistance has mainly beenin the form of training facilities and scholarship to Ethiopiannationals in academic and technical institutions, deputation ofIndian experts, donations of food grains, medicines and hand-looms, agricultural equipment, books and publications and the

conduct of techno-economic and feasibility studies. This con-tinued from 1965 under the Indian Technical and EconomicCooperation programme, known by its acronym ITEC. Afterthe visit of the then Ethiopian President Mengistu HaileMariam to India in December 1985, assistance under this pro-gramme was expanded considerably. India also has coopera-tion arrangements with Ethiopia in the field of defence sincethe early 1960s, when it set up a Military Academy at Hararfor training officers. The Harar Military Academy, which wasoriginally designed and established by the British, was later runby the Indian Army officers delegated by the Indian MilitaryAcademy, Khadakhvasla, near Pune, India.

Trade and Bilateral Cooperation

In 1982, India and Ethiopia signed a trade agreement and amemorandum of understanding on commercial, technicaland scientific cooperation which identified a number of fieldssuch as agriculture, development, consultancy, handicrafts,

small-scale industries, transporta-tion, manpower development, etc. InJuly 1987, the Ethiopian Handicraftand Small Industry DevelopmentAgency and the National SmallIndustries Corporation of Indiasigned an agreement for developingaround 38 different types of machin-ery for utilisation in setting up small-scale industries in Ethiopia.

Since 1991, with the coming intopower of the EPRDF regime inEthiopia and liberalisation of boththe Indian and the Ethiopianeconomies, political and business tiesbetween the two countries havegrown significantly. After liberalisa-tion, the Indian economy is now onthe verge of sustained increase in

domestic demand due to rising per capita GDP and theincreasing globalisation of India’s capital markets. These, cou-pled with the availability of low-cost, high-quality manpow-er, offer attractive opportunities for business in India. India isone of the largest emerging market economies in the world,with a GDP of over $1 trillion. Its improved macroeconomics,trade and investment-friendly initiatives, and low-cost, high-quality manpower base offer significant opportunities for busi-ness. By 2040, India is expected to emerge as the world’s third-largest economy. Home to more that one billion people, Indiaaccounts for one-sixth of the world’s population and in lessthat 10 years, it is expected to be the world’s most populousnation.

Ethiopia also has introduced rapid political and economicchanges and reforms since 1991. From 1974 to 1991, theEthiopian economy was run on the basis of a CentralCommand System. After the collapse of the Derg regime in1991, the new government of Ethiopia has endeavoured tosteer the economy from the Central Command System to a

A Joint Trade Committee (JTC)was constituted which held anumber of fruitful meetings

subsequently. The volume oftrade, though small, has grown

gradually and in 2001-2002crossed the $100 million mark

with exports from India valued at$90.4 million and imports from

Ethiopia at $18.4 million.Bilateral trade stood at mere

$12.9 million a decade earlier, in 1992-93.

19


February-April 2007

decentralised market-oriented econ-omy, by adopting a new economicpolicy both at the macro and the sec-toral levels. Ethiopia has been receiv-ing considerable financial and tech-nical assistance from multilateral andbilateral donors.

Indo-Ethiopian economic cooper-ation has also intensified. A new tradeagreement between India andEthiopia was signed on March 6,1997, in New Delhi during the visitof Zenawi to India. It imparted a def-inite content and dynamism to thebilateral cooperation agenda, espe-cially in the areas of human resourcedevelopment and the sharing ofappropriate technologies and exper-tise. Among others, a Joint TradeCommittee (JTC) was constitutedwhich held a number of fruitfulmeetings subsequently. The volumeof trade, though small, has growngradually and in 2001-2002 crossedthe $100 million mark with exportsfrom India valued at $90.4 millionand imports from Ethiopia at $18.4million. Bilateral trade stood at mere$12.9 million a decade earlier, in1992-93. India is Ethiopia’s sixth-largest trading partner for merchan-dise exports. The main items ofexports from India are iron and steel(about 50 percent), manufactures ofmetals, drugs and pharmaceuticals,machinery and instruments,paper/wood products, yarn and tex-tile fabrics, auto parts, plastic andlinoleum products and food items. The main items of exportfrom Ethiopia to India are pulses (41 percent), raw hides andskins, raw cotton and leather. Raw cotton and pulses are thenew items of exports to India. We notice that India’s trade withEthiopia has virtually been a one-sided affair with the balanceof trade heavily in India’s favour. This situation could improve.

The prospects of expansion of bilateral trade are huge. Thereare very many areas in which new and mutually beneficial ini-tiatives could be taken. The development of small-scale indus-tries is one of Ethiopia’s thrust areas and a major part of thepurchase is left to private entrepreneurs. Ethiopia has alsointroduced a New Investment Code in July 2003. The privatesector is encouraged to invest in most areas of the economy.Even those economic areas reserved for the government ––namely defence industries, hydropower generation, telecom-munications –– are now open to private domestic and foreigninvestors. A foreign investor may team up with a domesticinvestor for a joint investment. This offers India new oppor-tunities. On account of a number of recent trade and invest-

ment liberalisation measures initiat-ed in Ethiopia, the latter now pro-vides many opportunities forincreased Indian exports. It shouldbe stressed that Indian products inEthiopia do not suffer from any dis-criminatory barriers –– whether tar-iff or non-tariff. There has also notbeen any case of countervailingduties imposed on Indian goods asanti-dumping measures.

There is vast scope for enhancedtrade and bilateral cooperationbetween India and Ethiopia in suchareas as agro-based industries, leatherand leather-products, knowledge-based industries including pharma-ceuticals and drugs, informationtechnology, etc. Other areas thathave potential are iron and steel,engineering goods and machinery,textiles and yarns, plastic and paperproducts, etc. Potential areas ofIndia-Ethiopia joint ventures are thegarment industry, minerals and min-ing, tourism, machinery for lightindustry, foundry shops, processingof oil seeds, commercial farming,processing and packaging of coffee,assembly of tractors, among others.There is also ample scope for coop-eration in the production of solarenergy and supply of solar equip-ment. It is, however, important topoint out here that the quantum oftrade between the two countries stillleaves much to be desired. India’sshare in Ethiopia’s global imports,

except in iron and steel, remains largely insignificant. A glanceat figures relating to India’s imports from Ethiopia and herexports to Ethiopia provide a dismal picture. This situationneeds to be reversed.

However, it is encouraging to note that India-Ethiopiacooperation, specially in the field of education, is making rapidstrides. In 2005, India set up an e-learning project for Africawhose centre is in Ethiopia. This is the Pan-African e-Network project, which is the brain-child of Indian PresidentA.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He presented it to the Pan-AfricanParliament in 2004. India is in the process of implementing itin collaboration with the African Union (AU). The idea is thatIndia will help create in every African country an e-learningcentre and a tele-medicine centre which will be linked to e-learning centres and medical institutions in India and provideservices. The satellite hub for that is to be located in Senegal.Most importantly, the pilot project is taking place in Ethiopia.There will be five or six post-graduate courses in Ethiopia byIndian universities.

In 2005, India set up an e-learning project for Africawhose centre is in Ethiopia.

This is the Pan-African e-Network project, which is

the brain-child of IndianPresident A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

He presented it to the Pan-African Parliament in

2004. India is in the process of implementing it in collaboration with the African Union (AU).


I N F O C U S

Cultural Interaction

There has been increasing cultural interaction between thetwo countries over the years. Among others, India andEthiopia signed a Cultural Agreement in 1983 which provid-ed for cooperation in art and culture, education, archeology,sports, public health, film, television, radio, press, etc. A two-year cultural exchange programme was implemented subse-quently.

This included provision for training slots and scholarships,deputation of experts in planning, agriculture, archeology, aca-demic cooperation and linkages between universities,exchange of books, publications, scientific journals, etc. Also,a memorandum of understanding in the field of informationand mass media was signed in 1984 between the two coun-tries. A number of Indian folk dance troupes gave perfor-mances in Ethiopia. A number of Indian film festivals werealso held in Ethiopia which proved extremely popular. Indianfilms, both documentaries and features, are extremely popu-lar in Ethiopia.

Every young Ethiopian is familiar with the names of lead-ing Indian film stars and latest films. Indian film music strikesan instant emotional connection. The presence of a strongIndian community in Ethiopia, particularly in Addis Ababa,possibly the largest foreign resident community in the coun-try, is yet another indication of the strength of growing Indo-Ethiopian cultural relations. They numbered more than 9,000at one point of time. During the communist Derg regimemany Indians left Ethiopia and they numbered over 3,000 atthe end of the 1980s, made up mostly of businessmen andteachers.

The number of professionals and technical personnel has,however, been steadily on the increase in recent years. In 2003alone the Ethiopian ministry of education recruited about 250Indians for teaching at the University of Addis Ababa andother universities in Ethiopia, including the author of thisarticle.

Currently, there are some 400 Indian professors teaching invarious Ethiopian universities. There are also a couple ofschools run by the Indian community in Addis Ababa.

Emerging Trends and Prospects

In short, relations between Ethiopia and India have alwaysbeen good and have sometimes been described as a model forSouth-South Cooperation. As we have seen, India andEthiopia share much in common in terms of history, culture,socio-economic characteristics and common political aspira-tions. If we look towards the past, it becomes evident thatIndia and Africa have been part of a common struggle for free-dom. It is clear that existing relations between India andEthiopia, particularly in the economic field, do not reflect thefull potential.

It should be stressed that the economies of India andEthiopia are quite complementary and, therefore, they standto benefit from increased trade and greater economic cooper-ation in a variety of fields. India-Ethiopia relations couldassume new directions and dimensions in building a morerobust and substantial partnership. Indeed, the two countriesneed to rediscover each other’s true potential. Some key areasin which the two countries could greatly intensify collabora-tion to great mutual benefit are: information and communi-cation technologies, human resource development, agricul-ture, dairy development, the development of small-scaleindustries and pharmaceuticals, among others.

Thanks to the success of the Indian economy over the lastdecade and a gradual process of economic reform in theworld’s most populous democracy, Indian companies arebecoming internationally competitive and can set up moreand more ventures in Ethiopia in a variety of sectors. ForEthiopia, like most other African countries, industrializationand modernization is the path ahead and not perpetuating theraw material economy. The consolidation and strengtheningof India-Ethiopia economic linkages can go a long way tousher in a new era of meaningful and mutually beneficialSouth-South Cooperation. As a new world order is unfold-ing before us, it is incumbent on India and Ethiopia, whoshare ideals and ideas, culture and a convergent world view,to work together more closely to promote the collective inter-est of the developing nations in our common search for amore democratic and equitable world.

Assefa, Endeshaw, ‘Ethiopia: Perspectives for Change andRenewal’, Singapore, 2002Chatterjee, S.K., ‘India and Ethiopia from the SeventhCentury B.C.’, Calcutta, 1968Embassy of India, Addis Ababa, ‘India and Ethiopia’, AddisAbaba, October 2003Harris,E., Joseph,(ed) ‘Pillars of African History’, HowardUniversity Press, 1974Kinfe, Abraham, ‘Ethiopia: From Empire to Nation’, AddisAbaba, 2001Mathews, K., ‘Ethiopia: A Country-Profile’, Africa Quarterly,Vol. 41, No. 3, 2001Merera, Gudina, ‘Ethiopia: Competing Ethnic Nationalisms

and the Quest for Democracy –– 1960-2000’, Addis Ababa,2003Muthanna, I.M., ‘Indo-Ethiopian Relations for Centuries’,James Waix, Vancouver, 1995Negash, Kebret, ‘Ethiopia-India Relations: A HistoricalPerspective’, Africa Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 3, 2001Pankhurst, Richard, ‘Ethiopian Diaspora in India’, in his book(ed.) titled ‘African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean’, London,2002Panhurst, Silvia, ‘Ethiopia: A Cultural History’, London,1955Sadiq Ali, Shanti, ‘India and Africa Through the Ages’,National Book Trust of India, New Delhi, 1980

References

21


February-April 2007

IIndia is keen to further enhanceeconomic cooperation withEthiopia as of the comingEthiopian Millennium, theIndian Ambassador to Ethiopia

has said. Ambassador Gurjit Singh saidthe Ethiopian Millennium is a uniqueevent that creates a firm foundation forthe development of the nation.

In an exclusive interview with ENA,the Ambassador said that the IndianEmbassy is ready more than ever beforeto foster trade and economic cooperationbetween the two sisterly countries.

There are plans to provide capacity-building training in collaboration withthe Ethiopian government on textile andleather manufacturing industrieswith a view to improving the com-petitiveness of the country in theglobal market.

A team of Indian experts wouldcome to Ethiopia to enhance capaci-ty-building activities in Ethiopia,especially in leather and leather prod-ucts manufacturing industries.

India commends and assistsEthiopia’s efforts geared towardensuring sustainable development,the ambassador said.

The Embassy planned to inviteIndian investors to take part in theupcoming international trade fair tobe held in Addis Ababa.

The trade fair would enable theIndian investors to have reliable andup-to-date information on the trade and investment oppor-tunities in Ethiopia.

The Indian Embassy also said it has been undertaking var-ious preparations to join in celebrations of the upcomingEthiopian Millennium.

Holding a discussion with officials ofthe Ethiopian Millennium NationalCouncil Secretariat, Ambassador Singhsaid that the Embassy is ready to consultwith pertinent bodies to coordinate itsactivities with national millennium cele-bration programmes.

The Ambassador said the Embassy hasbeen communicating with Indian cul-tural troupe to encourage them to stageshows in Ethiopia as part of the millen-nium celebration.

The Embassy has also planned toshowcase fashion designs of Ethiopia andIndia and to facilitate a demonstrativetraining on India’s textiles industry toEthiopian experts in the field.

Ethiopian films would be screenedin six major Indian cities and anIndian film week would be held inAddis Ababa as part of the celebrationof the millennium to bolster Ethio-Indian cultural ties.

The Ambassador also held discus-sion with officials of the secretariat asto how to erect a statue in AddisAbaba as a token of the Indian peo-ple to Ethiopian counterparts.

Secretariat Director-General,Seyoum Bereded on his part said thesecretariat has a lot to learn fromIndia about hosting such a grand fes-tival.

While appreciating the initiative ofthe Indian Embassy in connectionwith the celebration of the Ethiopian

Millennium, Secretariat Deputy Director and Head of EventsSection Abebe Balcha expressed his belief that the cooperationof the embassy would contribute a lot in colourfully celebrat-ing the upcoming millennium.

–– The Ethiopian Herald

India desirous of bolstering trade, economiccooperation with Ethiopia, says Ambassador

According to the IndianAmbassador in Ethiopia,

Gurjit Singh, there are plans to provide capacity-building

training in collaboration with the Ethiopian government

on textile and leather manufacturing industries with a

view to improving the competitiveness of the country

in the global market. India backsEthiopia in its efforts to achieve

sustainable development.


U . N . R E F O R M

One of the major issues that haspreoccupied member-states ofthe United Nations in the post-cold war era is the question ofreforming the U.N. SecurityCouncil. This issue has cometo the forefront at a time whenthe U.N. Security Council isbelieved to be actually perform-

ing the tasks assigned to it by the U.N. Charter, i.e., manag-ing peace and security issues. There has been a deepening andbroadening of the task of the U.N. as it deals with not onlyinter-state conflicts but also intra-state conflicts, which amounts to acreative reinterpretation of the U.N.Charter provisions. In this reactivat-ed and expanded role of the U.N.,the P-5 frequently met in closed-door consultations and the trendtowards increasing unanimity amongthe P-5 set the stage for other coun-tries to press for reform to make it amore representative and transparentorgan. In the course of time the issueof reforming the U.N. SecurityCouncil became so divisive that itproved to be one of the most acri-monious debates at the U.N., leadingto street fights in some places. Thesensitivity of member-states on theissue is due to the fact that it touchesthe core of their concern, i.e., the status and power as a nation-state.

The purpose of the paper is to highlight Africa’s perspectiveon the reform of the U.N. Security Council. The first sectiondiscusses various factors which led to the demand for reformof the Security Council. The second section examines Africa’sstand on various issues involved in the debate about U.N.Security Council reform. The third section deals with factorsthat imparted a sense of urgency to the demand for reform andvarious reform proposals put forth by various groups of states.

This section also highlights the common proposal developedby the African Union (AU). The last section focuses on theattempts made to reach a common agreement between the G-4 and AU to put up a joint proposal and examines reasons forthe failure of these attempts. It concludes with an analysis ofthe lost opportunity, which is mainly due to the lack of unityamong developing countries.

(i)

At no point of time in the history of the U.N. was a seriousdemand made to increase the number of permanent members

till the recent decade. The only timethe Security Council was subjected toenlargement was in 1963 when thenumber of non-permanent memberswas increased from six to ten on thedemand of the developing countries.The demand was based on the recog-nition that the increase in member-ship of the U.N. from 51 to 112,mainly as a result of decolonisation ofAsian and African nations, should bereflected in the composition of theSecurity Council. The resolution togive effect to the demand was adopt-ed notwithstanding considerableopposition from four permanentmembers. The Soviet Union andFrance voted against the resolution,and Britain and the United States

abstained. It was ratified by all the permanent members with-in a short span of two years due to solidarity shown by thedeveloping countries.1

In the post-cold war period, a new threat to the internationalsecurity emerged from the ethnic, religious and other localconflicts rather than inter-state conflicts. Increasing demandhas been made on the Security Council to handle these situ-ations, which involved a creative interpretation of the U.N.Charter provisions. These changed situations and the demandsof the time led the Security Council to embark on a new era

Yeshi Choedon traces the contours of various competing initiatives forreform of the U.N. Security Council and underlines the need for unity

among African countries to translate this dream into reality

Chasing tthe SSecurityCouncil DREAM

At no point of time in the historyof the U.N. was a serious

demand made to increase thenumber of permanent memberstill the recent decade. The onlytime the Security Council wassubjected to enlargement was in 1963 when the number of

non-permanent members wasincreased from six to ten on

the demand of the developingcountries.

23


February-April 2007

of activism along with a deepening and broadening of its scope.The permanent members increasingly used to reach unanim-ity through closed-door consultations among them and thenon-permanent members had a marginal role in decision-making at the Security Council. Furthermore, most of theagenda of the council focused on developing countries, specif-ically the conflicts in Africa. As a result, the Security Councilis now subjected to increased scrutiny for its acts of commis-sions and omissions. The demand for the reform of theSecurity Council became more vocal when developing coun-tries felt that the council should reflect their priorities and tomake it more representative to enable it to function with req-uisite legitimacy2, and to seek to restrain the U.S.3

Paradoxically, the demand gathered greater momentumwhen the U.S. showed interest in the inclusion of Germanyand Japan as permanent members of the council, mainly forthe purpose of burden-sharing as the U.N. peacekeeping oper-ations became costly and burdensome. The inclusion ofGermany and Japan was expected to lighten the financial bur-den of the P5 and also serve as recognition of their being thesecond- and third-largest contributors to the U.N. budget, sowent the reasoning. Thus, most of the member-states desiredrestructuring of the U.N. Security Council, but the motiva-tion behind such restructuring varied.

Following a meeting of the Security Council at the level ofheads of state and government in January 1992 and a summitmeeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Jakarta inSeptember 1992, a near-consensus emerged on bringing aboutmajor change in the U.N. system in the light of contempo-rary realities. The permanent members of the SecurityCouncil, who wanted to avoid a broad review of the council’sfunctioning and composition, were not able to contain thediscussion anymore.

It was at this stage that India took the initiative to take theissue forward. It resulted in a consensus resolution4 on thequestion of equitable representation and an increase in mem-bership of the Security Council. On the basis of this resolu-tion, the Secretary General ascertained the views of member-states and 75 member states from all regions submitted writ-ten comments on the issue. On December 3, 1993, theGeneral Assembly decided “to establish an Open-EndedWorking Group (OEWG) to consider all aspects of the ques-tion of an increase in the membership of the Security Counciland other matters related to the council”.5 OEWG facilitateda full and frank exchange of views and participation in it wasopen to all member-states. The group in its report to the ses-sion of the General Assembly in 1994 stated:

“Although the debate was substantive and constructive, clar-ifying the position of member-states, no conclusions weredrawn. While there was a convergence of views that the mem-bership of the Security Council should be enlarged, there wasalso agreement that the scope and nature of such enlargementrequired further discussions.”6

The reports of the OEWG give an excellent overview of thetotal lack of agreement on almost every aspect of the issuesinvolved. It is obvious that the question is no longer whetherto enlarge the council membership, but on what basis and in

what form. The divergence in their stand revolved aroundfour related issues. They are the future size of the Council, thecategories of membership, the criteria of membership and theveto power.

(II)

The debate on the size of the future Security Council man-ifested the division along the line of North-South divide. Theindustrialised states of the northern hemisphere acknowledgedthat the increase in the general membership from 51 in 1945to 191 in 2002 suggests that the number of council seats shouldagain be increased, but they are in favour of limited increasein the overall membership of the council. This is because suchexpansion necessarily amounts to undermining their domi-nant position and restraint on their influence. Officially, theyreasoned that a large expansion might impede the council’sability to fulfill its mission speedily and effectively. The devel-oping countries of the southern hemisphere, by contrast, tendto promote a larger increase in the membership in order toimprove their representation on the council.

The African continent, which suffered the worst form ofslavery and colonial exploitation, was not in a position to playan effective role in the formation of U.N. Ethiopia, Liberia,Egypt and South Africa were four independent African stateswho participated in the San Francisco conference in 1945.7 Itis one of the two regions in the world which do not have per-manent membership at the U.N. Security Council and up tillnow it has had three non-permanent seats in it. Due to the pro-cess of decolonisation, the number of African states increasedto 53, the second-largest group of states after Asia. So, in thediscussion in the OEWG, the African states, along with otherdeveloping countries, preferred a larger increase in size of theSecurity Council. In the course of the discussions, thereemerged a certain convergence of positions about the size ofthe council of the lowest and highest figures around 20 to 30.

The second major issue of discussion at the OEWG is inregard to the existing or new categories of the council’s mem-bership. As regards the existing categories, much of the atten-tion is focused on the permanent member category. Most ofthe members pointed out the anomalous situation of perma-nent membership remaining unchanged while the power posi-tion of the states has undergone great change since the found-ing of the U.N. To correct the outdated composition of thecouncil’s permanent membership, suggestions have beenmade for the inclusion of five or six additional permanentmembers. The views here again are varied among govern-ments. Initially Belgium and the U.S. preferred the additionof only two permanent members (obviously favouringGermany and Japan), but after the 2003 event relating to theuse of force in Iraq, the U.S. prefers Japan and one or so mem-bers. France would like the addition of Germany, Japan and adeveloping country. India, Colombia, Mauritius and Nigeriadesire six or seven more additions. Russia and China’s state-ments on the subject till recent years remained fairly mutedwith only general and vague suggestions. On the otherextreme, Argentina, Malaysia, Mexico and Pakistan want no


U . N . R E F O R M

more permanent members. Otherslike South Korea and Sweden pro-pose a reform process in stages, thefirst stage being an enlargement lim-ited to non-permanent members.8

The African states stake claim forboth permanent and non-permanentcategories to rectify the historicalinjustice done to them. The demandfor seats at the high table was alsobased on the fact that Africa is the sec-ond-largest and second-most popu-lous continent after Asia; and also onethe largest groups of states in theU.N. In fact, it was felt in the OEWGthat “Africa, which consists of 1/3 ofthe world population, has the right toa permanent seat with veto in theSecurity Council. In line with theprinciple of geographical and equi-table representation, Africa is entitledto an appropriate representation ofno less than two permanent seats onthe Security Council”.9 In addition,there is also the demand to increasethe non-permanent seats in propor-tion to an increase in permanent seatsand they should be allotted to regionsthat are under-represented, includ-ing Africa.10 Furthermore, 60 per-cent of the agenda of the SecurityCouncil is relating to African statesand therefore the need for greaterAfrican representation “in the innerchambers of the Security Councilwill ensure that greater prominenceis given to African issues”.11 They also felt that they are enti-tled to have a part in the decision-making processes of thecouncil to make it effective and democratic.12

Proposals have also been made for the creation of a new cat-egory of membership: Semi/quasi and/or rotational permanentmembership. This third category is proposed by “midsized”states who realise that their chances of becoming permanentmembers are minimal. They see the third category as a possi-bility of being represented more often on the council. Forinstance, Italy suggests the creation of 10 permanent seatswhich rotate among a group of countries. Some of them envis-age the sharing of seats by groups of states (“permanent region-al rotating seats”) and these seats should rotate among mem-bers of the respective regional group, according to criteriaestablished by the region. A number of delegations stressed that“if rotation was applied within a group, it should be ensuredthat no country in that group was excluded”.13 India has goneon the record opposing the regional rotation schemes as dis-criminatory because only developing countries would be sub-jected to this procedure.14 India is not inclined to share the seat,to which it feels entitled, with other states of the region or to

seek their support for obtaining andkeeping this seat. African states, onthe other hand, are mostly in favourof rotating seats.15

Views were similarly divided onhow, if there was to be an expansionin permanent membership, suchmembers should be selected. Someof the countries favoured a globalapproach whereby the GeneralAssembly would choose the newpermanent members, possibly on thebasis of an agreed formula for region-al distribution. Others believed thatprimary responsibility for selectionshould lie with regional groups, withthe possible need for endorsementby the General Assembly.16 Indiaalso is against the selection of perma-nent members by the regional groupsand wanted it to be done globally.African states are in favour of selec-tion by regional groups.

The third major issue is the crite-ria for enlarging the composition ofthe Security Council. The suggestionhas been made that the Charter’stwo-part criteria in Article 23, whichis currently applicable to the electionof non-permanent members, shouldbe amplified and applied to all cate-gories of members. The two existingcriteria are the contribution to themaintenance of international peaceand security and equitable geograph-ical distribution. It is pointed out that

the U.N. principle of equitable geographical representation hasnot been adhered to in the case of the composition of theSecurity Council. In 1945, while the European region wasgiven three seats, Latin America and Africa were not provid-ed representation in this privileged category, and the hugeAsian continent was given only one seat. Therefore, it is arguedthe two unrepresented geographical regions, along with theunderrepresented region of Asia, must get their due share, atleast one for each region. Within each region, considerationmust be given to factors like population, relative regional influ-ence/stature, size of the economy and future potential. Theseare the arguments made by countries like Brazil, India andNigeria chiefly to project their own candidatures. As a matterof elaboration of the second part of the Charter criteria, India,Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan suggest criteria of adher-ence to the U.N. purposes and resolutions, contribution to thepeacekeeping operations, track record of timely payment ofassessed contributions, including to voluntary funds and pro-grammes.17 Lately, India has also projected itself as a “respon-sible” nuclear-weapon state to justify its claim for a permanentseat in the U.N. Security Council. Germany and Japan under-

An attempt was made at theturn of the century to bring

about a radical change in the composition of the U.N. SecurityCouncil. A new wave of activities

started when the U.N. faced aserious political crisis followingthe divisive debate over the use

of force in Iraq in 2003. TheSecretary General appointed theHigh-Level Panel to examine the

whole gamut of U.N. reforms.

25


February-April 2007

lined the importance of economic strength and the financialcontribution of Security Council hopefuls to the U.N. activ-ities. The U.S. insists that the capacity of a permanent mem-ber cannot be restricted to a region and the candidate shouldhave “constructive global influence and sustenance of globalresponsibilities”.18 The African states tend to highlight thecriteria of geographical and population size, and the contribu-tion to the U.N. peacekeeping activities.

The fourth and final issue relating to the restructuring is theveto provision. A large number of the countries regarded theveto as anachronistic and sought its eventual abolition. Theyargued that the mere existence of the veto constituted a con-stant threat to the decision-making process in the SecurityCouncil. Opponents of the veto asserted that it was intrinsi-cally undemocratic, and that it’s existence is contrary to theprinciple of the sovereign equality of all member-states. Theradical proposal for a total removal of the right of veto fromthe Charter was suggested in some quarters, whereas morecautious members suggest certain modifications and limita-tions of the veto power. None of the existing holders of vetopower gave the slightest indication of considering any suchproposal. Supporters of the veto asserted that it was neverintended to be democratic, but rather had been a useful devicewhich had helped to preserve unanimity among the perma-nent members, and had ensured the continued participationof the major powers in the organisation.19

A group of states emphasised that any new permanent mem-bers of the Security Council should not be awarded the rightsof veto. Such extension is regarded as furthering an inherent-ly undemocratic privilege that should actually be restrictedand eventually abolished in the post-cold war period. Thosewho supported the granting of the veto to new permanentmembers argued against the creation of a new category of sec-ond-class permanent members. Some of the countries arguedthat since all permanent members would have the same obli-gations, they should be entitled to the same privileges.Aspirants for the permanent membership like India andAfrican states would like to have all the privileges, includingveto, at par with the other permanent members.

(III)

After a decade of informal discussion, an earnest attempt wasmade at the turn of the century to bring about a radical change

in the composition of the U.N. Security Council. A new waveof activities started when the U.N. faced a serious political cri-sis following the divisive debate over the use of force in Iraqin 2003. The Secretary General appointed the High-LevelPanel (HLP) to examine the whole gamut of U.N. reforms.

The panel reached the conclusion that a decision on theenlargement of the Security Council was a necessity, but inview of the divergent opinions among the member-states, thepanel proposed two options for reform, both involving distri-bution of seats between four major regions –– Africa, Asia andPacific, Europe and the Americas.

Model A suggested adding six new permanent seats with-out veto power and three new two-year term non-permanentseats, divided among major regional areas (See chart).

Model B suggested no new permanent seats but creates anew category of eight four-year renewable-term seats and onenew two-year non-permanent and non-renewable seat, divid-ed among the major regional areas (See chart).

The panel also suggested that there should be a review ofthe composition of the Security Council in 2020 from thepoint of view of the council’s effectiveness in taking collectiveaction to prevent and remove new and old threats to interna-tional peace and security.20

On the basis of the panel’s report, the Secretary General putforward his reform proposal of March 2005 and endorsed thetwo models. He had urged the members to consider the twooptions and take a decision on this important issue before theU.N. General Assembly Summit of the Heads of State inSeptember 2005.21 He wanted to dovetail the expansion of theSecurity Council with the review of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals at the summit.

In response to the High-Level Panel, African countriesestablished an Open-Ended Committee of Fifteen to “…con-sider all aspects of the recommendations contained in theHLP-Report, particularly the reform of the U.N. SecurityCouncil with a view to agreeing on an African CommonPosition…”22 The committee met in Ezulwini, Swaziland,from February 20-22, 2005, and adopted a common positionin which came to be known as the Ezulwini Consensus.Among other things, the Ezulwini Consensus, which wasendorsed at an extraordinary session of the Executive Councilof the African Union in Addis Ababa in March 2005, stated:

“Africa’s goal is to be fully represented in all the decision-making organs of the U.N., particularly in the Security

Regional Number Permanent Proposed new Proposed TotalArea of States seats permanent seats two year seats

(Continuing) (Non-renewable)

Africa 53 0 2 4 6Asia and Pacific 56 1 2 3 6Europe 47 3 1 2 6Americas 35 1 1 4 6

Total 191 5 6 13 24

Model A


U . N . R E F O R M

Council. Full representation of Africa in the Security Councilmeans:!Not less than two permanent seats with all the prerogativesand privileges of permanent membership, including the rightof veto; ! Five non-permanent seats.

“Even though Africa is opposed in principle to the veto, solong as it exists, and as a matter of common justice, it shouldbe open to all permanent members of the Security Council.

“The African Union should be responsible for the selectionof Africa’s representatives in the Security Council; and

“The question of the criteria for the selection of Africanmembers of the Security Council should be a matter for theAU to determine, taking into consideration the representativenature and capacity of those chosen.”23

It is clear from the above that AU has rejected both themodels presented by the High-level Panel. Instead, it has for-mulated its own set of demands. Those demands were furtherreaffirmed in the Sirte Declaration in July 2005.24 Based ontheir common position, it submitted a draft resolution to theU.N. General Assembly on reform of the Security Council.25

They clarified their position via document A/59/876 dated July18, 2005, stressing that the African continent is the only con-tinent which does not enjoy permanent membership in theSecurity Council. They also further stated, “…any permanentseat or seats that may be obtained will be for the African Unionand for the benefit of the continent and as such, will put anend to all competition for such seats”.26 It means that the per-manent African seats be reserved for the African Union ratherthan for specific countries.

Nigeria introduced the African Union’s draft resolutionand spoke on behalf of the African states at the U.N. GeneralAssembly’s debate on July 18, 2005. The Nigerian represen-tative spoke of “the need for the council to be more represen-tative of the entire United Nations membership; and the factthat the council would be better placed to perform its prima-ry responsibility when it was more inclusive”.27 He also satedthat Africa was open to negotiations, but to be productive, theinterlocutors must have certain fundamentals in mind, suchas the fact that Africa had no permanent presence on the coun-cil. The Egyptian representative stated that no other grouphad managed to address the issue in a regional context basedon the principles of cooperation and solidarity, which wereessential to strengthening the democratic foundation upon

which each region would select its own representatives for theSecurity Council. Africa alone had addressed the regionaldimension of council expansion, with a view to strengtheningthe ties between the performance of new African members andthe continent’s core issues.28 The Algerian representative stat-ed that without the right to veto, new permanent memberswould not have an impact on the process of events or modifythe relationship of force, which would remain dominated bythe five permanent members.29 The representative of SouthAfrica stated that a decisive phase had been reached in thedecades-long debate on council reform, and member-statesnow had an unprecedented opportunity to modernise thecouncil and make it more representative and responsive to theneeds of all peoples. It was time to begin redressing historicalinjustices in global governance and to give a voice to the bil-lions of people in the developing world who were now exclud-ed from the council’s decision-making processes.30 The AUwas confounded as to which of its member-states to endorseand was yet to establish the criteria to be used for selectingAfrican countries to the reformed Security Council.

Apart from the African Union’s common position and adraft resolution, there emerged two groups fiercely contend-ing against each other’s position. Japan, India, Brazil andGermany formed a Group of Four (G-4), pulling all theirresources and votes together in their bid to secure permanentmembership for themselves and two for the African states.This has the effect of their regional opponents forming col-lective opposition, which informally came to be known asCoffee Club. Later they were known as “Uniting forConsensus”.

Initially, the members of G-4 favoured permanent mem-bership with veto power. India had been very adamant aboutdemanding a permanent seat with the veto power. India’s for-mer External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh had been quot-ed several times in the media saying that India wanted a veto-wielding power. India’s Ambassador to the United NationsNirupam Sen said at the General Assembly: “A new categoryof permanent members without veto would not balance theweight of existing permanent members. That is precisely whynew permanent members should have the veto under guide-lines that would act as an example to other permanent mem-bers.”31 However, many states view the veto power as incon-sistent with the concept of democracy and sovereign equalityin the United Nations. While the G-4 countries, including

Regional Number Permanent Proposed Proposed TotalArea of States seats four-year two year seats

(Continuing) renewable seats (Non-renewable)

Africa 53 0 2 4 6Asia and Pacific 56 1 2 3 6Europe 47 3 2 1 6Americas 35 1 2 3 6

Total 191 5 8 11 24

Model B

27


February-April 2007

India, still feels strongly about the veto power, they have realisedthat in order to get wider support at the current time, theywould have to forego their claim to veto power. The G-4revised their resolution and called for new permanent seatswithout veto power, and proposed a revisiting of the veto ques-tion in 15 years. The Brazilian representative formally intro-duced their draft resolution at the General Assembly on July11, 2005.

In unusually strong comments that reflect his country’srivalry with India, Pakistan’s U.N. Ambassador Munir Akramaccused a small group of nations of seeking new and unequalprivileges for themselves by portraying self-interest as altru-ism. He said, “…the seekers of special privileges and powermasquerade as the champions of the weak and disadvantaged”.He further added that the G-4 proposal would leave six win-ners but 180 losers. “We will not choose to anoint six stateswith special privileges and stamp ourselves as second-classmembers in this organisation,” he said.32

Their regional rivals –– Uniting for Consensus –– tried toderail the G-4 proposal. Italy hasrepeatedly voiced its opposition toGermany’s bid for a permanent seaton the Security Council. At the sametime, Mexico and Pakistan opposedthe bids of Brazil and India, respec-tively. Argentina, which also belongsto the group, said that G-4 proposalwould create “discrimination andartificial hegemonies throughout theregions, which will be detrimental forthe work of the Security Council”.33

They drafted a resolution calling forthe addition of 10 non-permanentseats and no new permanent mem-bers. It also called for the Article 23of the U.N. Charter should be liftedso that all 20 non-permanent mem-bers could be eligible for immediatere-election.

Thus three different proposals forreforming the U.N. Security Council are vying for accep-tance. The debate that followed displayed “some of the nasti-est and most destructive public and private exchanges amongmember-states — whether in closed meeting halls, in capitals,or on the streets of China’s cities — since the height of the coldwar”.34

A summary of the three main proposals for Security CouncilExpansion is as under:■■ The G4, an initiative of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan.(But also co-sponsored by Belgium, Bhutan, the CzechRepublic, Denmark, Fiji, France, Georgia, Greece, Haiti,Honduras, Iceland, Kiribati, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives,Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal,Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Ukraine.)

There would be six new permanent members, without vetopower: Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, and two from Africa.There would be four additional non-permanent members

(one each from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and LatinAmerican and Caribbean States). The total number on theCouncil would be 25. ■■ Uniting for Consensus, proposed by Argentina, Canada,Costa Rica, Colombia, Malta, Mexico, Pakistan, Republic ofKorea, San Marino, Spain and Turkey. There would be nochange to the number of permanent members. The existing10 non-permanent members will be replaced by 20, to beelected for two years, but the prohibition on immediate re-election in Article 23 of the U.N. Charter would be lifted bythe General Assembly. The total number on the Councilwould be 25, with a voting majority of 15. ■■ African Union, as agreed at the African Union Summit inSirte, Libya, in July 2005. There would be six new permanentmembers, with veto power: Brazil, Germany, India, Japan,and two from Africa. There would be five additional non-per-manent members (two from Africa, one from Asia, one fromEastern Europe, and one from Latin American and CaribbeanStates). The total number on the Council would be 26.

(iv)

The differences between theAfrican Union and the G-4 propos-als are not that great and overall theyare quite similar. Basically, the G-4proposes the Security Council beexpanded to 25, whereas the AfricanUnion proposes 26 with just onemore additional non-permanentmember for Africa. Also the AfricanUnion wants veto rights for new per-manent members immediately,while the G-4 decided to wait for 15years before they get the veto. Theirresolutions amount to a demand foran amendment to the U.N. Charter.To amend any provision of the U.N.Charter, Article 108 states that theproposed change has to be passed by

a two-third majority in the General Assembly and ratified bytwo-third of the member-states, including all the permanentmembers of the Security Council. None of their resolutionshas the prospect of being passed in the General Assembly asthey are not in a position to muster the support of 128 mem-bers, out of total members of 191 members of the U.N.General Assembly, needed for adoption of their proposedreform.

The only viable way forward was to seek cooperationbetween them and, in an attempt to move towards this direc-tion, the G-4 countries met in London for a “make-or-break”meeting with representatives of the African Union on July 15,2005. Before the talks began in London, a German diplomatstated, “We need a concrete result to come out of these nego-tiations. Otherwise our (G-4) resolution will lose momentum.Anything less than a solid result will be a major setback as timeis running out.”35

Thus three different proposalsfor reforming the United

Nations Security Council arevying for acceptance. The

debate that followed displayed “some of the

nastiest and most destructivepublic and private exchanges

among member-states —whether in closed meeting

halls, in capitals, or on the streets of China’s cities —

since the height of the cold war”.


U . N . R E F O R M

There were numerous meeting between G-4 foreign min-isters and their counterparts from Nigeria, Egypt, SouthAfrica, Libya, Algeria, Ghana as well as several African U.N.ambassadors. It gave a sense that the two groups appeared tohave finally agreed to work towards a joint draft resolution.Nigerian foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji, whose countrywas holding presidency of the African Union, tried to soundupbeat. He told a reporter, “We have both come to the con-clusion that unless we work together in producing one draftresolution, the reform of the United Nations will not go for-ward.”36 It appeared that a no-binding accord had beenreached at this meeting. It required further consultationamong the members of the African Union and an extraordi-nary summit of AU was called to look at this accord. Adenijitold reporters, “We have agreed not to press for a veto”, whileGerman foreign Minister Joschka Fischer indicated that theG-4 would agree to an additional non-permanent seat asdemanded by the AU. He said, “If this could lead to an agree-ment it would be an important step forward.” His Japanesecounterpart Machimura added, “TheG-4 would agree to the AfricanUnion plan to expand the number ofnew non-permanent members byfive instead of four.”37 The G4-AUdeal would have brightened theprospect of a common resolutiongetting the 128 votes to get it passedin the U.N. General Assembly.

Nigeria and South Africa wereseen to be willing to compromisewith the G-4, but their stance hadelicited fierce criticism from others.Nine African countries –– Nigeria,South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Kenya,Libya, Algeria, the Gambia andBotswana — were jockeying for thepermanent seat. There were also veryserious tensions between the threemain AU contenders, Nigeria, SouthAfrica and Egypt for the two pro-posed permanent seats for Africa. Many of their rivals withinthe African region were not in favour of letting two of themgetting the permanent seat and, therefore, they stronglyopposed any understanding with the G-4. So the internalrivalry among the AU members made the negotiation processwith the G-4 more difficult than it appeared on the surface.

Presenting the outcome of the London Consultation meet-ing to the extraordinary AU summit in Addis Ababa on August4, 2005, the AU Chairman, Nigerian President Obasanjo,pleaded for compromise by stressing the need for the AU tonegotiate with other groups “…unless our objective is to pre-vent any decision. If that happens, let us be under no illusion:Africa stands to lose more than any other region…”38 Theclosed session of this summit witnessed sharp and seriousdebates on the issue. Although Nigeria and some of theAfrican countries tried to push for acceptance of the compro-mise, many other states such as Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Kenya

and Zambia effectively derailed the attempt. Afraid that theirrivals would be seated as permanent member of the U.N.Security Council, some African states insisted on veto pow-ers, which, in turn, killed the prospects of a deal with G-4.Some of them continued to insist on rotation of the seats,which would enable every African country to serve on theSecurity Council, notwithstanding their relative place in worldpolitics and capacities.39 They overlooked the obvious con-tradiction in rotating seats that are supposed to be permanent.

In fact, the whole debate of the Security Council seems tohave opened up old historical wounds and heightened region-al rivalries. The debate turned out to be long, nasty and bru-tal. Many feared that the African Union would break up onthe issue. However, they could maintain their unity and decid-ed to stick to their demand for veto-wielding permanent seats.They refused to endorse the London understanding.40 Thisdecision meant that both the AU as well as G-4 resolutionswould not be getting the necessary 128 votes required to passmuster in the U.N. General Assembly.

The majority of existing veto-wielding powers prefer the existingstructure. The failure of Africannations to forge a common front withother groups provided the alibi fortheir position that the elite club ofveto-wielders should not be expand-ed. In fact, a day before the decisionof the extraordinary summit, theUnited States and China hadannounced jointly that they wouldblock a G-4 plan to all six new per-manent members to the SecurityCouncil. The Chinese Ambassadorto the United Nations, WangGuangya, told the media in NewYork that the United States andChina would be working in “parallel”and not together because they had“different friends in different parts ofthe world”. Wang made it clear that

the immediate objective of the two countries was to “opposethe G-4 to make sure that they did not have sufficient votes totake the risk to divide the house”. (12, p.1, search for the f.n.)The Chinese government had used its considerable diplomat-ic leverage in Africa to arrest the diplomatic momentum theG-4 had gained. On the other hand, the then Indian ForeignMinister Natwar Singh made an impassioned plea to theAfricans not to let this historic opportunity to win representa-tion for their continent on the Security Council pass by.41

The refusal of the AU to forge a common front with theG-4 led to a failure to reach an agreement on reform of theU.N. Security Council in September that year. Thus the highhope of reaching a decision on expansion of the U.N. SecurityCouncil in the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UnitedNations was shattered mainly due to a divergence of interestsamong the developing countries. Had they been united asthey were in 1963, they could have got the G-4-AU resolu-

The refusal of the AU to forge a common front with the

G-4 led to a failure to reach an agreement on reform of the

U.N. Security Council inSeptember that year. Thus the

high hope of reaching a decision on expansion of theU.N. Security Council in the

60th anniversary of the foundingof the United Nations was shattered mainly due to a

divergence of interests amongthe developing countries.

29


February-April 2007

1. For brief overview of the development leading to the adop-tion of this resolution, see ‘Yearbook of the United Nations1963’ (1966), pp.80-872. Niel Blokker, ‘Towards a Second Enlargement of theSecurity Council? A Comparative Perspective’, in NielBlokker and Nico Schrijver, ed., ‘The Security Council andthe Use of Force’ (Leiden; Martinus Nijhoff Publishers,2005), p.2543. Thomas G. Weiss, ‘The Illusion of U.N. Security CouncilReform’, The Washington Quarterly, vol.26, no.4 (Autumn),2003, p.1524. U.N. Doc. GA Res. 47/62 of 11 December 19925. U.N. Doc. GA Res. 48/26 of 3 December 19936. U.N. Doc. A/49/47.7. Mazrui, Ali A., ‘Africa’s International Relations: TheDiplomacy of Dependency and Change’ (Boulder, WestviewPress, 1977), pp.195-1978. C.S.R. Murthy, ‘Making the U.N. Security Council MoreRepresentative: India’s Prospects’, in C.S.R. Murthy, ed.,‘India in Tomorrow’s United Nations’ (New Delhi: IndiaInternational Centre, 1995), p.249. ‘Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase inthe Membership of the Security Council and Related Matters’,in Joachim Muller, ed., ‘Reforming the United Nations: NewInitiatives and Past Efforts Vol.III’, (The Hague: Kluwer LawInternational, 1997), p.III.45/2310. Ibid, p. III.45/2511. Ambassador Femi George, Nigerian High Commissionerto Canada, ‘National Perspectives on the Reform of theUnited Nations Security Council: The Position of Nigeria’,http://www.nigeriahcottawa.com/political/Position%20of%20Nigeria.htm 12. ‘Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase inthe Membership of the Security Council and Related Matters’,in Joachim Muller ed., n.9, p.III.45/913. ‘Report of the Open-ended Working Group on theQuestion of Equitable Representation on and Increase in theMembership of the Security Council and Other Matters relat-ed to the Security Council’, U.N. Doc. A/58/47, p.2314. Bardo Fassbender, ‘Pressure for Security Council Reform’,in David M. Malone, ed., ‘The U.N. Security Council: Fromthe Cold War to the 21st Century’ (London: Lynne ReinnerPublishers, 2004), 350

15. U.N. Doc. A/9825, 16 November 200016. ‘Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase inthe Membership of the Security Council and Related Matters’,in Joachim Muller, ed., n.9, p.III.45/817. C.S.R. Murthy, ‘Making the U.N. Security Council MoreRepresentative: India’s Prospects’, n. 8, p.2518. Cited in Ibid, p. 2519. ‘Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase inthe Membership of the Security Council and Related Matters’,in Joachim Muller, ed., n.9, p.1020. ‘A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility’, reportof the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Changes,(UN: 2004), p.8021. U.N. Doc. A/59/2005, 21 March 200522. Ambassador Femi George, n. 11, pp.4-523. The Common African Position on the Proposed Reformof the United Nations Endorsed at Seventh ExtraordinarySession of the Executive Council of AU on 7-8 March 2005at Addis Ababa. (Ext/EX.CLl/2(VII))24. African Union Assembly Declaration, Assembly/AU/Del.2(V)25. U.N. Doc.,A/59/L.6726. U.N. Doc., A/59/876, 18 July 200527. U.N. General Assembly Press Release, GA/10370, 18 July200528. Ibid29. Ibid30. Ibid31. http:www//un.int/India/2005/ind/2005/ind1083.pdf32. http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/analisis/799.asp 33. Ibid.34. Edward C. Luck, ‘How Not to Reform the UnitedNations’, Global Governance Vol.11, no.4 (October-December), 2005, p. 41135. http://www.glocom.org/special_topics/social_trend/20050727_trends_s123/index.html36. Ibid37. Ibid38. The Punch Newspaper, Lagos, Nigeria, 5 August 200539. Ambassador Femi George, n. 11, p.1140. African Union Document, Ext.Assembly/AU/Dec.1 (IV).41. http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/29/stories/2005072916571200.htm

Endnotes

tion passed by two thirds majority in the U.N. GeneralAssembly. In theory, because of the need to get ratification bytwo thirds of the U.N. members, including by all the five per-manent members of the Security Council, the amendmentprocess is ultimately subject to a veto by any of them, includ-ing a pocket veto in which one or more of them simply fail toact. In practice, however, this step can be invoked only afterat least a two-third majority of the member-states haveexpressed support for the amendment through their votes inthe assembly and possibly through their national ratificationprocesses. So in terms of the politics of the United Nations,

the costs of vetoing a proposed charter amendment can bequite high and this has never been done before. They couldhave surmounted the danger of being blocked by the five per-manent members of the Security Council if only they hadshown the unity of purpose. It would take a very long timebefore a similar kind of global pressure could be built up forreform of this vital institution that man ages peace in theworld. The only major outcome of the recent exercise is thatthe developing countries could firmly place the issue ofrestructuring of the United Nations Security Council on theinternational agenda.


K E E P I N G T H E P E A C E

Africa continues to be one of themost conflict-ridden places in theworld, swarming with a hundredmutinies at any given time. Overthe last nearly five decades, theinternational community has beendeploying military and financialmuscle to bring order and peaceamong various warring tribes in

the African continent, but this unfortunate part of the earthcontinues to defy the logic of peaceful living for a harmoniousand prosperous society. From the early 1950s, and especiallysince the end of the cold war, an increasing number of con-flicts, arising from ethnic and religious rivalries, have tendedto result in the mass exodus of refugees. Their plight not onlyconstitutes a humanitarian issue but is also a threat to inter-national peace, undermining the stability of the region con-cerned. Consequently, international humanitarian assistanceoperations for victims of conflicts and persons displaced byinternecine war between various ethnic and tribal groups havebecome increasingly important in international affairs.

Under the United Nations’ umbrella, peace-keeping oper-ations have been playing a major role in these conflicts by fos-tering political will for peace, maintaining a cease-fire andpeaceful environment for post-conflict nation-building in suchareas as well as helping with rehabilitation and reconstruction.Moreover, peace-keeping operations have also played animportant role in providing a deterrent in protecting human-itarian assistance operations, offering logistical support andcoordinating with various aid organisations. No doubt theinternational community under the aegis of the U.N. has beenable to bring stability in some parts of Africa, but a major por-tion of the continent continues to be ridden with conflicts.India has taken a keen interest by contributing its troops underthe banner of the U.N. immediately after joining the comityof nations as a free country. In fact, when the U.N. started itspeace-keeping operations, India was one of the first countriesto volunteer its forces in Congo in 1960––the first experimentin peace-keeping by the U.N. Earlier, the U.N. police actionin South Korea was mandated by the U.N. Security Councilin 1950 but was administered by the U.S.

The U.N. operations in Congo invited military contribu-tions from 10 nations, including India, and this time also theU.S. extended its financial and logistical support. However, itwas called the first U.N. show as the command and controlrested with the U.N. headquarters. After India’s successfulparticipation in the peace mission in Congo, it has never lookedback and multiplied its contributions in maintaining peaceand security in Africa and other parts of the world. Not onlythe Indian Army, but the Indian Navy has also taken part inpeace-keeping operations when its naval ships were deployedfor the first time along the African coast to aid the Indian Armyin Somalia. The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) long history of par-ticipation in U.N. peace-keeping operations began in 1962when the IAF sent a flight of Canberra bomber aircraft as partof the U.N. operations in Congo. Thereafter, the IAF con-tributed helicopter elements in Somalia in 1993 and in SierraLeone in the year 1999. In 2004, the U.N. approached Indiato contribute an air element for its peace-keeping operationsin the Democratic Republic of Congo. Consequently, the IAFoperated two aviation contingents at Goma and Bukavu inCongo and an Indian Airfield Services Unit at Kindu in thesame country.

Interestingly, when the U.N. once again landed in Congoafter a gap of 33 years India dispatched its forces mostly in theform of air force contingents accompanied with gunship heli-copters, though they were asked not to engage in any combatoperations. The U.N. rules of engagement clearly state that nopeace-keeping force can mount an offensive operation. It isonly when they face a danger can they fire, but not to kill.

Last February, India also dispatched a Border Security Force(BSF) contingent of 125 personnel, including 10 women, tothe Democratic Republic of Congo –– the largest peace-keep-ing U.N. mission to extend humanitarian assistance to thestrife-hit Central African nation. The BSF has long experiencein maintaining internal security in the country, which helps itperform this task with comfort. The Indian forces are con-tributing in the establishment of a democratic regime andrestoration of law and order. This Central African nation of58 million people is among the most dangerous places in theworld for U.N. peace-keepers and civilian staffers. The U.N.mission set up once again in Congo in 1999, known as

Ranjit Kumar chronicles the contribution of Indian troops in U.N. peace-keeping operations in various conflict zones in Africa and evokesthe rich harvest of goodwill they reap for themselves and their country

Indian Troops in U.N.Peace Missions

31


February-April 2007

MONUC, has helped maintain peace in this vast mineral-richcountry, which is the size of western Europe, following a dev-astating war that drew in half a dozen neighbouring countries.In 2006, the country had successful U.N.-monitoredPresidential and National Assembly elections, the first demo-cratic polls in four decades, electing Joseph Kabila as President.

No doubt India has extensively participated in peace-keep-ing operations the world over, but Africa has a special emotiveresonance for Indian forces, who have won accolades from thelocal communities for promoting cooperative living amongvarious tribal communities. India’s pluralistic ethos and itscultural, religious and linguistic diversity have helped Indianforces to deal effectively with African societies comprising dif-ferent tribes. This is why wherever Indian forces are deployedthey are the most sought-after peace-keepers among all thenations as they are well-positioned to understand the psycheand behaviour of the locals as opposed to the forces of Westernnations. Indian forces not only try to maintain peace by mix-ing with the local population but also provide relief and suc-cour to the warring communities by making provisions forbasic amenities like water, looking after health needs by set-ting up medical camps and arranging community kitchens, etc.Since Indian films are extremely popular among African mass-es, Indian forces also use the country’s soft power to win theconfidence of the people by organising film shows. ThoughIndians rarely visit countries like Sierra Leone in West Africa,they are identified with Bollywood actors and actresses whosefilms are being seen avidly by local residents. When the IndianArmy and IAF personnel were deployed in Sierra Leone in2000, this writer had the opportunity to visit some of the con-flict-prone areas where it was a very pleasant experience to see

children and youth calling me by the name of AmitabhBachchan or Shahrukh Khan –– celebrity actors from India.Perhaps the popularity of Indian films and stars give added psy-chological strength to the Indian forces when they deal withrebel youths in the conflict zones.

The U.N. peace-keeping forces are presently deployed inCote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Eritrea,Ethiopia, Sudan and Western Sahara. However, the U.N.peace-keeping forces have also served in Angola, Somalia,Sierra Leone, etc.

As India has also been in the forefront of the world com-munity in the struggle against colonialism, it was natural forit to take part in restoration of peace and harmony in Africa.In fact, the independence of India itself played the role of a cat-alyst in removing the vestiges of colonialism in other parts ofthe developing world, particularly in Africa. India was also thefirst country to raise the question of racial discrimination inSouth Africa in 1946. It was at India’s initiative that theAFRICA (Action for Resistance to Invasion, Colonialism andApartheid) Fund was set up at the 8th Non-AlignedMovement (NAM) Summit in Harare in 1986. India was thechairman of the AFRICA Fund Committee, which wound upin 1993.

It is with this thinking, tradition and background that Indianforces take part in peace-keeping efforts under the U.N.umbrella. As a founder-member of the U.N., India has beenfirmly committed to the purposes and principles of the glob-al body. India has been a participant in all the U.N. peace-keep-ing operations, including those in Korea, Egypt and Congo inearlier years, and in Somalia, Angola and Rwanda in recentyears.

Troops of the 13 Kumaon Infantry Battalion Group meeting with Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. J.B.S. Yadava before leaving to join theUnited Nations peace-keeping mission in Ethiopia-Eritrea.



The international community has been concerned withchronic instability in the African continent, particularly in theGreat Lakes Region. Several countries, including the UnitedKingdom and France, took initiatives to develop concrete mea-sures for conflict-prevention and peace-keeping in the region.U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali, in responseto this movement, issued a report on this subject in November1995, in which he proposed, among other items, an enhancedexchange of personnel between the U.N. and Organisation ofAfrican Unity (OAU). The ensuing proposal made by theU.S. to establish an African Crisis Response Force (ACRF) inthe autumn of 1996 spurred discussions on this importantissue. The basic idea of ACRF was a stand-by force with some5,000 personnel composed of officers of African nations. Whilesome African states responded positively to this scheme, othercountries, especially France, were sceptical. However, Indiaremained indifferent to this proposal as it always believes inpeace-keeping under U.N. auspices.

Addressing the sixth Institute for Defence Studies andAnalyses Asian Security Conferencein New Delhi in 2004, the UnitedNations Deputy Secretary GeneralLouise Frechette acknowledged, “Iwould be sorely remiss if I did nothere acknowledge the role of India ––which, along with Pakistan andBangladesh, now provides the bulkof non-African peacekeepersdeployed in Africa, and is thus one ofthe few hold-outs against a trendtowards the regionalisation of peace-keeping. The nations of this regionhave played critical roles in many dif-ficult and dangerous U.N. missions–– and their ongoing commitmentto peace-keeping is something theSecretary General deeply values, andthat our organisation sorely needs.”

Sudan

India is at present contributing its forces to the UnitedNations Mission in Sudan, which was established after theSecurity Council Resolution 1590 of March 24, 2005, to sup-port implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreementsigned by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’sLiberation Movement Army on January 9, 2005, and to per-form certain functions relating to humanitarian assistance, andthe protection and promotion of human rights. On August 31,2006, the council, by its Resolution 1706, expanded the man-date of UNMIS to include its deployment to Darfur to sup-port an early and effective implementation of the Darfur PeaceAgreement. Indian Army officials had the honour of headingU.N. peace missions and Sudan is not an exception. At pre-sent General Jasbir Singh Lidder, a very senior Indian Armyofficial, is the force commander of UNMIS. General Lidderis the latest Indian general to be given this important assign-

ment by the U.N. Out of 42 countries, India is contributingsubstantial military and police personnel to these peace-keep-ing missions. Out of total sanctioned strength of 10,000 mil-itary personnel India contributed about 2,385 soldiers whobelong to two infantry battalions and a helicopter squadron.Keeping in view the strong Indian economic presence inSudan the deployment of Indian peace-keepers in Sudan hasadded significance. The Indian oil firm Oil and Natural GasCorporation (ONGC) has a 25 percent stake in the GreaterNile Oil Project in Sudan and has stakes in two explorationblocks. In February 2006, ONGC was awarded a contract tobuild a $1.2-billion oil refinery in Sudan, which borders theRed Sea. Sudan has also mandated ONGC to build a $200 mil-lion multi-product export pipeline from the Khartoum refin-ery to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, about 740 kilometres (460miles) away.

Cote d’Ivoire

At present Cote d’Ivoire (former-ly Ivory Coast) is the only Africancountry where Indian peace-keepershave a very nominal presence in theform of some military and police per-sonnel, where the Security Council,by its Resolution 1528 of February27, 2004, decided to establish theU.N. mission with a mandate tofacilitate the implementation by theIvorian parties of the peace agree-ment signed by them in January2003.

Cote d’Ivoire, by West Africanstandards, is a very resource-richcountry. If the rebellion getsembroiled in the cocoa/coffee/timberregions of the south, naturalresources alone can keep the conflictgoing for a decade. As in Liberia,politically-marginalised intellectuals

in the Ivory Coast are jumping onto the bandwagon of therebellion, that clearly lacks any vision for transforming thecountry beyond asking for the resignation of the government.

Egypt

When the Anglo-French forces launched a combined oper-ation against Egypt in October 1956, they took control of PortSaid and Port Faud in the Suez Canal Zone. Along with this,the Israeli forces also captured most of the Sinai Peninsula anda 43-km-long Egyptian territory known as the Gaza Strip.Several thousand soldiers from Egypt were taken prisoner.The U.N. then intervened and arranged a ceasefire inNovember 1956 and established a peace-keeping force calledthe United Nations Emergency Force which also includedcontingents from India and seven other countries. The Indiancontingent consisted of a headquarters, an infantry battalion,

India has taken a keen interestby contributing its troops under

the banner of the U.N. after joining the comity of nations asa free country. In fact, when theU.N. started its peace-keeping

operations, India was one of thefirst countries to volunteer itsforces in Congo –– the first

experiment in peace-keeping bythe U.N. Earlier, the police action

in South Korea was mandatedby the U.N. Security Council but

was administered by the U.S.

33


February-April 2007

a platoon from the Army ServiceCorps, detachments from the Corpsof Signals, Ordinance, medical, mil-itary police and Army Postal service.The U.N. troops in Gaza had a verydifficult task to perform. The Israelisdid not allow the UNEF forces tooperate from their side of the demar-cation line and the peace-keepingforce had to confine itself to theEgyptian side. In the Indian sectorseveral posts were set up to watch theboundary line and rifle companiestook turns to man them. The per-formance of the Indian contingentwas appreciated by Indian and for-eign dignitaries who visited them,particularly by Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru in 1960. In January1960 the command of the UNEFwas for the first time taken over by anIndia Major General, P.S. Gyani.Later, Brigadier I.J. Rikhye, who hadpreviously been the Indian contin-gent commander and then Chief ofStaff of the UNEF, was appointed ascommander. The UNEF continuedto function as a buffer between theopposing sides till May 1967, when itwas wound up at the request ofPresident Gamal Abdel Nasser ofEgypt.

Namibia

Namibia, formerly Swaziland, washanded over to South Africa in theearly 1920s by the League of Nationsas war reparations and to administerthe territory on behalf of the League.In 1945, the U.N. requested South Africa to return Swazilandto the U.N. as one of their decolonisation measures, but thewhite South African regime declined. After a long struggle,Namibia gained independence on March 21, 1990. To man-age its transition of independence, the U.N. had establishedthe United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia(UNTAG). The basic mandate of the UNTAG was to ensurethat free and fair elections were held in Namibia. The taskgiven to UNTAG was not traditional peace-keeping –– it hadto monitor the ceasefire, ensure rapid reduction and eventualwithdrawal of the South African military presence fromNamibia, hold elections and assist in its subsequent transitionto an independent state. The UNTAG consisted of a diversegroup of international military personnel and civilians. Theforce commander of the military component was India’sLieutenant Gen. Dewan Prem Chand of Congo and Cyprusfame. Before that he was appointed as force commander des-

ignate in 1980 and played a key rolein the preparations for the UNTAGoperations. The total strength of themilitary component was about 4,500.India was represented by 15 militaryobservers, police monitors and elec-toral supervisors. Much of the cred-it in success in Namibia goes to Gen.Prem Chand who cleverly handled avery intricate political situation.

Mozambique

Civil war raged in Mozambiquefor 14 years and ended only after theU.N.’s intervention in October 1992.A peace agreement was signedbetween the government andMozambican National Resistance.To ensure its implementation, aU.N. mission in Mozambique(ONUMOZ) was set up inDecember 1993. ONUMOZ imple-mented the ceasefire, verified thedemobilisation of warring groups andsupervised humanitarian aid. In 1994,it monitored multi-party electionsafter which a new government wasinstalled. ONUMUZ was disband-ed after it achieved its aims, inJanuary 1995. Under ONUMUZ,India was asked to send two engineercompanies, a headquarter company,a logistics company, staff officers andmilitary observers. The contributionof Indian troops was lauded by thethen U.N. Secretary GeneralBoutros Boutros Ghali. “The Indiantroops, by virtue of their superiortraining and high standard of disci-

pline and sense of responsibility, have had a significant con-tribution in ensuring the early return of peace inMozambique,” he said.

Somalia

After the civil war broke out in 1991 in Somalia, resultingin the deaths of more than 300,000 and millions others left atthe mercy of drought and hunger, the U.N. stepped in to stoplarge-scale killings and to prevent starvation deaths. To con-duct humanitarian assistance, many U.N. agencies, NGOs,the International Committee of the Red Cross started theiroperations. The U.N. established operations in Somalia inApril 1992, followed in December by the United Task Force(UNITAF) led by the U.S. All these international effortsresulted in decreased violence and the situation of starvationand malnutrition improved a lot. In 1993, a new U.N. oper-

The Indian battalion in Rwanda(pictured above) helped in moving 70,000 internally

displaced persons to saferplaces. About 7,000 prisoners

were also moved to other areas.Indian soldiers also managedeight orphanages, looked afterseveral schools and extended

medical relief to the people. TheUNAMIR Force Commander

Major General G.C. Tousignantof Canada paid rich tributes to

the Indian contingent.



ation (UNOSOM - II) replaced theUNITAF. UNOSOM-II tried torestore order, promote reconciliationand help build Somalia’s civil gover-nance and economy. However, itsmandate ended in March 1995.

For UNITAF, India had con-tributed a naval task force which con-sisted of three Indian Naval Ships ––INS Deepak, INS Kuthar and INSCheetah. The Indian naval forceassisted in carrying out relief andhumanitarian aid to the famine- andwar-stricken people of Somalia. ForUNOSOM-II, the Indian Armydeployed 66 (independent) infantrybrigade group under the commandof Brigadier M.P. Bhagat. As part ofthe Indian contingent a flight ofCheetah Missile helicopters of theIAF was also included.

The Somalia operation by theIndian peace-keepers was lauded bythe international community for itsoutstanding capability to deal withthe military aspect of conflict man-agement besides its skills in assistingthe local community in restoring vil-lage-level organisations, provision ofmedical aid, restoring school educa-tion, water supply, livestock care andso many other societal needs. In thesuccessful conduct of all this, theIndian Army lost seven soldierswhen a patrol of 5 Mahar whileescorting a humanitarian relief con-voy was ambushed by a Somali mili-tia. The aviation units of the Indianforces were also given the responsi-bility of scouting, convoy protection,casualty evacuation and communication flights.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has come a long way since the arrival of the firstU.N. peace-keepers in 1999. A sustained peace, however, hasyet to produce tangible economic dividends and social bene-fits for the majority of the population of Sierra Leone. To helpmeet these challenges, the U.N. Security Council establisheda new mission –– the United Nations Integrated Office inSierra Leone (UNIOSIL) –– to help consolidate peace in thecountry, enhance development and ensure human rights.

India was one of the principal contributors in efforts torestore peace in this war-ravaged country. Out of 13,000-member force under UNIOSIL, India contributed a 3,059-strong contingent, but had to pull out prematurely –– thoughMajor General V.K. Jetley was given the honour of com-

manding the U.N. peace-keepingforce. Differences between theIndian Commander of the U.N.force and troops from African coun-tries came to a head when 222 Indianpeace-keepers were taken hostage bythe Revolutionary United Front(RUF). Indian diplomacy took a backseat and General Jetley found hishands tied militarily because of theBritish, Nigerian and U.S. attitude ofnon-cooperation in the matter ofresolving the hostage crisis. ThenU.N. Secretary General KofiAnnan’s stand on the modalities forending the crisis too contributed tothe lowering of the morale of theIndian troops on duty in a foreignland. General Jetley was told torestrict himself to performing onlypeace-keeping duties even when thesecurity of his troops was involved.After deployment in late 1999, Indiantroops had to be phased out inJanuary 2001.

It was for the first time in the his-tory of Indian peace-keeping that sol-diers were taken hostage by the localguerillas and held for 75 days.

The situation had become precar-ious. The U.N. force commander, inconsultation with his sector com-mander, took the military option.The IAF contingent was tasked toexecute the extraction with a host ofrestraints placed on them. This mis-sion, called Operation Khukhri, wasbrilliantly accomplished along withUNIOSIL forces, which consistedlargely of Indian peacekeepers.

Angola

To supervise the withdrawal of foreign troops and monitorelections, the U.N. Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM)was set on December 20, 1988. India made a significant con-tribution throughout its operation. The U.N. once again hon-oured V.K. Saxena, an Indian brigadier, by giving him theresponsibility of deputy force commander. The tasks per-formed by the Indian contingent included patrolling, securi-ty duties, preparation of demobilisation camps, supervision ofdemobilisation and rendering of humanitarian assistance. Theonerous duty of reopening a 200 km-long road axis strewnwith unexploded munitions and mines was given to Indiansappers of 417 Field Company. Angola was one of the mostlong-drawn and challenging missions of the U.N. and theIndians performed admirably and lived up to their reputation.

For the first time in U.N. peace-keeping history, India

deployed an all-women policecontingent of 125 personnel

from the Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) in Liberia

(pictured above). The U.N.described this move by India as unprecedented.

The U.N. police advisor MarkKrocker said, “We applaud it

and think it is extremely timelyand relevant to the policingneeds in the years ahead.”

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February-April 2007

Liberia

Liberia witnessed a bloody civil war in the early 1990s. Morethan 200,000 civilians were killed and more than one millionrefugees crossed the border to neighbouring countries. Thiscatastrophic humanitarian situation attracted worldwide atten-tion and sympathy. The Economic Community of WesternAfrican States (ECOWAS) was persuaded to take an initiativeat the regional level to resolve the crisis but could not succeed.Consequently, the U.N. Observer Mission in Liberia(UNOMIL) was deployed in September 1993 with a clearmandate to look into ceasefire violations, manage humanitar-ian assistance, supervise the demobilisation of the warring fac-tions and assist in the holding of elections. After a requestfrom the U.N., the Indian Army contributed 20 militaryobservers who were deployed in September 1993. Some of theobservers had a harrowing experience as they were takenhostage but they showed patience and rendered exemplary ser-vice to the U.N. in restoring peace and stability in this unfor-tunate part of the world.

For the first time in U.N. peace-keeping history, Indiadeployed an all-women police contingent of 125 personnelfrom the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The U.N.described this move by India as unprecedented. The U.N.police advisor Mark Krocker said, “We applaud it and think itis extremely timely and relevant to the policing needs in theyears ahead.” Commented Commissioner of PoliceMohammed Al Hasan: “We hope that the presence of this all-female contingent will serve as an incentive and an attractionto encourage young Liberian women to join the LiberianNational Police.” The U.N. has set up a special education pro-gramme to help women join the police force.

Rwanda

As the Hutu and Tutsi tribes continued their violent clash-es, resulting in mass scale displacement of people, the U.N.intervened to bring order by setting up the U.N. AssistanceMission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) in October 1993. The man-date of this mission was to monitor the security environment,investigate revenge killings, resettle the refugees and coordi-nate all humanitarian relief works. India sent a battalion group,a signal company, an engineer company, and militaryobservers. The task assigned to the unit were to safeguardU.N. installations, guard 23 security posts, patrol the area ofresponsibility, provide escorts and to guard the capital Kigalifrom rebels and armed bandits. The Indian battalion helpedin moving 70,000 internally displaced persons to safer places.About 7,000 prisoners were also moved to other areas. Indiansoldiers also managed eight orphanages, looked after severalschools and also extended medical relief to the people.

The UNAMIR Force Commander Major General G.C.Tousignant of Canada paid rich tributes to the Indian contin-gent. “You brought to UNAMIR, to the United Nations toRwanda a sense of pride… You came in and you demonstrat-ed what it is to be a good soldier and you brought respectabil-ity to the mission. You brought also a sense of professional-

ism in everything that we have to do for the Rwandese. I saythis without any reservation, you are probably one of the bestsoldiers in the world at this time.”

Horn of Africa: Ethiopia and Eritrea

After two years of bloody war over their border row,Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a cessation of hostilities agree-ment following proximity talks led by Algeria and the OAU.In July 2000, the U.N. Security Council set up the UnitedNations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) to main-tain liaison with the parties and establish a mechanism forverifying the ceasefire. In September 2000, the council autho-rised the deployment within UNMEE of 4,200 military per-sonnel to monitor the cessation of hostilities and to help ensurethe implementation of security commitments. In 2001, Indiadecided to send 1,197 troops after a request from the U.N.headquarters.

The Indian contingent is the largest, which includes 879personnel from the Infantry Battalion, a construction engi-neering company of 153 personnel and a force reserve com-pany of 165. Besides normal security duties of the Indianpeace-keepers, one of the notable contributions of the Indianconstruction engineering companies was the construction ofa check dam in the area. The local people are extremely appre-ciative of this and freely acknowledge the humanitarian dutiesof the Indian soldiers.

Africa is endowed with rich mineral and energy resourceswhich will remain a major source of oil imports for the inter-national community. If peace returns to Africa and an envi-ronment of all-round development emerges, Africa can realiseits vast, untapped economic potential and emerge as a vibrantmarket and economic bloc.

It is quite evident that India has invested considerable effortsin promoting peace and stability in the African continent. It issaid that India has now enough goodwill accumulated over thelast six decades to get help and support from African countriesin international fora, but some say that India is not tapping itto its advantage. When India was seeking support from Africancountries for permanent membership of the U.N. SecurityCouncil, India could only muster the support of 35 out of 53member-countries of the African Union, successor of theOAU.

Indian officials claim that Indian peace-keeping activitieswere not managed with a selfish motive. However, realisingIndia’s cordial relations with the African leadership India hasstarted the ‘Focus Africa’ programme since 2002-03 to inten-sify economic ties and to equip the African countries with thewherewithal to be self-dependent with training programmesunder the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation pro-gramme, popularly called ITEC, which is managed by theIndian Ministry of External Affairs.

These assistance programmes for the African countries willsupplement the Indian peace-keeping efforts in Africa andbring the two sides closer in a new economic and strategic part-nership that has the potential to reconfigure power equationsin the world.


I N C O N V E R S A T I O N

Wangari Muta Maathai,the iconic Kenyanenvironmentalist ––who became the firstAfrican woman towin the Nobel Prizefor Peace in 2004 ––speaks in simple,direct sentences that

brim with an inner fire and conviction that comes from longyears of struggle. The results are there for all to see: TheGreen Belt Movement she foundedin the mid-1970s has enriched theearth with 31 million trees.

Maathai is an elected member ofthe Kenyan Parliament and alsoserved as Assistant Minister forEnvironment and Natural Resourcesbetween January 2003 andNovember 2005. A pioneering aca-demic and a leading human rightscampaigner, she became “a source ofinspiration for everyone in Africafighting for sustainable development,democracy and peace”, in the wordsof the Nobel Committee that recog-nised her outstanding work threeyears back.

India has honoured the 67-year-old environmentalist with the prestigious Jawaharlal NehruAward for International Understanding. The award was pre-sented to Maathai by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at an ele-gant ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan (the presidential palacein New Delhi) in March that was attended by Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and his senior Cabinet ministers. “Hermission has to spread to all parts of the planet. The award isin recognition of her persistent and courageous struggle fordemocracy, human rights and environmental conservation,”President Kalam said.

In this conversation with Manish Chand, Maathai speaksabout her unquenchable passion for a clean environment,the emerging breed of new leaders in Africa, her impressionof India and what India and Africa can do together to createa more equitable, clean and harmonious world. Excerpts fromthe interview:

Q. Your passion for the environment and your lifelong com-

mitment to the green cause has earned accolades all over the

world. How did it all start?

A. I grew up in the Kenyan countryside. That experience inthe countryside when the environment was pristine has stayedwith me since then. In those days, there were no cash crops,no coffee, no tea. I grew up seeing shorgum, palm trees, sweetpotatoes –– which were all very economical food crops. Therivers were so clean that we could drink water straight fromthem. There were no agro-chemicals. That’s the backgroundI knew as a child and that’s what influenced me a lot. Later

on, I saw the land degrading. Wecould no longer drink water straightfrom the rivers. The rivers were fullof silt because forests upstream werecleared. That’s the time I thought Imust do something about it. If wereally understand the role environ-ment plays in our life and environ-mental education becomes part ofschool curricula, then a lot of peoplewould be concerned about the envi-ronment and would encourage oth-ers to do something about it.

Q. How do you see the impact of glob-

alisation on the environment?

A. To a very large extent, globalisa-tion is a threat to the environment in

countries that are poor and underdeveloped.Underdeveloped, poor countries are looking to developedcountries and corporations to get them out of poverty. It’s veryeasy for these corporations to exploit the resources and not toshare it with the poor locals. There should be a code of ethicsto ensure that they do business on the basis of justice and fair-play. Unless you can appreciate that the planet is very smalland resources limited, globalisation will do a lot of damage topoor and developing countries.

Q. You have been in politics for long and have often criticised

corruption in governance. What do you think of the quality of

leadership in Africa? Do you see a new breed of leadership

emerging in Africa?

A. Now, we are seeing a new breed of leadership, especiallysince the collapse of the Soviet Union. A lot of wars foughtin Africa were proxy wars that were waged by superpowers

‘Get ready for newAfrican LEADERS’

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February-April 2007

for influence over the continent. Unfortunately, Africansallowed themselves to fight wars which were not their wars.But today there is a new effort by the new African leadershipto bring in more democratic and responsible governance inAfrica and to protect the African people from the kind oftragedies which you have described. As a response to that,African leaders introduced a new organisation, the AfricanUnion (AU), instead of the old Organisation of African Unity.It’s an effort by Africans to look at themselves and the way theygovern themselves and try to improve governance. I have beenasked by the AU to join the Economic and Social Council(ECOSC) –– an advisory organ which primarily comprisescivil society. It’s one of the indicators to me that a new Africanleadership is emerging because the African leadership in thepast didn’t have anything to do with civil society. They regard-ed civil society as an enemy of the country. Which is part ofthe reason I was persecuted. That the African Heads of Stateare inviting civil society to be an advisory organ is an indica-tion that there is a new willingness to embrace the African peo-ple and give them better leadership.

Q. Some say Africa holds the key to

the U.N. reforms, especially the

expansion of the U.N. Security

Council. Do you think attempts to

reform the U.N. will succeed?

A. From the viewpoint of the U.N.reforms, they are looking at Africa asa bloc. And they are visualising twoseats for Africa in an expandedSecurity Council. But the problem isthat Africa has 53 countries and it isso fragmented. Africa has to worktowards reducing this fragmentationbecause that’s been part of its weak-ness. Maybe for some it was easier todeal with a fragmented Africa. Now,the AU is aware of it and has beenholding discussions towards a moreunited Africa. And that’s a positivesign. A united Africa would have amuch stronger voice in the U.N.than a fragmented Africa.

Q. How do you see the controversy in

India over Special Economic Zones? You also have an environ-

ment versus development debate in Africa…

A. We do have some of these special economic areas. Theyappear to be good ideas as they create employment. However,some people complain that they exploit people and pay verylittle to them. The governments have to make choice. Goodand responsible governments will make a choice, which isgood for the common good, which is good not just for the cur-rent government, but good in the long term. The governmentsare often confronted with the problems of poverty and unem-ployment. In India, for instance, we are quite impressed withthe rate of development. But there are still millions who con-

tinue to live in poverty in India. The government is trying toraise the quality of living of people. How do you do it?Sometimes, the government’s choice is very difficult. It’s veryimportant for the governments to open up to civil society andto dialogue with citizens. But then that usually is the problem.The governments don’t want to consult their citizens andengage in dialogue with them. And that can be very frustrat-ing to civil society organisations that are trying to protect theenvironment. When there is a dialogue, the governments canexplain themselves to the people and the tension is reduced.I have been in the government, so I know sometimes the gov-ernment has to make very painful choices. But it’s also aresponsibility of civil society organisations to continue eggingtheir governments to be responsible and make choices that donot jeopardise the livelihood of people.

Q. This is your first visit to India. What are your impressions

of this country and its people?

A. It’s an extraordinary country. I have come as a guest of thestate; so I have received extraordinaryhospitality. I have seen the wonder-ful leadership of India which I holdin very high esteem. A country thathas good leadership moves forward.India, from the very beginning, fromthe time of Mahatma Gandhi toNehru to Indira Gandhi and now thecurrent leadership, has been verylucky in the kind of leadership it hashad. The leadership that has beenresponsible to people –– the kind ofleadership Africa can only hope for.Also, talking of impressions, I havebeen very impressed by Delhi. I havenever seen a city that is so green. Thestreets are wide and lined with trees.I would like to appeal to all cities toemulate Delhi. It’s very beautiful.

Q. What kind of relationship do you

envisage between a new India and a

new Africa?

A. Africa and India have been in along-term relationship. Indian lead-ers like Gandhi and Nehru have

been a source of inspiration to Africa. India was ruled by theBritish and so were we. We were therefore very inspired bythe struggle and success of India. There are other vital con-nections. Mahatma Gandhi started his campaign for justice inSouth Africa. There is a very strong linkage between the Indiangovernment and the African Union. I can only hope we shallcontinue to act together and with the new leadership in Africa,we shall benefit from the experience of India. India is a verydynamic, democratic society. It’s also a very diverse society -so many religions, so many languages and so many cultures.This diversity could have sparked divisions in the society, buton the contrary this has only strengthened India.

Governments don’t want to consult their citizens and

engage in dialogue with them.And that can be very frustratingto civil society organisations that

are trying to protect the environment. When there is a

dialogue, the governments canexplain themselves to the

people and tension is reduced. Ihave been in government, so I

know sometimes the government has to make verypainful choices. But it’s also aresponsibility of civil society

organisations to continueegging their governments to be

responsible.


D O C U M E N T

‘We can all make a DIFFERENCE’

By Wangari Maathai

For a long time I have wanted torespond to the many warm invitationsto come to India but until now, eventsbeyond our control prevented mefrom coming here and share with yousome thoughts on the environment. Iam especially happy to be here todaytherefore, and to join you in remem-bering and honouring the memories

of the great son of India that is Rajiv Gandhi. Your Excellency, the legendary leadership of the Gandhi

family has been a great inspiration to the people of the worldfor many years and it is indeed a privilege to be associated withit at this lecture.

In 1972 the world met in Stockholm, Sweden, and dis-cussed the human environment under the auspices of theUnited Nations. At that meeting it was Indira Gandhi whodrew attention to the fact that poverty was one of the great pol-lutants in the world.

Since then, the world may not have done much to reducepoverty everywhere, but it has understood that poor peopletend to overuse their environment and, subsequently, adegraded environment is unable to support livelihoods andpushes people into even greater poverty. Understanding thatlinkage between poverty and the environment is crucial to sus-tainable development.

It took the next three decades before the Norwegian NobelCommittee would draw the world’s attention to the fact thatthere is strong linkage between the environment, governanceand peace. The committee called upon the world to expandthe definition of peace and security to include to that defini-tion, responsible and accountable management of the limitedresources on the planet earth, as well as a more equitable dis-tribution of those resources.

In order for humankind to manage and share resources ina just and equitable way, there is need for a governance sys-tem that is more responsive and inclusive; one in which mostpeople feel that they belong, and one in which the voice of theminority is listened to even if the majority will have their way;one that respects human rights, the rule of law and deliber-ately and consciously promotes equity. Indeed, many of theconflicts and wars in the world are over access, control and dis-tribution of resources like water, wood fuel, grazing ground,minerals and land.

Conflicts and wars are born out of a feeling of injustice,exclusion and oppression. When people feel that they are notreceiving justice and equity, that they are marginalised or dis-criminated against, they seek justice and equity, usingwhichever means available to them.

By managing resources better, by recognising the linkbetween sustainable management of limited resources andconflicts, we are more likely to pre-empt the root causes ofmany conflicts and wars and create a more peaceful and secureworld. That is the link between environment and peace.

An appreciation that a degraded environment leads to con-flicts as communities scramble for the available limitedresources is what partly inspired the establishment of theGreen Belt Movement ( GBM), some 30 years ago in Kenya.Initially the activity was devoted to planting trees and meet thefelt needs of communities. But in the course of time, the needfor good governance, respect for human rights and promotionof equity became important ingredients for a more secure andpeaceful society. Therefore, the GBM embraced a struggle forbetter governance even while working for a cleaner and health-ier environment.

During that period an approach was developed that wasintended to empower citizens to take action to improve espe-cially their immediate environment, understand how goodgovernance is necessary for responsible and accountable man-agement of resources, and embrace the challenge of being partof the solution.

The GBM has shared this approach with many other coun-tries, especially in Africa, where the continent is threatened byespecially desertification processes, a majority of people stillpractice subsistence agriculture and depend on fuel energy. Weshare information and opportunities to have experiential learn-ing by doing.

The involvement of citizens is essential. Therefore,informing, practicing, getting rid of inertia and moving to takeaction is very important in this campaign... The largest num-bers of participants in the GBM are women and they havemade tree-planting an income-generating activity, whereGBM gives a financial compensation (10 cents) to women forevery tree seedling that is planted and survives...

The GBM was initiated in 1977 at the occasion of WorldEnvironment Day and seven trees were planted. Today, morethan 40 million (and counting) trees have been planted inKenya alone. These figures are shared to partly emphasise that

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February-April 2007

the many environmental problems present in our communi-ties and regions should not be a source of disempowermentand despair. Rather, it is reason for ordinary citizens toempower themselves to take action and encourage others todo the same. Individually and collectively, we can all make adifference.

It is also for that reason that recently, with UNEP, theGBM and ICRAF, we jointly initiated a campaign to plant abillion trees worldwide. This campaign serves to raise aware-ness on the need to inform ourselves about climate change,commit to doable action and especially plant trees, whichwould eventually sequester carbon...

As we all know, the environment degrades slowly and maynot be noticed by the majority of people. If they are poor, self-ish or greedy they will be more concerned about survival orsatisfying their immediate needs and wishes than worryingabout the consequences of their actions.

Unfortunately, the generation that destroys the environ-ment may not be the one that pays the price. It is the futuregenerations that will confront the consequences of today’sdestructive activities of the current generation...

The responsibility to address the problems in good time forthe common good of all calls for visionary political will on thepart of governments and corporate social responsibility on thepart of the corporate world. One of the issues on hand todayis the climate change and we are all called to take some action.

From where I sit, I call for the planting of trees and the pro-tection of standing forests. It is for this reason that, in 2005, Iaccepted the role of Goodwill Ambassador of the CongoForest Ecosystem. It came about because 10 governments inthe Central Africa region decided to work together to conservethe forest, but also to encourage the international communi-ty to play a role in the conservation of this ecosystem.

This is because the Congo Forest Ecosystem is the second-largest forest ecosystem in the world, only second to theAmazon Basin Forest Ecosystem. Along with the South AsiaForest Ecosystem the three are considered the “three lungs”of the planet. Recently, I visited the heart of Borneo in Bruneiin South East Asia, and was impressed by the commitmentsof the government to work closely with neighbouring coun-tries to save that forest ecosystem, which is also threatenedespecially by both legal and illegal logging...

Indigenous forests in particular are also important becauseof the role they play to support livelihoods. For example forest-ed mountains are catchment areas for water, which wouldotherwise flow downstream as flash floods that carry withthem soils and nutrients needed for agriculture. Floods are alsodevastating to settlements and farms downstream. Humansettlements need forests to support livelihoods, which cannotbe sustainable without the services they get from forests, some-times long distances from their settlements.

The UNEP recommends that each country should haveat least 10 percent of its land covered with forests.

Many countries in the world that have their own land cov-ered with forests and vegetation conserve their biodiversity andenjoy a healthy and clean environment. However, some arenevertheless engaged in destructive logging and harvesting of

biodiversity in forests far away from their native lands. Thatis why there is need to see the world as one and to endeavourto protect not only the local but also the global environment...

But there is constant pressure to sacrifice forests for humansettlements, agriculture and industry. Whatever options wemust make, it is always better to be guided by the commongood, not only of present generation, but also of generationsto come. Politically, it is more expedient to sacrifice the long-term common good and the intergenerational responsibilityfor the convenience and opportunities of today. But, moral-ly, we are required to make the better options for the commongood of all. We have a responsibility to protect the rights ofgenerations which cannot speak for themselves today...

Governments and corporations can do a lot to assist soci-eties adapt and adopt lifestyles that are less dependent on fos-sil fuels and resources that are limited. Some of the doable ini-tiatives to deal with climate change include consuming lessenergy and other limited resources, planting trees, protectingthose that are standing, investing in research and develop-ment of other sources of energy like wind, solar andhydropower...

But there are many options we can turn to. Recently dur-ing a visit to Japan, I learnt about a Buddhist concept calledmottainai, which calls for respect for resources, gratitude, andcalls not to waste resources. The next time I visited Japan, theMinister for Environment (Koike) had initiated a productionof furoshikis, which were made from recycled materials likeplastic. Furoshikis are used to wrap gifts and encouraged peo-ple to use the same furoshikis many times over (re-use)...

I wish to emphasize the fact that protecting the environ-ment and promoting cultures of peace takes patience, com-mitment and persistence. It has to become a conscious anddeliberate struggle to change our mindset about peace andsecurity. It will not happen overnight...

In conclusion, let me share with you a short story thatreminds me about that need to take action, the need forpatience, commitment and persistence. It is a story of hum-mingbird. Well, there was this huge forest that caught fire andall the animals in the forest decided to leave the forest and savethemselves. They came to the edge of the forest and watchedthe fire from a distance: Overwhelmed and disempowered bythe raging fire. Except this hummingbird, which said, “I amgoing to do something about the fire!” And so it flew to thenearest stream and brought a drop of water in its beak and putit on the raging fire! It flew fast back and forth, every timebringing a drop of water in its beak and putting it on the fire.

In the meantime the other animals were watching in dis-may as the fire raged “What can you do, the other animals won-dered aloud?” You are too small, you cannot put off such afire!! Come and join us and watch the fire!!

Unmoved, the hummingbird kept its focus, maintained itscommitment, remained focused and responded without los-ing patience or speed, “I am doing the best I can!”

And that is what we are all called to do: The best we can! (Excerpts from the speech delivered by Wangari Maathai at a recep-tion held in her honour by the Indian Council of Cultural Relationsand Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in New Delhi March 22, 2007)


A F R I C A N S O L U T I O N S

Introduction

Differences of interests and goalsare a core reality of human exis-tence. Conflicts in differenthues are an inherent and recur-rent feature of different soci-eties. These conflicts in societyat times escalate to violent con-flicts.1 The challenge to philoso-phers, thinkers and leaders has

always been how to evolve institutions in the society that eithermitigate conflicts or manage them in an effective and sustain-able manner.

This is essential as violent conflict inflicts deep wounds andscars on the society that endures it. Apart from the deaths anddestruction it causes, it fragments the social structure and fab-ric. There is deprivation and displacement. Growth and devel-opment of the society is stunted and the impact on the econ-omy is enormous. Some societies are so severely destabilisedby violence that they take many generations to recover fromthe trauma.1

The establishment of the state and the privileges it is per-mitted to possess are for, among other things, ensuring orderand providing security to its residents. Those scholars whoconsider the state to be a crucial institution have always debat-ed over how it should function and, more importantly, whoshall run it, what should be the method of their selection andwhat should be the priorities of the state.

A democratic means of choosing those who have the reinsof power is not only considered to be an effective but also anethical means of selecting leaders. It also helps in defining anddeciding the priorities that the state must undertake andespouse. Moreover, it provides a safety valve through whichthe violence and conflict that the human living creates areplayed out and released.

However, states do not exist and function in a vacuum butare integral parts of the larger international system. Any changein the larger system has a bearing on different aspects of thestate, including its democratic processes. The contemporaryera is witnessing enormous socio-economic and political trans-formation and changes and integration that are collectively

termed as globalisation. This paper seeks to explore how thisis being translated into reality and assess the viability of demo-cratic changes in Africa.

Evolution of Globalisation

Before dwelling further on this relationship, a brief discus-sion on the historical emergence of globalisation is essential tocomprehend the implications and potential crisis it portends.Globalisation, or the profound transformation and restruc-turing of world capitalism due to the high level of integrationof economies and finance, is thought to have started in the early1970s when the U.S. dollar was de-linked from the gold stan-dard. However, Robinson contends that “globalisation is nota new process, but the near culmination of the centuries-longprocess of the spread of capitalist production relations aroundthe world and its displacement of all pre-capitalist relations”.2

Capitalism’s extensive enlargement started with the wave ofcolonisation and culminated in the 1990s with the incorpora-tion of the Soviet bloc and remaining Third World countries.There is globally the ascendance or the supremacy of the cap-italist mode of production.

There is a lag between the economic and political reorgan-isation of capitalism and the ushering of new social relations.Along with the changes in the material basis of society thereare commensurate changes in the institutional structures.There occurs “the supersession of the nation-state as theorganising principle of capitalism, and with it, of the interstatesystem as the institutional framework of capitalist develop-ment… between international and transnational (or global)”.3

Space or territory does not become irrelevant, but its socialconfiguration is changing with the territoriality of state begin-ning to lose its primacy.

As capitalism developed, those who faced the brunt of thisat some point resisted and took recourse to violence in casetheir demands and needs were not taken care of. The ensuingsocial upheaval resulted in some form of social regulation andcurtailed capitalism. This was possible due to territorial andinstitutional limits posed by the nation-state system thatallowed the state to place constraints on capital. This forced itto allow the state to mediate a historic compromise with the

Jamal M. Moosa argues that democratic ethos is not alien to Africa and analyses the impact of globalisation on various experiments with

democratic processes in the continent

Globalisation, CRISIS ofDemocracy iin AAfrica

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February-April 2007

masses. Masses could place demands for redistribution on thestate and force it to extract from the capital. The ability to redi-rect surpluses through social intervention was vital for creat-ing conducive conditions. The outcome of all this was theKeynesian or New Deal states. It resulted in Fordist produc-tion at the core and developmental and populist states in theperiphery.

However, globalisation makes it structurally impossible forindividual nations to sustain independent and autonomouseconomies, political systems, and social structures. This liber-ates capital from the constraints and commitments arising outof the pressure from internal social forces. Thus there is dra-matic altering of the balance of forces among classes and socialgroups in a state to the advantage of the trans-national capital-ist and their vast network of facilitators.

Consequently, there is a commensurate declining ability ofthe state to intervene and extract from the process of capitalaccumulation. It also becomes less capable of determiningeconomic policies and priorities. Different groups contest forstate power but the real power isshifting to the trans-national levelbeyond the control of any state. Evenwhen disadvantaged sections or otherdominant groups take over the state,the policy changes are limited tosuperficial and cosmetic ones whilethe core linkages remain intact.

Governments are undertakingrestructuring and serve the needs oftransnational capital not because theyare powerless, but “because a partic-ular historical constellation of socialforces now exists that presents anorganic social base for this globalrestructuring of capitalism”.4

Reaction to Globalisation

This growth and power of global-isation has not been smooth andunchallenged. A host of individuals, groups and institutionshave always resisted the onslaught of globalisation employingvarious means. The enormous differences that are created dueto globalisation have been criticised even by its proponents.The fear is that due to the quest for accumulation, deprivationwill become widespread, this then would lead to resistance andviolence will increase.

Another fear is that globalisation and its potential for eco-nomic crisis and downturns will result in an authoritarianbacklash. A stable and prosperous international economyrequires strong and stable political foundations to support thesystem. Gilpin writes, “to prevent problems from escalatinginto crises like the post-1997 financial crisis… the interna-tional rules (regimes) governing international economic affairscannot succeed unless they are supported by a strong politicalbase”.5

Similarly, Stiglitz, who was the former Chief Economist and

Vice President of the World Bank, critiques the globalisationpolicies being pushed by the IMF. He considers the causes forthe street protests in Seattle, Geneva, Prague, Washington,D.C., to be many. These include the neo-imperial and anti-democratic policies of the IMF along with the neo-liberal eco-nomic theory.

There are “mistakes in sequencing and pacing, and the fail-ure to be sensitive to the broader social context… forcing lib-eralisation before safety nets were put in place, before there wasan adequate regulatory framework, before the countries couldwithstand the adverse consequences of the sudden changes inmarket sentiment that are part and parcel of modern capital-ism; forcing policies that led to job destruction before theessentials for job creation were in place; forcing privatisationbefore there were adequate competition and regulatory frame-works”.6

He concludes: “Today, the system of capitalism is at a cross-roads just as it was during the Great Depression. In the 1930s,Keynes, who thought of policies to create jobs and rescue,

saved capitalism those suffering fromthe collapse of the global economy.Now, millions of people around theworld are waiting to see whetherglobalisation can be reformed so thatits benefits can be more widelyshared”.7

Globalisation is leading to a crisisof the state as well as of democracy.The contemporary state in the glob-al era has a tendency of concentra-tion of power and domination overthe polity and society. This wouldlead to the domination and marginal-isation of many social groups, whichwill increase the level of violence insociety in the absence of democraticinstitutions.

Globalisation and Democracy

Another facet of globalisation is the shrinking of democrat-ic space –– though in the rhetoric of the justification and pro-motion of the policies of globalisation, liberal democratisationis one of the key arguments. The leaderships of differentgroups use the fault lines that exist in a society to makedemands on the state and try to change its composition. PhilipCerny says that though there is the apparent development andspread of liberal democratic state forms across in the world inthe 1980s and 1990s, however “the possibilities for genuine andeffective democratic governance are actually declining. …Thereasons, I will suggest, are all too simple”.8

Liberal democracy emerged as a major mode of governanceby the process of consolidation of the nation-state. This pro-cess gathered strength as it was felt that there was a need to sta-bilise and control the complex manifest and latent conflictsinherent in modern society. Some of its main features includepublic accountability and responsiveness of governance.

The state also becomes lesscapable of determining

economic policies and priorities.Different groups contest for state

power but the real power is shifting to the transnational

level beyond the control of anystate. Even when disadvantaged

sections or other dominantgroups take over the state,

the policy changes are limited to superficial and cosmetic

ones while the core linkagesremain intact.



Appearing to uphold these values is essential for legitimacyboth at the local and at the international levels.

“Globalisation is leading to a world in which crosscuttingand overlapping governance structures and processes increas-ingly take private, oligarchic forms; where hegemonic neolib-eral norms… are delegitimising democratic governance”.9

This undermines the democratic state both from above as wellas from below or what he calls a “durable disorder” of over-lapping and competing institutions.

Among the features of the state in a liberal democracy is theability of those in control of the state to distribute and a com-mensurate capacity of the population to demand and appro-priate the redistribution of values and benefits. People have tobe both inspired and satiated or else the state will come undertremendous public pressure. In certain circumstances it maynot be able to cope with these demands and resort to coercion.If in the eventuality of coercion means failing the state mayatrophy and become a failed state. This occurs when, “thetasks, roles and activities of the state are ‘unbundled’ or ‘disar-ticulated’; and when its capacity tomake side-payments is seriously con-strained or even undermined”.10

The effectiveness of democraticgovernance and the confidence andtrust of the people is lost. In otherwords, the legitimacy that is neededto successfully convince people of thevalue and utility of democratic insti-tutions and mobilise them to partic-ipate in them becomes difficult.

Another facet linked to this is theerosion of the capacity to ensurephysical security or order. “Violencetoday is less and less the province ofnational governments and more andmore the domain of ethnic groups,drugs cartels and mafias, mercenariesand private armies linked to firmsand other sub-state or crossnationalorganisations. This is true not only inthe Second and Third Worlds, but in the First World too.”11

In this new chaotic world, the state no longer holds an effec-tive monopoly of legitimate violence and it is unable to pro-vide physical security and protection. This further reduces thestate’s legitimacy and a vicious cycle ensues. As a consequenceof this, the level of societal violence spirals and states begin tolose their democratic moorings.

Thus there is no credibility to the claim that the there isgoing to be an expansion of democratic values both at thenational and international levels due to globalisation. Even asdemocratic processes are ostensibly being extended in thestates of Latin America, Asia and Africa, their capacity is beinghollowed and transformed to suit the need of globalisation.Rather there is a threat that due to the brewing crisis and emer-gence of newer forms of resistance and violence, autocratic andauthoritarian forms of governance may be promoted andexpanded. This expansion may well be with the connivance

and complexity of various transnational entities that use dif-ferent means to bring about desired changes.

There is a tendency of the states becoming reluctant to per-form certain tasks that are essential for its democratic charac-ter, like responsiveness, accountability and effectiveness. Thisleads to the decrease in the redistribution, regulation and thedelivery of public services. However, state capacity and effica-cy is being enhances in certain other spheres. Its effectivenessin tasks like controlling labour and peoples rights may be rein-forced and expanded.

The international system is “characterised by what…is calledneomedievalism”.12 The characteristics of which include (a)competing institutions with overlapping jurisdictions; (b)more fluid territorial boundaries; (c) contested property rightsand legal boundaries; (d) a growing alienation between citiesand disfavoured, and fragmented hinterlands; (e) increasedinequalities and isolation of the underclass; (f) multiple andfragmented loyalties; and (g) the spread of ‘zones grises’, wherethe rule of law does not run.

Understanding Violence

Before proceeding, a discussion onunderstanding conflicts, especiallyviolent conflicts, is essential. The ear-lier generation of scholars theorisedthat violence was a social pathologythat needed treatment and deterrentpunishment. This understanding hasbeen discarded as most scholars now“think of group violence as more orless predictable congruence of realgrievances over underlying social,economic and political issues”.13

It has been argued by some thatthe animalistic instinct in humanbeings is responsible for aggressivebehaviour and violent conflict. Bruteforce, like in animals, determined theownership in early communities.

With the passage of time intellect began to replace brute force,but the purpose of violence remains to constrain the opponentsand force them to rescind their claims. This efficacious use ofviolence continues to play a significant role in our every-daylife.

Theorists like John Burton14 reject the charge that individ-ual malevolence is responsible for violence. They argue thathumans have certain needs and requirements that are funda-mental and non-malleable. These needs must be satisfied foran individual’s development and result in conforming socialbehaviour. If such needs are left unfulfilled they lead to vio-lent and non-conforming behaviour. Similarly, JohanGaltung15 argues that violence rather than being random isstructured and conditioned by external circumstances. Theseconditions can be manipulated to provoke or solve violence.There are different forms of violence. Apart from direct phys-ical violence there is violence incorporated into the societal

In this new chaotic world, the state no longer holds an

effective monopoly of legitimate violence and it

is unable to provide physicalsecurity and protection. This further reduces the state’s legitimacy and a vicious

cycle ensues. As a consequence of this, the level of societal violence spirals and states begin to lose their democratic

moorings.

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structures. This indirect societal violence requires attention forany lasting solution to conflicts.15

In addition to the above, violence as social action is uniquein comparison to other social actions. The very use of violenceis highly visible and effective. The use of violence to an evenmoderate degree of effectiveness requires relatively littleresource. Thus, it is the simultaneous combination of inequal-ity, opportunity and justification that causes violent conflict.However, there are many other factors –– like the culturalethos and moorings of the society, the international environ-ment and power equation –– that also influence the emergenceof conflict.

Violence begets violence. Once an act of violence is perpe-trated, a vicious cycle of offence and revenge ensues, leadingto a heightening of violent activities. It has severe repercussionson the people and the society, profoundly impacting the soci-ety, fragmenting and polarising it. There is a breakdown ofcommunications between different segments of society,increasing widespread disenchantment, and often resulting inincreased flows of refugee and internally-displaced people.

The African Experience

Throughout Africa, according to Bradley16, during the pre-colonial period, the political systems were essentially demo-cratic. There is extensive anthropological evidence of demo-cratic governance in indigenous African states. They can beconsidered democratic as they exhibited the characteristics ofconsent of the people and checks and balance on power to pre-vent the abuse of authority.

These pre-colonial African systems can be divided into twocategories — decentralised and centralised systems. Thedecentralised democratic systems or segmented political sys-tems were marked by the diffusion of political power. “Thereis no central political authority to which the members of a par-ticular community or territory owe fealty… Decentralised sys-tems did not have centralised governance systems, adminis-trative bureaucracy, centralised judicial systems, or sharp divi-sions in rank or status”.17 And the pre-colonial centralisedsystems were characterised by a central authority with admin-istrative machinery and judicial institutions. These politicalsystems had hierarchical and concentric governance at thenational, regional, state and local levels.

However, the process of globalisation undermines thedemocratic institutions and processes and generates violence.This is amply clear in the light of African colonial and post-colonial experience. These periods were marked by a highdegree of integration between the European colonial powersand Africa. Most African countries adopted multiparty demo-cratic systems but soon the authoritarian underpinnings of thecolonial state broke through this facade. The fragile democraticinstitutions soon gave way, as they could not cater to the grow-ing aspirations and demands placed on them. After the post-war economic boom and high prices of primary commodities,a steep fall forced the curtailed states’ capacity to fund socialintervention. This mismatch between the state’s capacity andpeople’s aspirations resulted in enormous amounts of societal

violence and conflict. This has led to untold suffering, dis-ruption and deprivation across the entire continent and manygenerations have been lost.

However, the turn of the millennium and the eventual for-mation of the African Union saw a flurry of new initiatives andefforts — both internal and external — to solve violence inAfrica and to bring about democratic rule. It is essential tounderstand the larger context to place these efforts in properperspective. Paradoxically, the success of the free market hassown the seeds of Africa re-engaging with the world from anassertive position.

The fall of the Soviet Union unleashed many changes span-ning across the globe in almost every possible public sphere.However, the speed and the magnitude of the change inEurope took many western European countries by surprise.The unification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall,the eastward expansion of the European Union and NATOwere ideas that were not conceivable even a short while beforethey eventually became a reality.

Another consequence of these changes was that manyEuropean states and their institutions of governance wereseverely stressed. While some countries felt the consequencesof this strain less, for others it was enormous. Few likeYugoslavia encountered such centrifugal force that theyimploded or descended into extreme violent civil strife. Itdescended into chaos and this unleashed enormous violenceand instability in the region. The impact of these events at suchclose quarters shook European countries and their policy pri-orities. Apart from this, the economic costs of reconstructionand integration of these countries into the west Europeaneconomy too was enormous.

A consequence of this preoccupation of Europe with itsinternal problems was the significant diminishing of its inter-ests in Africa. This diminishing interest towards Africa ofEuropean powers like France, which has close military andfinancial ties with almost half the countries of the continent,also coincided with an adverse reaction in the United States tointervening abroad. The grand design of ushering in a NewWorld Order with the United State acting as the global watch-dog suffered severe reaction as a consequence of the humilia-tion in Somalia. The humiliation it suffered in Somalia forceda new policy approach towards Africa. The U.S. resisted in theU.N. and other such fora, any direct action and interventionin violent situations in Africa.

This disengagement coincided with looming crises and vio-lent conflicts in many African countries. The period of theearly 1990s saw many flare-ups along with their consequentrepercussions like human losses and destruction of econom-ic infrastructure. Most of these conflicts also caused largerefugee outflows. The human tragedy and cost due to theseconflicts did not bring about any serious international concern;rather it only increased the disengagement. This crisis peakedin 1994 when most Francophone countries experienced polit-ical and economic crisis and refugee outflows.

In the same year, the genocide in Rwanda occurred andthere was complete international indifference towards it. Theenormous loss of life accompanying human suffering and the



security crisis in the Great Lake Region has not yet been fullyresolved. This growing instability and violence has been fes-tering and resulting in many other countries too beingengulfed by it.

All these factors acted as the fertile ground for galvanisingnew efforts and actions to promote peace and stability andsustainable development. New ideas were explored and exper-imented with, and the absence of external powers and their dis-inclination helped sprout new thinking and fresh ideas. Theemergence of Asian economic powers too had an impact. Onthe one hand, it was a psychological boost that former colo-nial countries too could create niche areas of opportunities andprosper, while on the other hand it gave Africans an alterna-tive to balance the European monopoly.

New Initiatives in Africa

Amongst the new ideas that have their genesis in this peri-od of crisis is the formation of the African Union as the suc-cessor institution to Organisation ofAfrican Unity (OAU). Unlike theOAU, the African Union undertookupon itself a far larger and broadermandate. It envisages that it is essen-tial for sustainable peace and devel-opment to embark on far moreproactive actions.

The Heads of State andGovernment of the African Unionhave stated that the “continuedprevalence of armed conflicts inAfrica and the fact that no singleinternal factor has contributed moreto socio-economic decline of theContinent and the suffering of thecivilian population than the scourgeof conflicts within and betweenstates.”18

This was followed by the enact-ment of Protocol Relating to theEstablishment of the Peace and Security Council of the AfricanUnion in July 2002. African Union is envisaged to play a cen-tral role in bringing peace, security and stability on the conti-nent and to establish an operational structure for the effectiveimplementation of conflict prevention, peace-making, peacesupport operations and intervention, and peace-building andpost-conflict reconstruction.

While these efforts are underway, the continent is also try-ing to engage the rest of the world to become a partner in itsefforts to attain sustainable peace and development. The NewPartnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which wasannounced at Abuja, Nigeria, in October 2001, was the cul-mination of a long process towards this end. It is a vision state-ment by the African leaders that they want to extricate them-selves from the malaise of underdevelopment and exclusion.

They considered that an historic opportunity was there toend the scourge and that resources were available in abun-

dance. All that was needed was to mobilise these resources andto use them effectively. But more essentially, it also declaredthat Africans will determine their own destiny and called onthe rest of the world to complement their efforts.

A vicious cycle of economic decline, reduced capacity andpoor governance reinforced each other and confined Africa tothe periphery and made it a marginal continent. Peace, secu-rity, democracy, good governance, human rights and soundeconomic management are essential conditions for sustainabledevelopment. Thus to promote these principles various actionsare envisaged; one amongst them is the creation of African PeerReview Mechanism (APRM).

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africaoriginally developed the APRM19 in response to a request bythe NEPAD. The APRM’s mandate is to ensure that the poli-cies and practices of participating states conform to the polit-ical, economic and corporate governance codes and standardscontained in the Declaration on Democracy, Political,Economic and Corporate Governance that was approved by

the African Union in July 2002. The APRM is a voluntary and

mutually agreed instrument for self-monitoring by member-states of theAfrican Union. The APRM has fourdistinct components and five stages.The first component is theCommittee of Participating Heads ofState and Government or the APRHeads of State Forum. The nextcomponent is the Panel of EminentPersons (APR Panel). This is anindependent body that would over-see the day-to-day functioning of thepeer review process. The other com-ponents are the APR Secretariat andAPR Teams. Currently, about half ofthe continent’s countries are partici-pating members.

Along with this, there are manyother experiments with different

forms of democratic governance taking place within the con-tinent. Proponents of African-style democracy argue that thecore democratic principles are accepted by most such experi-mentation. Popular participation, consent and accountabilityare not alien to African historical experience. Furthermore,they “point to an ongoing system of broad-based, inclusive andnonpartisan frameworks that occur without competing polit-ical parties. That is, competing candidates seek votes as indi-viduals, not as party-label candidates”.20

However, Ake’s comments are insightful. He says:“Democratisation in Africa can only occur if the economicdependency of African economies is taken seriously by Africanand world leaders. In effect, the main characteristics of thecolonial state in Africa, absolutism and arbitrariness, have car-ried over into the postcolonial state and encouraged a devel-opment paradigm based on modernisation theory. But thereare at least two major limitations to modernisation theory: It

A vicious cycle of economicdecline and poor governance

confined Africa to the peripheryand made it a marginal

continent. Peace, security,democracy, human rights andsound economic management

are essential conditions for sustainable development. Thus

to promote these principles various actions are envisaged;

one amongst them is the creation of African Peer Review

Mechanism (APRM).

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1. Montegue cites evidence of 41,500 wars during the last5,600 years of recorded history, i.e. only 10 of the 185 gener-ations were fortunate to enjoy uninterrupted peace. R. PaulShaw and Yuwa Wong, ‘Genetic Seeds of Warfare: Evolution,Nationalism, Patriotism’, Boston, Unwin Hyman, 1989. p.3 2. William I. Robinson, ‘Social Theory and Globalisation: TheRise of a Transnational State, Theory and Society’, (Vol. 30)2001, pp. 157-200. p.1583. ibid p.1604. ibid p.1735. Quoted in Gil Gunderson, Review Essay: ‘DemocraticGovernment in the Age of Globalisation? Public OrganisationReview: A Global Journal’, (Vol. 3) 2003, pp. 421-429. p.21 6. Joseph E. Stiglitz, ‘Globalisation and its Discontents’, NewYork, W.W. Norton & Company, 2003, p.2887. ibid. p. 249 8. Philip G. Cerny, ‘Globalisation and the Erosion ofDemocracy’, European Journal of Political Research, (Vol.36) 1999, pp.1-269. ibid. p.210. ibid. p.1011. ibid. p.18

12. ibid. p.2113. Ted Gurr (ed.), ‘Violence in America: Protest, Rebellion,Reform’, New Delhi, Sage Publications, 1989 p.1314. John Burton, ‘Conflict: Resolution and Prevention’, NewYork, St. Martin Press, 1990, p.415. Johan Galtung, ‘Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace andConflict, Development and Civilisation’, London, SagePublication, 199616. Matthew Todd Bradley, ‘“The Other’’: Precursory AfricanConceptions of Democracy, International Studies Review’,(Vol. 7) 2005, pp. 407-431.17. Fortes and Evans-Pritchard quoted in ibid. p.41418. African Union, ‘Protocol Relating to the Establishment ofthe Peace and Security Council of the African Union’, 10 July2002, http://www.african-union.org.19. Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr., ‘Practitioner PerspectiveToward Good Governance and Sustainable Development:The African Peer Review Mechanism Governance: AnInternational Journal of Policy, Administration, andInstitutions’, (Vol. 18, No. 2) April 2005 pp. 283-311.20. Bradley, op cit. p.414.21. Claude Ake quoted in ibid. p.414

ignores both the historical and the cultural specificity ofAfrican countries.”21

Conclusion

As is clear from the above that the process of globalisationis not a new process, rather it is the maturing and ascendanceof the capitalist mode of production over many centuries. Thestate is being transformed in a manner due to various processesthat accompany globalisation with respect to both internal andexternal policies as well as in all spheres of a state’s activity.Also, the reorganisation of production and manufacturing ––and the mobility of capital –– limits the state’s capacity toextract from the capital. This curtails and diminishes the state’scapacity to divert what it has extracted from the capital forsocial intervention and distribution.

This makes it difficult for the state to cater to the needs ofthe masses in an effective manner. The result is growing socialpressure on the state.

There may be situations where in the state may atrophy dueto such intense pressure. But in most cases the state tries toconstrict democratic space so as to cater to the needs of glob-alisation. In such an eventuality, and with a shrinking pie,many different social formations –– aggregated on the basesof ethnicity, race, class, religion, etc. –– apply different formsof pressure on the state.

Such moves are invariably resisted. At some point thesechallenging groups will take recourse to violence and this onlyadds to more violence from the state. A vicious cycle of vio-lence is started. The implications of such a trajectory are clear-ly obvious with many examples of such violence. Such

tragedies are unfortunately accompanied with enormoushuman costs and sufferings.

In the context of Africa, the pre-colonial period had manyforms of democratic governance. These were replaced duringthe colonial period with authoritarian states, whose aim wasto cater to the needs of the colonial masters. Even thoughAfrican states attained political independence, their econom-ic ties with the former colonial countries remained very strong.For example, almost half of the continent’s countries becamepart of the Francophone zone.

However, as it is clear from the experience of many of thesecountries, without a strong capacity to extract economic sur-plus for social intervention, the states were under tremen-dous pressure. In some extreme cases they have atrophied.Paradoxically, the success of many Asian countries meant thatthere was not only an alternative in terms of markets but alsoin terms of models and the manner in which to engage withthe global system.

Thus there are both opportunities and dangers that global-isation provides. It has many pitfalls, but as experience hasshown there are many opportunities it has thrown up as well.There is thus a need to use these opportunities to create morefavourable terms of exchange and use this surplus for socialreproduction.

This can be done by focusing social intervention on appro-priate spheres to foster holistic development and alleviatedeprivation. However, the bottom line is that African coun-tries have to assert themselves externally while setting theirown houses in order. Towards this end many of the nascentmoves are but a beginning of long and difficult road towardsending violence and achieving durable democratic systems.

References


O I L D I P L O M A C Y

Traditionally, our relations with Sub-Saharan Africa were based on ourrecognition and sustained support forthe anti-imperialist, anti- colonial andthe anti-apartheid struggles. We alsoshared a common platform withthem on peace, disarmament, non-alignment and developmental issues.However, with the end of the cold

war and the emergence of a new South Africa, the rallyingpoints between the two regions, i.e. support to liberation strug-gles and the anti-apartheid struggle, have come to end. Issuessuch as disarmament and nonalignment that had brought thetwo together have taken a back seat in this era of globalisation.In the post-cold war era it appears that India’s foreign policyis driven to a large extent by economic issues, energy securitybeing one of the important facets. Energy security may be thebiggest challenge to Indian policymaking in the comingdecades. Our country’s consumption of energy has started torise rapidly in recent years. Today, India is one of the largestconsumers of energy in Asia. With indigenous productiondwindling, it is estimated that by the end of the decade, we willbe importing 90 percent of our crude oil and natural gasrequirements. In recent years, India has been trying to reduceits dependence on the Persian Gulf and has started looking atAfrica as an alternate source of energy. It is estimated that Sub-Sahara Africa holds 7 percent of world oil reserves and accountsfor 11 percent of world oil production. In the first part, thepaper will examine India’s rising energy security concerns. Inthe second part of the paper, the extent of India’s involvementin Sub-Saharan Africa’s energy sector will be analysed. Finally,the challenges India is facing in this endeavour will be exam-ined.

India’s Energy Security Concerns

India is a facing the critical challenge of meeting a rapidlyincreasing demand for energy. With over a billion people, afifth of the world population, India ranks sixth in the world interms of energy demand. Its economy is projected to grow at7-8 percent over the next two decades, and in its wake will

come a substantial increase in the demand for oil to fuel land,sea and air transportation. For more than a decade, India’senergy consumption has grown at a faster pace than its econ-omy and it appears this trend will continue. A recent studyindicates that India’s energy consumption will increase at therate of 5 percent every year up to 2010-11. However, this is aconservative estimate and the real consumption is likely togrow at a faster pace.

As is true of most countries around the world, India’s indus-trial sector is the largest consumer of energy, followed by thetransport sector. The industrial sector is mainly dependent oncoal and natural gas and accounts for 99 percent of coal andnatural gas consumption. On the other hand, the transport sec-tor is the largest consumer of oil and accounts for nearly 50percent of the total oil consumption.1 At present, coal accountsfor a predominant share in India’s energy consumption bas-ket (56.2 percent), followed by oil (32.4 percent), natural gas(9 percent), hydroelectricity (2.1 percent) and nuclear energy(less than 2 percent). Nevertheless, the share of oil and gas willincrease, primarily due to two factors. First, with the mod-ernisation and urbanisation of the Indian economy there hasbeen an exponential growth in motorised transport. Thesemillions of cars, trucks, buses, scooters, etc., are mainly run onliquid fuels. Second is the steady rise of the use of CombinedCycle Gas Turbines (CCGT) in power generation.2 Thistechnological process employs either liquid fuels or gas inpower generation. According to the estimates of the EnergyInformation Administration (EIA) of the United States, India’soil consumption will be twice the current levels by 2010.

While India has significant reserves of coal, it is relativelypoor in oil and gas resources. Its oil reserves amount to 5.9 bil-lion barrels (0.5 percent of global reserves) with total proven,probable and possible reserves of close to 11 billion barrels.The majority of India’s oil reserves are located in fields offshoreMumbai and onshore in Assam. The problem is, the countryhas no spectacular oilfields. And, despite 56 years of efforts ––since the country gained independence from British rule ––as well as the much-hyped new oil strikes (in Rajasthan) inrecent years, India does not produce more than 30 percent ofits oil needs from the oilfields within its territorial boundaries.The domestic production has been stagnating at around 32

Ruchita Beri argues for a more proactive Indian diplomacy to revitaliseits ties with the oil-rich Sub-Saharan Africa that may emerge as a crucial

pillar of the country’s search for energy security

India’s ENERGYSafari iin AAfrica

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February-April 2007

million tonnes a year(642,000 barrels a day). Itappears that the proportionof crude demand being metfrom indigenous produc-tion presently is likely todecline further.3 Estimatessuggest that by 2020, onlyabout 25 percent of thetotal demand will be metinternally. At present,India’s domestic crudeconsumption is around 113million tonnes (2.2 millionbarrels per day) of which1.5 million barrels per dayare imported. It is estimat-ed that India’s fuel con-sumption will rise to 3.2million barrels per day by2010. In the process, Indiawill emerge as the fourth-largest con-sumer after the United States, Chinaand Japan. This accelerated demandmakes it imperative that we garnerabundant and continuous supply ofenergy and ensure its security in thefuture. Every oil shock in the past hashad a negative impact on the Indianeconomy.

Due to stagnating domestic crudeproduction, India imports approxi-mately 70 percent of its oil. Its depen-dence is growing rapidly. The WorldEnergy Outlook, published by theInternational Energy Agency (IEA),projects that India’s dependence onoil imports will grow to 91.6 percentby the year 2020. However, morealarming is the fact that the countrybuys much of the oil it needs from the Middle East countries.This makes India terribly vulnerable to any event that causesinstability in the Middle East. In many ways, the Iraq andAfghanistan wars have shown the government that it needs totie-up alternate sources soon. In 2004-05 India, with 23.9 mil-lion tonnes of purchases, was the largest importer of crude oilfrom Saudi Arabia. Imports from Nigeria, at15 million tonnes,was next, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Iran with9 and 6.4 million tonnes, respectively. Cumulatively, Indiaimported 64.6 million metric tonnes of crude from West Asiaand 31.2 million metric tonnes from other regions during theyear, official sources said. Clearly, India has to ensure “that thepeople and industry do not suffer for want of oil and gas”.

These and related concerns have led to a serious debate onenergy security issues in the country. Recognising these con-cerns, the Indian government had set up a special Group ofCabinet Ministers that spelt out the Hydrocarbon Vision 2025.

This document outlines theroad map for meeting ourenergy requirements in thelong-term perspective –– aswell as the short-term poli-cy –– as they relate to thehydrocarbon sector.Concerned with its grow-ing reliance on Persian Gulfoil, India is following in thefootsteps of other major oil-importing economies, andis diversifying its sources. Inaddition, it is also investingin acquiring equity oilabroad. Indian firms’ invest-ment in overseas oilfields ismore than $4.5 billion.

India and African Oil

Faced with a grim scenario on theoil production front and the risingconsumption of energy, India hasdiversified its sources across theworld. Africa has appeared to be oneof the major attractions for Indian oilcompanies in recent years. Currently,roughly one fourth of India’s crudeoil imports come from Sub-SaharanAfrica. This is mainly from Nigeria.India has also decided to invest inequity oil in Africa. India’s interest inAfrican oil is spurred by a number offactors. First, the oil from Africa, par-ticularly the Gulf of Guinea, is ofhigh quality, being low in sulphur.Second, the bulk of the new discov-eries are found offshore, away frompotential conflicts on shore. Third,

Africa’s oil markets are open to foreign participation unlikethose of Saudi Arabia and some other countries in the Gulf.Fourth, only Nigeria is an OPEC member, which sets limitson member-countries’ output levels. Finally, India has cen-turies-old ties with African countries. India has fought togeth-er against colonialism and apartheid in the continent. India andAfrica have been partners in peace and development. The peo-ple of Indian origin who reached African shores in the mid-19th century also bind us together. Also, we have shared sim-ilar experiences in nation-building. Thus we have a certainbonding with the African countries that would be helpful inforging energy ties. The countries that India has focused so farare Sudan, Angola, Ivory Coast and Ghana. The other coun-tries of interest are in the Gulf of Guinea region in West Africaare Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Mauritania.

Nigeria: In a bid to diversify its import sources India isincreasingly looking towards African countries, Nigeria in par-

ONGC Videsh Ltd., or OVL,invested $750 million to

acquire the 25 percent equityheld by the Talisman group in

GNOP. In June 2004, the UnionCabinet of the Indian

government approved a $200 million project to lay a

pipeline from Khartoum to PortSudan on the Red sea. As ofnow, India gets 3.23 million

tonnes of equity oil from GNOPin Sudan.

ONGC Videsh Ltd. officials celebrate the setting up of the Base Camp ofthe Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) at Heglig in

Sudan on May 18, 2003.



ticular. Nigeria is a major oil pro-ducing country and its reserves arecurrently around 30 billion barrelsand are estimated to rise to 40 billionbarrels by 2010. Comparatively,Nigeria’s production ranks onlybehind Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iranand United Arab Emirates. Further,it has a daily production rate ofaround 2.63 million barrels per day.India’s interest in Nigeria’s oil sectorhas three components –– import ofcrude oil, participation in theupstream sector and, finally, thedownstream sector, particularlyrefineries.

Among the African countries,Nigeria is the major crude supplier toIndia, mostly bought on the spotmarket. In May 2005, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and theNigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) agreedon a contract for NNPC to supply 40,000 barrels per day toIOC. Nigeria is one of the few producers of the sweet vari-eties needed by Indian refineries and, therefore, the demandfor Nigerian crude would remain substantial in the near future.

In the upstream sector, in May 2005, ONGC Videsh (OVL)won a 15 percent stake in Block II of the Joint DevelopmentZone (JDZ) of Nigeria and Sao Tome Principe. In May 2006,ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd. (OMEL) won two prospective oiland gas blocks. The acquisition of these blocks would giveIndia a presence in the highly prospective deepwater Gulf ofGuinea region. Earlier, in November 2005, an MOU wassigned between OMEL and the Nigerian government for a $6billion oil-for-infrastructure deal. That entailed sourcing of450,000 barrels per day of equity oil and 200,000 barrels per dayof equity gas per year for over 25 years. In return, the Indiangovernment promised to assist in the upgradation of Nigeria’s

railways, and the establishment of athermal power plant and a refinery. Inthe downstream sector, IOC is dis-cussing setting up a refinery in theEdo state. Private sector oil companieslike Essar are also involved in refineryprojects in Nigeria.

Sudan: In recent years, Sudan hasentered the ranks of oil exportingcountries in a big way. It seemsSudan’s reserves are very high, sec-ond only to those of Saudi Arabia. Asof January 2004, its estimated provenreserves of crude oil stood at around5 billion barrels. Its recoverablereserves are estimated at greater than800 million barrels and its natural gasreserves are close to three trillioncubic feet. As of June 2004, crude oil

production was averaging about 345,000 barrels per day and isexpected to surpass 500,000 barrels per day by the end of 2005.4

Petroleum exploration in Sudan began in the early 1960s. Theactivity was originally concentrated offshore in the Red Sea.The only significant discovery was Chevron’s Suakin gas dis-covery in 1976. Chevron’s explorations in the 1960s and 1970sled to several oil finds in southern Sudan. However, theincreasing internal unrest and intensification of conflictbetween the Sudanese government and the southern rebelsand the consequent deterioration of the security situation atthe oilfields led most of the oil majors to suspend their activ-ities in the mid-1980s. Chevron in particular abandoned itsconcessions. France’s total also suspended its onshore explo-ration activities but retained its rights to its concessions.

Since the early 1990s, foreign oil companies have began toreturn. In December 1996, the Greater Nile PetroleumCompany (GNPOC) was formed comprising China NationalPetroleum Corporation, Petronas, Sudapet and Araxis. In

In May 2006, ONGC-MittalEnergy Ltd. (OMEL) won

two prospective oil and gasblocks. The acquisition of

these blocks would give India a presence in the highly

prospective deepwater Gulf ofGuinea region. Earlier, inNovember 2005, an MOU

was signed between OMEL and the Nigerian government

for a $6 billion oil-for-infrastructure deal.

From Left, Aditya Mittal, Vice Chairman and CFO of Mittal Steel and Director of OMEL and OMESL; Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEOof Mittal Steel and Director of OMEL & OMESL; M.S. Srinivasan, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas; R.S. Sharma,

Chairman, ONGC; and R.S. Butola, Managing Director of OVL at a press conference to speak about the ONGC-Mittal Steel tie-up OMELfor oil exploration, in Mumbai on July 7, 2006.

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February-April 2007

November 1997, the U.S. imposed sanctions against Sudan onthe charge that profits from oil were being used to fuel civilwar. The pressure of sanctions had kept most of the Americanand Western oil companies out of Sudan, except for a Canadianfirm, Talisman energy. Talisman had acquired Araxis’ share inthe GNPOC.

India entered the Sudanese oil sector when Talisman decid-ed to withdraw from the consortium after sustained pressurefrom the U.S. and the human rights groups. OVL invested $750million to acquire the 25 percent equity held by the Talismangroup in GNOP. The CNPC has 40 percent of the equity,Petronas has 30 percent and 5 percent of the equity is held bySudapet. In June 2004, the Union Cabinet approved a $200 mil-lion project to lay a pipeline from Khartoum to Port Sudan onthe Red Sea.5 As of now, India gets 3.23 million tonnes of equi-ty oil from GNOP in Sudan. In 2004, China outbid India inits attempt to pick up 11 percent stake in the Block 3 oil fieldin Sudan. The field was generating 400,000 barrels per day.However, the government’s delay in decision-making cost usthe deal, with China walking away with the spoils.6 Theyoffered 17 percent more than what India was bidding andsigned up immediately. Subsequently, in 2005, ONGCacquired participation in two more blocks — 5A and 5B.

Angola: Angola is regarded as one of the oil industry’shotspots. It has reserves of over seven billion barrels, reputedto be larger than those of Kuwait. Further, it apparently is oneof the most successful non- OPEC countries in the world ofoil exploration: Its reserves increased four-fold in the 1990salone. More than 40 percent of the oil is exported to the U.S.market and production is projected to increase to 2 barrels perday by 2008. Chevron Texaco, Angola’s largest oil producer,is currently pumping more than 500,000 barrels per day andTotal, Exxon Mobil and BP are also heavily invested. Sonangol,the national oil company, regulates the oil industry and is alsoinvolved in product distribution, industry support services,banks, businesses, the Luanda refinery and a host of non-com-mercial activities.

India has been trying to acquire equity in some Angolan oilfields. In April 2004, OVL announced that it had reached anagreement with the Royal Dutch/Shell group to buy 50 per-cent stake in an offshore oil field in Angola for $ 600 million.OVL was buying out Shell’s entire stake in Block 18, a deep-water exploration block along with the Greater Plutonio devel-opment. This deal was important because it is a discoveredfield. We will not be wasting time and money in exploration.The 50 percent stake in the block implies an annual yield offive million tonnes of oil right away. However, the comple-tion of the transaction was subject to approvals by the gov-ernment of Angola and pre-emption rights of BP Plc andSonangol SA. But, the deal did not materialise. Sonangol exer-cised its first right of refusal with Shell, pre-empting its bid tosell its 50 percent of the offshore Block 18 to OVL. The Indiangovernment tried to persuade the Angolans, but to no avail.

Why did the Angolans change their mind? It seems mainlydue to Chinese pressure. China has been actively lobbying foracquiring the stake in this particular oilfield. Suspicions are thatSonangol tilted towards China because of a $2 billion aid pack-

age. India had also offered an economic package earlier, thatincluded economic assistance of $200 million spread over twoyears, manpower training and a railway rehabilitation project.But obviously it was outweighed by the more attractiveChinese offer. Hopefully, there will be chances of India invest-ing in another block in the country. India has gone ahead withits economic assistance programme, particularly the $40 mil-lion railway rehabilitation project.

Ivory Coast: Ivory Coast is a small but significant oil pro-ducer in West Africa. OVL has reached an agreement withVanco Energy Company to acquire 30 percent participatinginterest in an offshore exploratory block. This is the first acqui-sition by OVL in the West African region. The block is spreadover an area of 4,156 sq. km in San Pedro Basin. The hydro-carbon resource potential in the block is estimated to be inexcess of one billion barrels. OVL has negotiated the acquisi-tion of 40 percent stake in Block C1-112. It offered 10 percentparticipating interest in OIL, retaining 30 percent with it.

Ghana: In October 2004, OVL entered into an agreementwith Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) tostudy prospects of oil exploration in the West African nation.The two companies have entered into an MOU. The agree-ment has mutual benefits. While India will gain a foothold inoil exploration in the country, Ghana hopes to learn fromOVL’s significant competence and know-how in explorationand production activities. The cooperation could be extendedto training of GNPC staff in India.

Charting a New Course

The foundations of India’s policy towards Africa were laidduring the premiership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Theywere to a large extent driven by the country’s search for aninternational role. One was the rhetorical role embodied inIndia’s determination to act as a voice of the downtrodden andthe subjugated. India took a number of initiatives and repre-sentations against colonialism and racism. It was also driven bythe realisation that India’s freedom struggle was part of the larg-er struggle against colonialism in Africa and Asia. Anothercomponent was the emulative role: India was one of the threeleading nations that conceived and designed the nonalignedpolicy framework. India’s nonaligned foreign policy frame-work was quite attractive to most African countries. In thepost-Nehru era, few other components were added. Theywere development and peace. On the development front, Indiahas identified with the development concerns of the Africancountries and worked for strengthening South-South link-ages through transfer of intermediate technologies and pro-viding training to manpower in different areas, from agricul-ture to defence. Finally, India has always striven for peace inAfrica. Our commitment to this agenda is reflected in oursubstantial contribution to the U.N. peace keeping and mon-itoring operations in Africa.

In the post-cold war era, with the decolonisation of Namibiaand the end of apartheid rule in South Africa, one of the impor-tant components of our foreign policy towards Africa –– thatof solidarity and support against decolonisation and institu-



tionalised racialism –– does not exist any more. The shared ide-ologies of nonalignment, and disarmament are no longer therallying points of interaction. In such a scenario, India’s searchfor energy security has added a new dimension to its relation-ship with the Africa. So far our ties with the Africans have beenbased on moral and idealistic issues. They have also been driv-en by the desire of carving out a leadership role for India in thedeveloping world to some extent. Energy issues have broughtAfrica into India’s strategic map. India’s ties to Africa are for thefirst time being determined by its national interest. After all, ful-filling our energy needs is a matter of national security concern.As discussed earlier, our energy requirements are growing at afaster pace than the economy. Access to abundant energysources is essential for maintaining the current rate of eco-nomic growth. Realising the importance of Africa, the Indiangovernment has launched a number of initiatives.

Indian Initiatives

Team 9 Initiative: The most sig-nificant of these is the Team 9Initiative. West Africa has remained arelatively neglected area in India’s for-eign policy, perhaps due to fewer peo-ple of Indian origin to eastern andsouthern Africa, or due the languagebarrier. Therefore, the Techno-Economic Approach for Africa-IndiaMovement or Team 9, is a welcomemove. It envisages special cooperationamong the eight West AfricanCountries, viz., Burkina Faso, Chad,Cote D’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea,Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal,and India. The first ministerial meet-ing of Team 9 countries in NewDelhi in March 2004 helped in clari-fying issues of common concern andthe logistics of cooperation. While India and the West Africancountries share similar developmental challenges, the particu-lar developmental needs of the region were not known. Apartfrom Senegal and Ghana, with whom we have a long historyof political and economic cooperation, the rest are unfamiliar.The meeting ended with an agreement to identify and imple-ment priority projects and corporate schemes. India has extend-ed credit facilities of $500 million for these projects.

Focus Africa: The Focus Africa programme was launchedas a part of the EXIM policy 2002-2003. The main object wasto enhance the trade with Africa. It seeks to enhance bilateralinteractions between the two regions by identifying the areasof trade and investment. The first phase of Focus Africa con-centrated on seven countries, viz., Nigeria, South Africa,Kenya, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Ghana. These coun-tries constituted 69 percent of India-Africa trade during theyear 2000-2001. It has put aside an amount of Rs. 20 millionfor trade promotion-related activity. The point to note is thatin the first year of the Focus Africa the exports to SSA as a per-

centage of total Indian exports fell from being 4.93 percent in2000-2001 to 4.69 percent. However the imports to SSA as apercentage of total Indian imports rose from 4.11 percent to4.71 percent. Further, imports from SSA showed second-highest growth rate(36.3) as compared to other geographicalregions of the world. In April 2003, this programme wasextended to several other countries, i.e., Angola, Botswana,Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mozambique, Senegal, Seychelles,Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan,Morocco and Algeria. Firms exporting to these markets weregiven “export house” status on exports of Rs. 50 million.7

Supporting NEPAD: The Indian government has givencomplete support to the New Economic Partnership forAfrican Development (NEPAD) initiative launched by theAfrican countries. It is unique, for it is an initiative of theAfrican governments themselves and has not been imposedupon them by outside powers. This plan calls for investmentsin Africa with the promise that African governments woulddeliver good governance in return. It has extended the credit

lines of around $200 million in sup-port of the NEPAD projects.

Challenges Ahead

India’s energy security concernsare pushing them closer to theAfricans. However, there are numberof challenges that India faces.

Instability and Conflict: Manyof the countries with which India isdealing are known for severe viola-tions of human rights, sponsorshipof terrorist activities, debilitating con-flicts and general misuse of oil rev-enues. In the case of Sudan, internal-ly, the country has gone through adevastating conflict through the last35 years. This conflict has generated

some four million displaced people during the course of thewar between the central government located in the north andthe southern rebels. According to an estimate, over two mil-lion Sudanese people may have died because of fighting andrelated starvation and disease.8 While the end of this long-drawn conflict is in sight, a new conflict in Dafur in the lastcouple of years has displaced around 1.6 million and has leftaround 70,000 dead.9 It appears that discovery of oil in south-ern Sudan has greatly helped the government in the northboth politically and militarily to appropriate and control theregion for expanded production of oil. At the same time, it hasmarginalised the area’s traditional inhabitants.10

Nigeria’s political economy has earned around $340 billionover the past 40 years. The country’s dependence on oil rev-enues is immense. It accounts for 90-95 percent of export rev-enues, over 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings and 80 per-cent of government revenue.11 Yet, instead of turning Nigeriainto the most prosperous state in Africa these natural resourceshave enriched only a minority while a vast majority has become

As India enters Africa in searchof equity oil, it is increasinglyfacing the Chinese challenge.China’s voracious demand for

energy to feed its boomingeconomy has led it to seek

oil supplies from African countries including Sudan and

Nigeria. In the battle for control of equity oil in Africa,

the Chinese have already outbid India twice — in Sudan

and Angola.

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February-April 2007

1. Shebonti Ray Dadwal, ‘Rethinking Energy Security inIndia’ (New Delhi: Knowledge World, 2002) p.110-112. Sudha Mahalingam, ‘Energy and Security in a ChangingWorld’ Strategic Analysis vol.28, no.2 April- June 20043. Government of India, 2000, Report of the Group onIndia Hydrocarbon Vision - 20254. ‘Sudan estimation of crude oil’, Sudan Tribune, August 6,20045. ‘India clears ONGC contract in Sudan’;Webindia123.com June 24, 2004 @ http:// www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=41494&cat=Business6. Anup Jayaram, ‘Face- Off’; Business World, August 16,2004.7. For detail see Focus Africa at http://commin.nic.in/doc/focus_africa.htm8. J. Prendergast and others, ‘God, Oil and Country:Changing the Logic of War in Sudan’, International CrisisGroup, London, 2002, p.299. These are U.N. figures. See Joyce Mulamaya, ‘Politics––Sudan a final peace accord within grasp’ @ http//allafrica.

com/stories/ 200501010026.html, accessed on January 1,200510. Paul Goldsmith, Lydia A. Abura and Jason Switzer, ‘Oiland Water in Sudan’ in Jeremy Lind and Kathryn Sturman,Eds. ‘Scarcity and Surfeit: The Ecology of Africa’sConflicts’; Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2002 pp.220-2911. U.S. Government, Department of Energy, EnergyInformation Administration, Country Analyses briefs:Nigeria August 2004@ http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/nigeria.html accessed on March 29, 2005 see also @http://www.nigerianoil-gas.com/industryprofile/index.htmaccessed on March 29, 200512. Jayaram, n.613. Kevin J. Kelly, ‘U.S. moves to protect interest in Africa’;The East African (Nairobi) September 16, 2002 @ http://www.allafrica.com accessed on September 18, 200214. Michael T. Klare and Daniel Volman, ‘Africa’s Oil andAmerican National Security’; Current History; May 2004p.226

Notes

increasingly impoverished. Successive governments have mis-managed the monies earned through the oil. The degree ofmismanagement is so high that Nigeria has become virtuallysynonymous with corruption. Along with this is the instabili-ty of the government. And the governments have most oftenbeen authoritarian and repressive. This has given rise to mili-tancy, most prominently in the oil rich Niger delta. Thus Indiahas to tread carefully on enhancement of energy ties with coun-tries like Sudan and Nigeria. Rising vulnerabilities, especiallyin the context of the security of India’s investments and stabil-ity of the supplies in future, need to be factored in.

Chinese Challenge: As India enters Africa in search ofequity oil, it is increasingly facing the Chinese challenge.China’s voracious demand for energy to feed its boomingeconomy has led it to seek oil supplies from African countriesincluding Sudan, Chad, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Gabon andEquatorial Guinea.

In the battle for control of equity oil in Africa, the Chinesehave already outbid India twice — in Sudan and Angola. Chinahas been hunting for equity oil for a longer period than us. Aquick look at the numbers will show how far we are laggingbehind. Till date, OVL has invested $4.5 billion globally and$1 billion in Sudan. The Chinese have invested $15 billion inSudan alone. Their total investment in equity oil projectsaround the world today tops $50 billion.12

With an eye on Africa’s oil potential, China is resorting toaggressive diplomacy in the continent. The visit by theChinese foreign minister to the continent is now an annualfeature. In January 2007 the Chinese President Hu Jin Taolaunched a 12-day tour of Africa covering eight countries thatincluded Cameroon, Namibia, Mozambique, the Seychelles,Sudan, South Africa, Zambia and Liberia. This is Hu’s secondtrip to Africa in less than a year. In April 2006 he visitedMorocco, Nigeria and Kenya. The Chinese had declared 2006

as the “Year of Africa” and the year ended with first everChina- Africa summit in November 2006.

U.S. Interest: In the post-cold war era Africa did not existon the U.S. strategic map. Policymakers at Washington placedAfrica low on the priority list. This outlook changed with thecoming of the Republican administration in 2001. In fact,never before have so many African Heads of State visited theWhite House as during President George Bush’s first term inoffice. The reason for this crucial policy change is the grow-ing American interest in African oil. “African oil is of strate-gic national interest to us,” declared Assistant Secretary ofState Walter Kasteiner during a visit to Nigeria in July 2002.Why is it so? Over the years, the U.S. has started relying onAfrican oil. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for AfricanAffairs had noted in April 2002 that, “15 percent of U.S.’s oilsupply comes from Sub-Saharan Africa”.13 This policy changewas influenced by Vice President Richard Cheney’s report onthe National Energy Policy.14 The Cheney report suggested theadministration diversify its oil supplies, primarily to reducedependence on any single area –– namely, the Persian Gulf.

Hence, India is not alone in wooing the Africans –– otherslike the Chinese and the Americans have renewed their inter-est in Africa. India’s involvement in Africa’s energy sector hasreinvigorated its relations with this continent. Nevertheless,Indian involvement in Africa is minuscule in comparison withthe American, European and Chinese involvement. There isno doubt that Africans are eager to take the relationship withIndia to a higher level. They recognise India’s status as anemerging power and are keen to emulate the Indian patternof development and style of governance. Their interest is vis-ible in the number of visits made by African Heads of States,ministerial, and business delegations to India in recent years.This calls for a more proactive role by India in developmentand conflict-resolution in Africa.


N E I G H B O U R S

The Horn of Africa has witnessed tur-moil during the past decade. Endlessconflicts –– both inter-regional andintra-regional –– have been the hall-mark of the countries situated in thisimportant region. Nevertheless,when viewed in terms of the muchtalked about “globalisation” trying toencompass the whole world, it would

not be an exaggeration to state that the Horn of Africa has notinvited much attention nor been given the much needed impe-tus to harness the “benefits” of globalisation. This is primari-ly due to the fact that countries in the Horn have been lockedin constant struggles –– both internally and externally driven–– making their prospects for development bleak. This articleunravels the situation by taking the case of Eritro-Ethiopianrelations since Eritrea’s de-facto independence in 1991. “AnyEthiopian of this or future generations will be able to forgetthe disadvantages that our country suffered in the days that wedidn’t have access to the sea. It has been for a long time thedesire of Ethiopia to be returned their ports to the native moth-er...situated in the renowned strait of Bab al-Mandeb, throughwhich more ships pass than in any other strait of the globe...Ethiopia will be a sentry to help and to attend the great num-ber of ships that caters to the world trade.”1This statement byHaile Selassie makes one ponder over the current claim onAssab by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary DemocraticFront (EPRDF) government in Ethiopia and the present stale-mate over the Badme issue, which has lately gained promi-nence in their bilateral relationship in spite of it having littlegeographical or strategic value.

The Frontiers

The frontier that Eritrea shares with Ethiopia is 1,000 kmslong and it was negotiated by means of diverse treaties signedbetween Italy and Ethiopia between the years 1890 and 1908.Of these the most important is the treaty of May 15, 1902,signed in Addis Ababa. Its first article says: “The frontier treatyamong Ethiopia and Eritrea previously certain for the lineTomat-Todluc will be mutually modified in the following

way: Beginning the union of the Khor Um Hagar with theSetit, the new frontier follows this river until the union withthe Maieteb, following this river in such a way that the mountAla Tacura is on the side of Eritrea until finding the Mareb andits fork with Mai Ambessa.”2

These frontiers were ratified in the constitution given toEritrea on September 11, 1952, at the time of its federation withEthiopia. Article 1 of this constitution says:

The territory of Eritrea, including the islands, is that of theItalian former colony of Eritrea.3

The long frontier that both of them share and the growingamalgamation due to the annexation of Eritrea with Ethiopiafor almost 50 years is a complex and conflicting issue for twoimportant reasons: Firstly, the population living in theprovince of Tigray on the Ethiopian side has a lot to share withthe population of Tigrinya on the Eritrean side in terms of lan-guage, culture, religion and common history and secondly,Eritrean independence has left Ethiopia without access to thesea making Ethiopia look for the possibility of acquiring theport of Assab.4

What is noteworthy is that the frontier is an open one thatseparates densely populated areas in both countries. TheEritrean highland extends into the territory of Ethiopia untilit reaches Addis Ababa. In times of peace, it can be a frontierthat could amalgamate the two populations and a strong eco-nomic/commercial exchange can be developed as it did in theinitial years of Eritrea’s independence. But, in a state of war, itis a frontier that presents strong vulnerabilities for Eritrea andis extremely expensive to defend militarily. And obviously,aspirations to have access to sea according to the geo-politicallaw by Ethiopia would be a factor determining their bilateralrelationship. Hence, outlet to the sea would be an importantaspect of Ethiopia’s foreign policy.

Period of Initial Cordiality

Eritrean independence was achieved by efforts of theEritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) and the TPLF who,in union with other political forces, overthrew the leftist dic-tatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam. In fact, in both Eritreaand in Ethiopia, there were changes in government.

M. Venkataraman analyses the transformation of Eritrea-Ethiopia tiesfrom one of harmony and mutual gains to hostility and conflict, and the

prospects of resolving the border row between the two neighbours

Ethiopia-EEritrea TTies:Past, PPresent, FUTURE

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Both the guerrillaorganisations –– EPRDFand the EPLF, now PFDJ–– were transformed intotransitional governmentswhose leaders presidedover the two countries’post-war political and eco-nomic reconstruction. Itwas this friendly relationsbetween the leaders of thetwo organisations thatfacilitated the emergenceof an interdependent rela-tionship between both thecountries during the ini-tial years.

With the achievementof de-facto independencein 1991, from the Dergueregime of Mengistu HaileMariam, the ProvisionalGovernment of Eritrea(PGE) went in for recon-struction of the state appa-ratus and looked for inter-national recognition of its indepen-dence. On April 21 and 23, 1993, areferendum5 was conducted underthe auspices of the United Nationsalong with monitors from the OAU,the Arab League and Non-Alignment Movement to decide thelegitimacy of independence. The ref-erendum included not only theEritreans living on the territory butalso the Eritrean Diaspora in Sudan,the Middle East, Europe and the U.S.The referendum resulted in 99.8 percent votes in favour of independence.Recognition was granted almostimmediately by the U.S., Sudan,Ethiopia and Italy. A little later,Eritrea was incorporated into the U.N. as the 182nd memberand 52nd member of OAU.

With the referendum, 30 years of war ended and left the des-olated country with enormous reconstruction tasks. Accordingto World Bank estimates, the per capita income at the time ofindependence was between $70-150 per year.

Earlier, the relationship between Eritrea and Ethiopia waslimited to economic, political and cultural areas. In September1993, soon after a referendum was conducted, the possibilityof an agreement in the area of military security was studied andwas reached in April 1994.6

A Joint Declaration was issued in the following month,which read as follows: “Ethiopia and Eritrea express theirdetermination in enlarging the economic cooperation, to pro-

mote free trade, to co-ordinate their monetarypolicies, and to work toharmonise their rela-tionships in the fields ofthe agriculture, trans-port and naturalresources and toadvance graduallytoward a combined eco-nomic unit.”7

The relationshipbetween both the coun-tries during these yearscan be termed as one offriendship and cordiali-ty, which was unparal-leled.

Leaders of the twocountries consultedeach other regularly tomake decisions.Frequent bilateral visitsat the top level were alsomade. The very firstvisit made to Asmara

was by the Ethiopian Prime MinisterMeles Zenawi.

This was reciprocated with a visitby Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki.Besides, ministers of both govern-ments undertook many visits andregular consultations on manyaspects of mutual interest.

When the conflict over ownershipof the Hanish-Zuquar archipelagoexploded between Yemen andEritrea, the first country to offermediation in order to resolve theproblem peacefully was theEthiopian prime minister.8

In February 1997, the EthiopianPresident Negasso Guidada declared:

“The existing relationship between Eritrea and Ethiopia is ofgreat importance for the promotion of peace and economicdevelopment in the region (of the Horn of Africa) and ofAfrica in its entirety.”9

The Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation that was signedin July 1993 included the following provisions: ! Continuation of the free movement of goods, capital andpeople that existed before Eritrea attained independence. ! Continuous free access of Ethiopia to the Eritrean ports. ! Cooperation in the political area and use of the Ethiopiancurrency Birr in both countries, until Eritrea issues its owncurrency. ! Harmonisation of political areas. ! Cooperation and consultations in foreign policy.10

On April 21 and 23, 1993, a referendum was conducted

under the auspices of the U.N.along with monitors from theOAU, the Arab League and

Non-Alignment Movement todecide the legitimacy of independence. With the

referendum, 30 years of warended and left the country withenormous reconstruction tasks.


N E I G H B O U R S

Immediate Background to the Conflict

Though the agreement was implemented with lots of dif-ficulties, it also resulted in conflict. The immediate cause ofthe conflict has been documented by many and widely pub-lished. The real causes of the conflict are varied since there arediverse views that exist in this respect which see them as botheconomic and political. According to Ruth Iyob, the roots ofthe conflict can be traced to the period of partnership that theEPLF and TPLF had developed since 1975 onwards and thedynamics of the contradictory roles Eritrea and Ethiopia cameto play with each other: “the one Eritrea as a diasporic state,the other, Ethiopia that of regional hegemon”.11 She tries toargue that developing an identity unique to the struggle thatEritreans fought for their political, social, and economic rightwas not compatible with the hegemonic role played byEthiopia and hence the cordiality of the initial years began tofade soon. In other words, inconsistency over the way both ofthem emerged in the 1990s was the central problem, whichled to hostilities. The border problem was just an excuse to starta war. Lack of institutionalisation of relations through legalmeans whilst depending on mutual trust and understandingcould not work and did not work. Whatever may be the rea-sons, difficulties primarily stemmed from the economic andfinancial point of view. Signs of incompatibility started soondue to certain provisions in the agreements relating to tradeand investment.12

Actually, one cannot blame Eritrea or Ethiopia for lack ofimplementation of the agreements since it is obvious that suchproblems arose due to different approaches to political and eco-nomic development that the two countries were pursuing.Overcoming such a situation would require strong politicalwill, which was probably lacking.

Economic reasons that contributed towards the conflict canbe traced to the issue of Eritrean currency –– the Nakfa –– inNovember 1997 that was similar to that of the Ethiopian Birr.The separate paths to economic development that each coun-try followed and Eritrea’s subsequent affirmation of econom-ic sovereignty by way of introducing its own currency addedfuel to fire. The protocol agreement that was signed onSeptember 1993 called for harmonisation of macro-econom-ic policies of the two countries. However, both sides failed toimplement the agreement. Not only did they fail to harmonisetheir exchange rate policies and interest rate strictures but also,as stated above, could not reconcile their economic policies.This was bound to take place considering the fact that Eritreadid not have its own currency and had to depend upon theEthiopian Birr. Even though Eritrea introduced its own cur-rency in view of the non-viability of the Ethiopian Birr, thenew currency brought about problems in trade between boththe countries. Eritrean exports to the Ethiopian marketamounted for 60 percent of the total trade. The initial agree-ment decreed that trade between both countries would bemade on the basis of Letter of Credit denominated in U.S. dol-lars.13 Eritrea, however, demanded payment of the port ser-vices in terms of U.S. dollars. This ensured that Ethiopia wasdependent upon the port facility of Djibouti.

A brief look into the statistical figures of Eritrea’s trade withEthiopia would give us an understanding of the extent of eco-nomic interaction during the said period. The following tableillustrates that.

From the above table, one can see an increase in Eritreanexports between 1993 and 1996 and a decline in 1997. As faras imports are concerned, it has been steadily increasing dur-ing the same period. Alemseged Tesfai points out that thefavorable balance of trade for Eritrea that is quite apparentbetween 1993 and 1996 is deceptive if one considers the modeof payment that was used. The products that Eritrea export-ed, according to Alemseged, have been mainly of industrialnature, in which chemicals and materials were paid for in hardcurrency reserves but sold to Ethiopia in Birr. He adds thatwith the use of free port facility and transport services, andnon-payment of Eritrean indirect tax and intermediate pay-ments by Ethiopian traders, Ethiopia clearly stood to gain.14

It would be quite apparent that after the start of the conflict,trade has declined even more to the detriment of Eritrea.

In political terms, besides the issue of nationality, the cen-tral point of conflict has been over border demarcation. Theprotocol agreement of 1993 provided for free movement ofpeople and establishment of residence in both Eritrea andEthiopia. It was agreed that visas would not be required fornationals of both countries to enter or leave Eritrea andEthiopia. Problems erupted soon on this account due to diver-gent citizenship policies. The issue of Ethiopians of Eritreanorigin opened another area of differences and dispute.15

Differences also surfaced over the possession of a village calledBadme. Like other towns of the frontier, Badme has the sameethnic composition.

The crisis developed due to Ethiopian control of towns

Year Imports Exports Balance

1993 63,968,197 123,579,747 59,611,5501994 90,796,808 181,491,011 90,694,2031995 146,820,200 259,700,000112,880,0001996 261,781,354 273,400,000 11,618,6461997 274,600,000 218,200,000 -56,400,000

Source: Eritrean Studies Review, vol.3, no.2, 1999, p.101

Eritrea's trade with Ethiopia (in Ethiopian Birr)

55


February-April 2007

along the Eritrean fron-tier. In July 1997, theEthiopian army wentinto the town of Badmeand dismantled the civiladministration –– an actwhich Eritreans protest-ed and consequently thesurrounding areas ofBadme was mined.16 Infact, starting from 1991,boundary-related prob-lems surfaced. Eritreansliving in border areaswere penalized for vio-lating Ethiopian law.Asmara ignored thisissue as a “product of theeccentric whims of provincial author-ities” and took this view as part of itsconfidence in its status as an ally of theFDRE in Addis Ababa.17 The extentof friendly relations can also be seenover the issue of TPLF’s occupationof Addi Murug, which is well withinEritrean territory. Asmara grantedpermission to the TPLF forces whenthey requested to pursue the rem-nants of AFAR inside Eritrean terri-tory and they subsequently occupiedit. Surprisingly, this was very mildlyprotested by Asmara in view of thecordial nature of their relationship. Inan informal letter addressed to theEthiopian prime minister, theEritrean leader said: “We know theboundaries (between us) by custom; we cannot say that thelines are precisely delineated….the demarcation of bordershas not been a priority….nevertheless the action taken by yourarmed forces in Addi Murug is truly saddening…I appeal toyou to take the necessary measures to prevent the unnecessaryescalation of friction due to the unjustifiable (military) mea-sure.”18

To the above letter, the Ethiopian prime minister respond-ed in a friendly manner. “I, too, have heard that the situationin the Bada area is not good. We did not think that there wouldbe reason for friction because the area that our comrades areoccupying was never disputed before…Maybe, it is time thatpreparations are made by both of us to demarcate and resolvethe border issue once and for all.”19

The Period of Conflict

On May 6, 1998, the Tigrayan police ordered an Eritreanpatrol unit in the Badme area to disarm. The Eritreans refused,arguing that they were on sovereign Eritrean soil. The heateddebate over it resulted in an exchange of gunfire in which four

Eritrean soldiers werekilled. Eritrea respond-ed to this incidentimmediately by sendingin mechanised units,which managed to dis-lodge the localEthiopian administra-tion. In May the sameyear, the Ethiopian par-liament declared a stateof war against Eritrea.

There were diversecauses of conflict. Theissuing of the newEritrean currency thatfinally gave a sense ofmore independence to

the country; the accumulated andunresolved commercial problemsthat aggravated even more after theissue of the new currency; the issueof nationality; and the publication ofofficial maps in Mekele (capital ofthe province of Tigray) whereBadme appeared inside the statefrontiers had a cumulative impactupon the erstwhile bonhomie andfriendly ties between the two gov-ernments.

What is important to note is thatfactors such as external forcesfuelling the conflict, serious ethnicproblems or religious differences andpersonal rivalries among the respec-tive political leaderships were not

responsible for the state of affairs that developed during thattime.

However, something that is necessary to underline as a pos-sible cause is that in the struggle for secession during the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the EPLF convinced the TPLF aboutthe need to take over power in Addis Ababa by overthrowingthe Mengistu regime and not seceding from Ethiopia. TheEPLF, in other words, did not want to support any secession-ist movement in Ethiopia since such an action could invite abacklash. As John Young puts it, the TPLF had a categoricalclaim, which was re-emphasized in 1986 that the right to inde-pendence proclaimed by Tigrayans and other Ethiopiannationalities also applied to the peoples of Eritrea. “If the futureof Eritrea is to be truly democratic, it will have to respect theright of nations and nationalities up to, and including seces-sion”.20 The TPLF went to say that ruling out the possibilityof such a step would be to contradict the EPLF’s own demo-cratic principles.21 Understandably, this position of the TPLFwas not conducive to the EPLF, which was very reluctant toaccept this in principle given the fact that Eritrea possessed atleast nine different ethnic communities while Tigray had an

On May 6, 1998, the Tigrayanpolice ordered an Eritrean patrol

unit in the Badme area to disarm. The Eritreans refused,

arguing that they were onsovereign Eritrean soil. The

heated debate over it resulted inan exchange of gunfire in whichfour Eritrean soldiers were killed.

Eritrea responded to this incident immediately by sending

in mechanised units.


N E I G H B O U R S

ethnically homogenous society. Besides the above, the issue of

resisting the Soviet Union alsocropped up between the two. Whilethe Soviet Union supported theDergue regime due to its ideologicalaffiliation, it also recognised theEritrean independence movementsimultaneously and provided materi-al support to it through the Cubansand other allies in the Middle East.22

For the EPLF, Soviet support wasessential, while the TPLF was fight-ing against the Dergue, which wassupported by the Soviet Union.Differences over this issue betweenthe EPLF and the TPLF becamequite acute. By 1985, the relationsbetween TPLF and EPLF were bro-ken.

These differences over strategy,policy and method were primarilyresponsible in the division of opinionbetween the TPLF and the EPLF.However, both overcame their dif-ferences soon since they were depen-dent on each other in fighting andoverthrowing the Mengistu regimefrom power. By 1988, reconciliationbetween the two organisations wasbased on the need and realisation tofight and overthrow the Mengisturegime. In fact, as Patrick Gilkes andMartin Plaut write, the origin of the war can be traced to thedifferences between the Eritrean leadership and Ethiopianleadership that emerged in the 1980s. According to them,“although both drew support from the same ethnic group,from similar peasant societies, and from Marxist ideology, theydiffered in their objectives that while the EPLF was deter-mined that Eritrea would be liberated from Ethiopian rule asa single, united state, despite its being composed of nine lin-guistic groups and two major religions –– Islam andChristianity –– the TPLF in contrast, fought for the rights ofthe Tigrayan people and its first manifesto called for an inde-pendent Tigrayan state”.23 As explained above, it was withreluctance that the TPLF was persuaded to fight for the over-throw of the Mengistu regime. Since the TPLF capturedpower at the centre, the secessionist tendency that powered itearlier has been lying dormant. A negative impact of this hasbeen that nationalism has been “reinforced” by the taking overof power in Addis Ababa, from where considerable resourceshave been channelled toward the development of the province.On the other hand, Eritrea, which enjoys a strong nationalismand is proud of its recently acquired independence after yearsof enormous sacrifices, is equally sensitive to any intention ofmodification of its frontiers.

The internal political structure of Ethiopia, therefore, bears

all the credit for the state of relationsthat exist with Eritrea. The govern-ment of Meles Zenawi, although acoalition of major ethnic groups inthe country, is dominated byTigrayans who represent just about 5per cent of the total population ofEthiopia. The government has beenfacing a deluge of problems from thearmed opposition of the Oromoswho constitute a majority of theEthiopian population and aredemanding more power and auton-omy from the government, andstrong pressures from the Amharaswho have for a long period monop-olized power. It should be mentionedhere that the Amharas, being animperial power with imperial ambi-tions, have not reconciled to the factthat Eritrea has been given indepen-dence. The strong and big power sta-tus of Ethiopia under the rule of theAmharas has been weakened due tothe granting of independence toEritrea, it is believed.24 On the sur-face, the ruling Ethiopian People’sRevolutionary Democratic Front(EPRDF) seems to incorporate allthe three major ethnic groups, viz,the Oromo People’s DemocraticOrganisation (OPDO) and theEthiopian Popular Democratic

Movement (EPDM) but actually it is not the case. The twopredominant parties, OPDO and EPDM do not actually rep-resent the Oromos or the Amharas but were creations of theTPLF. Till date, the Oromos continue to fight against theTPLF-dominated government as well as the All AmharaPeople’s Organisation of the Amharas and other minor polit-ical parties. The new constitution of Ethiopia formed towardsthe end of 1994 is aimed at avoiding the fragmentation ofEthiopia by decentralising into eleven federal states, each dom-inated by one ethnic group rather than a centralised system,which was followed until then. This type of political structureinevitably faced opposition from neighboring Eritrea, whichfollows a tightly connected centralised system with no role forethnic identities in politics.

Therefore, the internal political squabble over ethnic nation-alism, which the Ethiopian constitution allows25 and the strug-gle for control of power between the different ethnic groupshas accentuated the fragile political relationship with Eritrea.The EPRDF government has had to relent to pressures togrant self-determination, even secession, due to its realisationthat all the opposition groups were responsible in one way orother in overthrowing the Dergue regime from power and giv-ing no role to each ethnic group in government formationwould be meaningless and futile. In fact, the OLF support to

The EPLF and TPLF overcametheir differences over strategy,policy and method soon sincethey were dependent on each

other in overthrowing theMengistu regime from power.The origin of the war can be

traced to the differencesbetween the Eritrean leadershipand Ethiopian leadership that

emerged in the 1980s.

57


February-April 2007

the transitional government of Ethiopia hinged on the fact thatpolitical recognition and self-government for ethnic groupswould be granted.26 Meles Zenawi’s government, therefore,has been looked at with suspicion by the Amharas and isaccused of being too close and too soft with Eritrea by allow-ing it to re-export products acquired from Ethiopia at lowprices in Birr; by allowing it to re-export a great number ofimports to the Ethiopian market; and by allowing it to collectdischarge rates for refined petroleum in Assab and for the useof ports.

Mention should also be made of the Oromo factor in theirbilateral relations. During its war of liberation, the EPLF triedto enter into an alliance with the Oromo Liberation Front(OLF) to counter the TPLF. This was particularly the casewhen the relations between the TPLF and the EPLF startedsouring as mentioned above. In fact, close contacts were ini-tiated between the OLF and the EPLF as early as 1980 whensome Oromo fighters were admitted to the training center inthe Northern region called Sahel. They also signed coopera-tion agreements. Based on the EPLF-OLF accord of 1986/87,the OLF was allowed to recruit Oromos from among theprisoners of war.27

Interestingly, according to Medhane, the major aim was todeny the TPLF a hegemonic position in Ethiopian politics, toprepare a hostile political force in a bid to incapacitate its poten-tial to advance independent or hostile political principles withregard to Eritrea.28 And this strategy was used because theOromo was a crucial factor as a power base in Ethiopia. Thisrole of Oromos in Ethiopian politics, therefore, plays a cen-tral part in the Eritrea-Ethiopia bilateral relations even todayand hence cannot be neglected.

In other words, all these factors had a cumulative effectupon the relations and resulted in the war. To put it in prop-er perspective, the government in Ethiopia needed an exter-nal threat that allowed it to unify the fractured Ethiopian soci-ety around the political leadership.

For this, Eritrea provided a suitable reason so that MelesZenawi could demonstrate his commitment to different sec-tions of the society.

Developments During the War

The war had the following developments. When it startedin 1998, it led to mediatory efforts by Rwanda and the U.S.,which did not succeed. Eritrea rejected the peace plan sincethe plan called for unilateral Eritrean withdrawal from thedisputed territory of Badme and the restoration of Ethiopianadministration in the area.29 When the war resumed in 1999,the Russians were involved by way of selling airplanes and pro-viding pilots to both the countries. Sudan, which was isolat-ed due to its alliance with Iran, took the opportunity to mendfences with both Ethiopia and Eritrea by agreeing to eliminatethe bases which it had provided to the guerrilla fighters whowere fighting against the Ethiopian government and by nego-tiating the reestablishment of a diplomatic relationship withAsmara.30 The bilateral relationship between Eritrea andSudan was broken in mid-1990s due to the start of the inter-nal guerrilla war in South Sudan which was accused of deriv-ing support from the Eritrean government. In the secondround of conflict, Ethiopia occupied the town of Badme andtried in vain to occupy the port of Assab at an enormous mate-rial and human cost.

The war also had disastrous consequences for the people ofthe two countries. It was accompanied by the deportation ofalmost 100,000 Ethiopians of Eritrean origin in that country.The possessions of these people have been appropriated by theEthiopian government and the same was true the other way.

International efforts to solve the problem came up soonafter the first round of hostilities. Even though the U.S.-Rwanda peace plan failed, OAU, as a multi-purpose regionalorganisation, got involved and took the initiative of solving theproblem. In fact, the OAU initiative was in no way new as itwas modelled along the U.S.-Rwanda peace plan and wassupportive of the Ethiopian position. It ignored the fact thatthe border problem is historically rooted due to non-delimi-tation of the borders between the two countries and proceed-ed to conclude its opinion based on the events that took placeon the ground between May 6 and 12, 1998, calling for a uni-lateral withdrawal by Eritrea from Badme and its environs

Relations betweenEritrea and Sudanwere broken in the

mid-1990s due to thestart of a guerrilla warin South Sudan. In the

second round of conflict, Ethiopia occu-pied Badme and triedto occupy Assab portat a huge material and

human cost.


N E I G H B O U R S

and the restoration of Ethiopiancivilian administration in the areawith the assistance of a third partymilitary observer group. Due to thecontroversy that trailed the wordingof the OAU proposal, particularlythe phrase “Badme and its environs”,which was understood by both thecountries differently, a stalemate per-sisted over its clarification.

The second round of war com-menced in the middle of 1999 inwhich Ethiopia regained Badme andits environs. Although theEthiopians were gaining in the bat-tlefront this time, they did not con-tinue it or rather could not continueit. The fighting stopped in July 1999partly due to the weather. It was therainy season and more importantlysufficient economic support for aprolonged war was lacking not onlyfor Eritrea but also for Ethiopia.Taking advantage of the temporaryhalt of fighting, the OAU endorseda new document and presented it toboth sides on July 12. Surprisingly,both Eritrea and Ethiopia initiallyaccepted the OAU sponsored agree-ment but later Ethiopia indirectlystated its rejection of the TechnicalArrangements, which aimed atimplementing the framework agree-ment and modalities on December14 through its deputy minister who maintained that it is abso-lutely difficult for Ethiopia to accept the technical arrange-ments.32 Following this development, the third round of hos-tilities took place in May 2000 with enormous loss on bothsides. The Ethiopian armed forces penetrated the western partof Eritrea, inflicting enormous losses and destruction on thepopulations of Barentu and Tesseney, sparking a massive dis-placement of people.

The Algiers Agreement and Aftermath

In October 2000, both the governments entered into nego-tiations in the Algerian capital of Algiers in the presence of rep-resentatives from the United States, Algeria, the EuropeanUnion, the United Nations and the OAU.32 At the same timethe United Nations Security Council authorised the forma-tion of a United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea with4,200 blue helmets for monitoring the cease-fire between thetwo countries.33

On December 12, 2000, the comprehensive agreement ofpeace in Algiers was signed. Among other things, the agree-ment provided for: 1) de-militarisation of the frontier andcreation of a Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) 20 km inside

the Eritrean frontier 2) respecting thesanctity of the colonial frontiers and3) international arbitration for thedelimitation of the frontier.

In accordance with the agreement,a U.N. peace-keeping force wasdeployed in the region and a specialcommission known as the Eritrean-Ethiopian Boundary Commission(EEBC) was set up by theInternational Court of Justice tostudy the case. The EEBC gave itsverdict after hearing from both theparties on April 13, 2002. The verdictby the commission was a failure inthe sense that Ethiopia did not acceptthe verdict in full although theAlgiers agreement had specificallymentioned the final and bindingnature of the agreement, which boththe parties had signed. In fact, theBoundary Commission had adetailed hearing on the matter takinginto consideration the arguments putforward by the parties as well as bythe colonial treaties that had beensigned during the Italian colonialrule.

Based on this, some areas of theterritory were given to Ethiopia whilesome were awarded to Eritrea,notably the disputed and much con-tested territory village of Badme.34

The award of the territory of Badmeto Eritrea has resulted in disagreements on the part of Ethiopiasince Eritrea has been vindicated for the start of the war whileEthiopia feels accused of the same.35 In other words, the deci-sion, by extension, made the government of Ethiopia appearguilty for beginning the war and hence it has appealed for arevision of the award, which the court has rejected as inad-missible.36 Ethiopia, facing intense domestic pressure, statedits rejection of the Boundary Commission openly. It was men-tioned already that some of the governing parties within theruling EPRDF were originally against any signing of theAccord and now that the much contested territory of Badmehas been awarded to Eritrea, it has given them even moreleverage to press for changes in the decision of theCommission. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told theEthiopian Parliament that “the independent Eritrea-EthiopiaBoundary Commission (EEBC) which ruled on the borderdispute as ‘null and void’ and went on to add that the imple-mentation of the contested ruling would only escalate alreadyheightened tensions.”37 On its part, Eritrea ruled out anychanges in the border ruling and has since then been protest-ing at various levels –– the United Nations, EU, the AU andthe U.S. –– regarding Ethiopia’s rejection of the EEBC andthe violation of the rule of law.

The second round of war commenced in the middle of

1999 in which Ethiopia regainedBadme and its environs.

Although the Ethiopians weregaining in the battlefront thistime, they did not continue it.The fighting stopped in July

1999 partly due to the weather. Itwas the rainy season and a

prolonged war called for sufficient economic support.

59


February-April 2007

Current Events andProspects

It can be observed that asof today the government ofEthiopia has openly repu-diated the decision of thecourt, thereby blocking thedemarcation of the fron-tier. Since then, both sideshave been engaged inpolemical exercises con-testing each other’s argu-ments and claims. Eritreahas accused the Ethiopiansof supporting the opposi-tion groups in its territorywhile Ethiopia accuses Eritrea ofhelping the opposition Oromosagainst the government of AddisAbaba. Even if these accusations andcounter accusations have some truth,the point to note is that these couldlead to a dangerous point becauseany victory by these governmentscould lead to disintegration of theirrespective countries.38

The international communitydoes not seem to be too concernedabout this. While the U.N. has beentaking some measures such asappointing a U.N. representativeand calling each of the parties toimplement the agreement it has notworked well. Both the countries have been putting forwardtheir respective arguments against any such implementationor negotiation that has deadlocked the entire process.

Answering a question on the situation of stalemate and whatcould be the way forward, Prime Minister Meles Zenawireplied: “The first thing that needs to be recognised is that thepeace process is about the demarcation of the boundary, butit is not solely about the demarcation of the boundary. TheAlgiers Agreement is much wider in terms of scope. And soin my view the demarcation process has encountered somedifficulties and to that extent the peace process has encoun-tered difficulties. As to the way forward, the only way is to talkand find ways and means of peacefully resolving the problemsthat have cropped up”.39

A recent initiative made by the Ethiopian side “seems” tobreak the stalemate. Zenawi made a statement to the EthiopianParliament on November 25, 2004, in which he made an elab-orate presentation in the presence of the international com-munity about the Eritro-Ethiopian conflict. He made a five-point peace plan which states: 1) to resolve the dispute betweenEthiopia and Eritrea only and only through peaceful means 2)to resolve the root causes of the conflict through dialoguewith the view to normalising relations between the two coun-

tries 3) to accept, in prin-ciple, the Ethiopia-EritreaBoundary Commission’sdecision 4) to agree to payits dues to the Ethiopia-Eritrea BoundaryCommission and toappoint field liaison offi-cers and 5) to start dia-logue immediately with aview to implementing theEthio-Eritrean BoundaryCommission’s decision ina manner consistent withthe promotion of sustain-able peace and brotherlyties between the two peo-

ples.40

This new initiative is indeed aremarkable one in the sense that aftermore than two years of dilly-dallying,Ethiopia has in principle accepted thedecision of the Border Commission,which in effect means that the muchdisputed territory of Badme overwhich three rounds of conflict tookplace would belong to Eritrea, a posi-tion which was denied some timeago.41 Although it is a step in the rightdirection, one has to wait and see towhat extent this would be imple-mented. For example, as soon as theannouncement was made, localopposition to the initiative started

emerging from the Coalition for Unity and Democracy(CUD). From the other side of the border also discouragingstatements have been made. The Eritrean government, in apress statement issued by its Ministry of Information, saidthat the Ethiopian announcement was aimed “at promotingpublic relations exercises and buying more time”.42 As to thespeculation that the stalemate might lead to renewed warbetween the two, one can safely answer in the negative. At leastthat seems to be the official position of both the countries. Forexample, the widely-circulated draft document, entitled‘Ethiopia’s Policy and Strategy on Foreign Affairs and NationalSecurity’, dismisses any renewed hostilities between the two“unless provoked by its neighbour”.43 Of course it should bementioned here that although war is officially out of questionand no bullets would be fired across, this resolve has beenmade only in word and not in deed. There have been sporadicincidents of cross-firing as well as movement of troops wellwithin the de-militarised 25-km TSZ that has been createdunder the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed betweenthe two parties in June 2000 which is a violation of the peaceagreement.44 These happened even before Zenawi stated thatEthiopia had openly declared time and again that it will notfire the first bullet. Official statements do not correlate with

Responding to Ethiopian PrimeMinister Meles Zenawi’s peaceplan, the Eritrean government

issued a press statement sayingthat the Ethiopian

announcement was aimed “atpromoting public relations exercises and buying more

time”. However, it needs to bementioned that the resolve toend the war had been madeonly in word and not in deed.


N E I G H B O U R S

1. Selected speeches of his Majesty Haile Selassie First, 1918to 1967 (Addis Ababa: The Imperial Ethiopian Ministry ofInformation, 1967), pp. 555-562. Ghebre Ab-Habtu, Ethiopia and Eritrea: A DocumentaryStudy, (Trenton: The Red Sea Press, 1993), p. 153. Ibid, p. 2024. According to Roy Pateman with the Turkish occupation ofMassawa in 1517 Ethiopia was left without an outlet to the seafor 3 centuries. Meanwhile Eritrea had been enjoying constantties with the Middle-east due to which Eritrea was in a posi-tion to develop both politically and economically. See RoyPateman, Eritrea: Even the Stones are Burning,(Lawrenceville, N.J: The Red Sea Press, 1991), p. 305. For a detailed understanding on the need for the referen-dum and what transpired before and after along with exam-ples from other sub-Saharan African countries, see, AndreasEshete, “Why Ethio-Eritrean Relations Matter: A Plea forFuture Political Affiliation”, in Amare Tekle, ed., Eritrea andEthiopia: From Conflict to Cooperation, New Jersey, RedSea Press, 1994, pp. 24-396. Eritrea Profile, April 23 1994, p.17. Eritrea Profile, May 14 1994, p. 18. Eritrea Profile, 23 December 1995, p. 19. Quoted in Eritrea Profile, 15 February 1997, p.1

10. Kidane Mengisteab, “Some latent facts in the Ethio-Eritrean Conflict”, Eritrean Studies Review, vol.3, no.2, 1999,p. 9611. Ruth Iyob, “The Ethiopian - Eritrean Conflict: diasporicvs. hegemonic states in the Horn of Africa, 1991-2000”, TheJournal of Modern African Studies, vol. 38, no. 4, p. 66012. See for more details on this, Alemseged Tesfai, The Causeof the Eritrean-Ethiopian Border Conflict, (Asmara, Red SeaPress, 1998), pp.6-8; and Tekeste Negash and Kjetil Tronvol,Brothers at War: Making Sense of the Eritrean - EthiopianWar, (Oxford, Ohio University Press, 2000)13. Kidane Mengisteab, Eritrean Studies Review, p. 9614. See Alemseged Tesfai, The Cause of the Eritrean -Ethiopian Border Conflict, (Asmara, Red Sea Press, 1998), p.815. See for more details on this, Alemseged Tesfai, p. 4, andGaim Kibreab, “Mass Expulsion of Eritreans and Ethiopiansof Eritrean origin form Ethiopia and Human RightsViolations” Eritrean Studies Review, Asmara, vol. 3, no. 199916. Dan Connell, “Against more odds: The second siege ofEritrea”, Eritrean Studies Review, vol.3, no. 2, 1999, p. 19617. See Ruth Iyob, p.66518. Quoted in Ibid.19. Ibid.20. See John Young, p.9

References

practical reality. One can indeed argue that such incidents takeplace between countries, which are at enmity with each other.Nevertheless, in spite of such incidents, Ethiopia maintainsthat the only option to end the stalemate is dialogue. “If theEritrean side is not willing for talks then either the stalematewould continue or war would erupt which would be initiat-ed by the Eritrean side”.45

Conclusions

The interdependence, as defined by Robert Keohane, hasnot worked well in the case of these two countries. The loss-es for both countries have been enormous. Poverty and mis-ery created by droughts and famines threatens both thenations. The persistence of hostility is a grim sign that does notbode well for the future of both countries.

The above analysis gives us a clear picture of the state of rela-tions that exist between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Their relationshave moved from one of initial camaraderie and bonhomie tohostility without much prospect for normalisation until now.Unless complete normalisation is achieved, developmentalprospects for these two countries will continue to be bleak.Peace is necessary to create conditions conducive for devel-opment. The interlocked nature of their economies exempli-fies this even more. Also, the interlocked nature of their inter-nal politics vis-à-vis the other also is a determining factor. Forexample, during and after the 1998-2000 wars, both Eritrea andEthiopia have been engaged in supporting each other’s oppo-sition movements. This kind of “political culture” is related

to the very nature of their politics, which seems to be one ofdestabilising one another from power by assisting internal andexternal opposition groups. While Ethiopia openly courts theexiled Eritrean opposition groups such as EPLF-RC againstEritrea, the latter supports the OLF and other such oppositiongroups in Ethiopia. Therefore, the inter-state politics of Eritreaand Ethiopia looks more pervasive and persuasive than anything in the region. From an economic point of view, what-ever little internal resources they have can best be utilised onlywhen peace is achieved. While globalisation is envelopingother parts of the world and nations are getting enmeshed inits web –– for better or for worse –– this region has been con-vulsed by war and internal conflicts. For these two countriesto concentrate on the path towards development and to acceptthe trends that are taking place elsewhere, they need to firstdissolve their bilateral disputes amicably. Tensions continuebetween the two countries without any sight of peace andeven if peace is achieved the wounds opened by the war couldtake decades to heal. In a world of interdependence and themuch-talked about globalisation, political realism, withoutdoubt, continues to be a useful study of international relationsat least in the case of third world. A recent initiative on the partof Ethiopia, however, is a welcome gesture that indeed has thepotential of enmeshing the two countries at par with the devel-opments of the outside world thereby proving invalid politi-cal realism but much remains to be seen as to how and to whatextent would altercations trickle down to the level of commonunderstanding and realisation towards the need to adjust to thechanging realities of the outside world.

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February-April 2007

Books

1. Selected speeches of his Majesty Haile Selassie First, 1918to 1967 (Addis Ababa: The Imperial Ethiopian Ministry ofInformation, 1967)2. Alemseged Tesfai, The Cause of the Eritrean-EthiopianBorder Conflict, (Asmara, Red Sea Press, 1998)3. Amare Tekle, ed., Eritrea and Ethiopia: From Conflict toCooperation, New Jersey, Red Sea Press, 1994 4. Ghebre Ab-Habtu, Ethiopia and Eritrea: A DocumentaryStudy, (Trenton: The Red Sea Press, 1993)5. Medhane, Tadesse, The Eritrean-Ethiopian war: Retrospectand Prospects, Addis Ababa, Mega Printing Press, 1998 6. Roy Pateman, Eritrea: Even the Stones are Burning,(Lawrenceville, N.J: The Red Sea Press, 1991)7. Tekeste Negash and Kjetil Tronvol, Brothers at War:Making Sense of the Eritrean - Ethiopian War, (Oxford, OhioUniversity Press, 2000) 8. Saleh A.A. Younis, The Eritrean-Ethiopian Conflict or HowEthiopia Blinded Susan Rice, (Walnut Creek, Silicon ValleyCommunity College Press, 1999)9. Scott, Thomas “Africa and the end of the Cold War”, inAkinrinade, Sola, et al, Africa in the Post Cold War interna-tional system, (London: Pinter, 1998), p. 7

Journal Articles

1. Dan Connell, “Against more odds: The second siege ofEritrea”, Eritrean Studies Review, vol.3, no. 2, 19992. Gaim Kibreab, “Mass Expulsion of Eritreans and Ethiopians

of Eritrean origin form Ethiopia and Human Rights Violations” Eritrean Studies Review, Asmara, vol. 3, no.19993. Kidane Mengisteab, “Some latent facts in the Ethio-EritreanConflict”, Eritrean Studies Review, vol.3, no.2, 19994. Patrick Gilkes and Martin Plaut, “The War BetweenEthiopia and Eritrea”, Foreign Policy in Focus, vol.5, no. 25,August 2000 5. Ruth Iyob, “The Ethiopian - Eritrean Conflict: diasporic vs.hegemonic states in the Horn of Africa, 1991-2000”, TheJournal of Modern African Studies, vol. 38, no. 4, September20026. Sandra Fullerton Joireman, “Opposition politics in Ethiopia:We will all go down together”, Journal of Modern AfricanStudies, vol.35, Issue 3, September 1997

Newspapers and Magazines

1. Eritrea Profile2. “Meles Vows Not to go to War”, IRIN, 16th October 20033. Interview with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, IRIN, 29thOctober, 20034. “Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Presents New PeaceInitiative”, Addis Tribue, November 26, 20045. Interview with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, IRIN, 29thOctober, 20036. U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks,November 26, 2004, www. allafrica.com7. “U.N. protests to Ethiopia over buffer zone incursions”,IRIN, 14th August 2003

Bibliography

21. Ibid.22. Ibid, p.1123. Patrick Gilkes and Martin Plaut, “The War BetweenEthiopia and Eritrea”, Foreign Policy in Focus, vol.5, no. 25,August 2000, p.124. Ibid, p. 20225. Self determination leading to secession has been adoptedin the 1995 constitution of Ethiopia. It first appeared in a 1969publication of Ethiopian Student Movement coined byWallelign Mekonen and is the current political debate inEthiopia. See for more details on this, Sandra FullertonJoireman, “Opposition politics in Ethiopia: We will all godown together”, Journal of Modern African Studies, vol.35,Issue 3, September 1997, p.38926. Sandra, p.39727. Medhane, T., The Eritrean-Ethiopian war: Retrospect andProspects, Addis Ababa, Mega Printing Press, 1998, p.9928. Ibid29. See Saleh A.A. Younis, The Eritrean-Ethiopian Conflictor How Ethiopia Blinded Susan Rice, (Walnut Creek, SiliconValley Community College Press, 1999), p.630. Ibid, p.20531. Tekeste Negash and Kjetil Tronvol, Brothers at War:

Making Sense of the Eritrean - Ethiopian War, (Oxford, OhioUniversity Press, 2000), p. 8232. Eritrea profile, November 4, 2000, p.133. Eritrea profile, 16 September, 2000, p. 134. Eritrea profile, 20 April, 2002, p. 135. Eritrea profile, 6 July, 2002, p. 136. Dan Connell, p. 20737. “Meles Vows Not to go to War”, IRIN, 16th October 200338. Dan Connel, p. 20739. Interview with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, IRIN, 29thOctober, 200340. See for details on the statement, “Prime Minister MelesZenawi Presents New Peace Initiative”, Addis Tribue,November 26, 2004, p.141. Interview with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, IRIN, 29thOctober, 200342. U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks,November 26, 2004, www. allafrica.com43. IRIN, 16th July 2003.44. “U.N. protests to Ethiopia over buffer zone incursions",IRIN, 14th August 200345. Interview with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, IRIN, 29thOctober, 2003


B I L A T E R A L S

The nature of India’s relations with thecontinent of Africa, particularly withZambia, is more about kinship thanfriendship. It is difficult to trace theorigins of this relationship as histori-ans and archaeologists have alreadyestablished and recognised linksdeeper than 2000 B.C.1 African lead-ers championing the cause of

Zambian independence such as Kwame Nkrumah, JuliusNyerere, Nelson Mandela, Kenneth Kaunda drew consider-able inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s reliance on non-vio-lence to resist British colonial rule. They were impressed withIndia’s support of the decolonisation process in Africa, elimi-nation of apartheid, its policy of non-alignment and India’s rolein international fora like the United Nations, the Non-AlignedMovement (NAM) and the Commonwealth. When Indiabecame independent on August 15, 1947, it did not considerits independence to be complete until freedom was achievedby its neighboring countries and African brothers.

India and Zambia have maintained close and friendly rela-tions with frequent high-level visits by their leaders. The firstPresident of Zambia, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, kept regular andclose contact with then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,over a host of political and economic issues. Several leaders ofpost-independent Zambia, including Vice President SimonKapwepwe, Prime Ministers Daniel Lisulo and NaluminoMundia were trained in India over the years. They have main-tained the historical relations between the two countries and,in the process, India has provided economic assistance toZambia like extending EXIM Bank credit under the AfricaFund, Maruti vehicles, emergency medical supply, training ofZambians (over 2,000 Zambians have already been trained)including many in the armed forces under the IndianTechnical Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.Several Indian experts have been deputed to Zambia for train-ing Zambian defence personnel. Together, Zambia and Indiahave set up a Joint Economic Commission and a Joint TradeCommittee. Since 1996, Indian companies have invested about$70 million in Zambia.

There are considerable similarities regarding the views of the

two countries on issues of regional integration like the role ofthe Southern African Development Community (SADC), theCommon Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COME-SA), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development(NEPAD) and the African Union (AU). This paper traces thegenesis of India-Zambian relations and dwells in detail on theburgeoning economic relationship between the two coun-tries. It also examines the importance of regional integrationand its challenges to bilateralism. Finally, the paper analyseshow organisations such as the SADC, COMESA and NEPADmay deepen the relations between India and Zambia and con-cludes with some thought on how to strengthen their bond inthe future.

Historic Relations

The presence of Indians in colonial Zambia can be recog-nised as the beginning of the relationship between the twocountries. The first migration of Indians took place in 1904 inFort Jameson and along with the Europeans some Indians set-tled in Livingstone in 1905.2 During the nineteenth century,the British brought Indians to Africa as indentured labor andconsequently colonial Zambia experienced a surge in the num-ber of Indians living in that country. According to B.J. Phiri,almost all Indians in colonial Zambia came from the Gujaratprovince in western India.3 Indians exerted an important eco-nomic influence which was not proportionate with their num-ber during the colonial period. In colonial and post-colonialZambia, Indians experienced ups and downs, specially in theeconomic sphere. While on the one hand, as traders, they weredisliked by the British businessmen who saw them as compe-tition, on the other, the Zambians saw them as exploitative anda barrier to the advancement of the indigenous people. It canbe said that Indians found themselves caught between theBritish and Zambian communities. Due to their low interestin local politics, they were frowned upon as mere money grub-bers and were often blamed for not contributing towards thedevelopment of their adopted country, Zambia. After theMulungushi Declaration in May 1968, many Indians lost theirbusinesses as they did not adopt Zambian citizenship.

Gradually, India and Zambia shared a number of common

Kamini Krishna looks at the genesis of Indo-Zambian ties and the evolution of this relationship into one involving economic growth and

development in the two countries

India aand ZAMBIA:Growing TTrade TTies

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February-April 2007

ideas and their leaders workedtogether to promote non-align-ment and establishment of amulti-polar world. AfterZambia gained independence in1964, President Kaunda, visitedIndia quite a few times.Similarly, Indira Gandhi visitedZambia to nurture friendly rela-tions. At the height of Kaunda’srule, about 6,000 Indian expatri-ates worked in Zambia and dueto this, Zambia became thebiggest recipient of ITEC assis-tance from India.

Political Cooperation

The relationship betweenZambia and India continued to growunder President Frederick Chiluba,who came to power in 1991.President Chiluba visited India inOctober 1993. During his tenure, therelations between the two countriesremained cordial and friendly. Therewas a qualitative improvement inIndo-Zambian relations afterPresident L.P. Mwanawasa came topower in January 2002. PresidentMwanawasa looked to the Asiancountries, including India, for polit-ical and economic support (theWestern countries were not happywith his election, as it was tainted byallegations of corruption, rigging andother irregularities). PresidentMwanawasa met Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee in New York onSeptember 3, 2002, on the sidelinesof the U.N. General Assembly session and requested India tosupport the revival of agriculture and other sectors in theZambian economy. After that, President Mwanawasa paid avisit to India between April 20-25, 2003, and met the president,the vice president, the prime minister and other ministers andwas assured of India’s support in Zambia’s efforts to fightdrought, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and in the revival of itseconomy.

The then Speaker of India’s Lok Sabha (Lower House ofParliament), Manohar Joshi, visited Zambia with a seven-member parliamentary delegation between February 9-13,2003. During this visit, President Mwanawasa publicly assuredJoshi on February 13, 2004, that Zambia would support India’scandidature for a permanent seat in an expanded U.N. SecurityCouncil and on the issue of terrorism. India’s then Ministerof State for External Affairs, Omar Abdullah, also visited thecountry between October 21-25, 2001, for the Joint Economic

Commission meeting inZambia. In March 2005, ShashiTripathi, the then Secretary(West) in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs, visited Zambiain March 2005 for foreign officeconsultations and both coun-tries signed an agreement toinstitutionalise an AnnualForeign Office Consultation.

Economic Cooperation (UnderBilateral Agreements)

During President Kaunda’svisit to India in January 1975,India and Zambia signed anagreement for cooperation inthe economic, technical and sci-ence and technology fields.4

These agreements are not operationalat present. Similarly, a bilateral AirServices Agreement was concludedbetween the two countries inNovember 1993, which again is notoperational as there are no flights ply-ing between the two countries(Zambia does not have a national car-rier at present). The two countriessigned an agreement for Avoidance ofDouble Taxation in 19795 which is tobe reviewed soon. On October 26,1990, the then Union Minister forSteel and Mines D. Goswami invit-ed Zambian ministers to discuss mat-ters of mutual interest and coopera-tion between the two countries inNew Delhi.6

Bilateral trade between India andZambia is valued at $ 54.48 million,

which includes exports worth $35.93 million (2003-04) andimports from Zambia amounted to $18.55 million. India’smain export items include pharmaceuticals, transport equip-ment, cotton yarn, fabrics, plastic, rubber items and chemicalsand imports from Zambia include mainly semi-preciousstones. As already mentioned, since 1996, Indian companieshave invested about $70 million in Zambia. The Zambiangovernment has selected Vedanta Resources, the parent com-pany of Sterlite Industries, of India as its major strategic part-ner in the revival of the Konkala Copper Mine (KCM). Theformer has agreed to invest $48 million in KCM to acquire amajor stake.

It is important to acknowledge Indian investments madethrough the Indo-Zambia Bank Ltd. The bank was establishedin 1984 with a view to promote banking facilities and to havea modern bank in Zambia that could garner savings of thecommunity and put resources to productive use. The long and

The presence of Indians in colonial Zambia can be

recognised as the beginning ofthe relationship between the twocountries. The first migration ofIndians took place in 1904 in

Fort Jameson and along with theEuropeans some Indians settled

in Livingstone in 1905. Duringthe 19th century, the Britishbrought Indians to Africa as

indentured labor and colonialZambia experienced the growth

of an Indian population.


B I L A T E R A L S

deep ties of friendship between India and the Republic ofZambia and their ever-growing trade ties fostered the forma-tion of this joint venture. The bank, which was incorporatedin Lusaka on October 19, 1984, opened its doors to the pub-lic for the first time on December 24, 1984.

It started initially with a share capital of Kwacha 3 million.Its present share capital authorised, issued and fully subscribedis K5 billion (about, $1.063 million @ K4, 700 as on March31, 2005) well above the required capital of K2 billion as perlocal requirements. The Bank of Baroda’s share in this sharecapital is K1 Billion ($212,766), as a 20 percent shareholder.

The shareholding pattern is as follows:Bank of Baroda K1 billion (20% shareholding)Bank of India K1 billion (20% shareholding)Central Bank of India K1 billion (20% shareholding)The Government of the Republic of Zambia K2 billion (40% shareholding)Total K5 billion (100%)

The bank presently has nine branches in Zambia (twobranches opened in 2004).7

Another major Indian investor in Zambia is the Tata Group.It has invested in the renovation of a five-star hotel called TajPamodzi, which is being managed by the Taj Hotels chain.

In 1979 and 1982, India extended government and ExportImport (EXIM) Bank credit to Zambia totaling Rs. 250 mil-lion ($5.5 million approximately). In 1989, India provided rail-way wagons costing about $2 million to Zambia under theAfrica Fund. Other instances of assistance include Marutivehicles that were given to the Zambia News Agency. In 2005,Finance Minister Ng’andu Magande informed Parliamentthat the government has purchased 65-seater buses, one each

for the University of Zambia, Evelyn Hone College and theCopperbelt University using part of the $10 million creditloan obtained from the Indian government.8

India and its Economic Diplomacy for Zambia

After World War II, the world started integrating throughthe process of what is generally called globalisation. As a partof this phenomenon, different countries started comingtogether to form regional blocs. The basic purpose is to inte-grate within the region, take advantage of the comparativestrength of each country and face the rest of the world as unit-ed blocs with the pooled strength of the given region.

The need for integration was felt by the Indian and Zambiangovernments after attaining independence from the colonialrulers. We all know that for about 200 years, European pow-ers established their empires in Africa and Asia and by subju-gating the people of these continents, exploited them in all pos-sible ways. After becoming independent, India and Zambiagradually started integrating their economies with other partsof the world and even with each other in order to becomeinfluential players in the region. This integration includedregional grouping on the one hand and with individual coun-tries on the other.

In order to promote South-South cooperation, India is inte-grating with African blocs like SADC and COMESA. Sincethe African Union has come into existence, the Indian gov-ernment is trying to promote linkages with it,9 with the region-al blocs as well as individual countries in order to promotemore tariff concessions so that it can promote trade and invest-ment and create a better climate for South-South cooperation.

At the initiative of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, theGovernment of India has taken up a project to provide a com-

Former President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda calling on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on March 14, 2005. After Zambiagained independence in 1964, President Kaunda, who visited India quite a few times, was instrumental in furthering India-Zambia ties. ThenPrime Minister Indira Gandhi also visited Zambia to nurture friendly relations.

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February-April 2007

munication network in Africa and facilitate tele-education andtele-medicine across 53 member-countries10 of the AfricaUnion.11 To this end, a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) was signed in New Delhi on October 27, 2005, byShashi Tripathi of the Ministry of External Affairs, and Dr.Bernard Zoba, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energyin the African Union.12

During President Mwanawasa’s visit to India in April 2003,the prime minister of India announced a fresh credit of $10million, grant assistance of $100,000 for donation ofHIV/AIDS medicines and another grant of Rs. 25 million($500,000) for donation of agricultural equipment to Zambia.India has also decided to waive the intergovernment creditamounting to about $3 million outstanding against Zambia.The number of ITEC slots available to Zambia was increasedfrom 30 to 5013, thus opening up greater possibilities of coop-eration in human resource development. The Indian govern-ment assured the Zambian president that India would be will-ing to help Zambia in establishing a Vocational TrainingCentre (VTC) and to depute Indianexperts in agriculture, health, infor-mation technology and other fields.The Zambian government is yet toindicate its requirement (it is facingdifficulties in arranging local accom-modation and transport for them). Aproposal to help Zambia with assis-tance for street children at a VTC ispending. Zambia has asked for Indianveterinary experts at the University ofZambia (UNZA). Another proposalfor requirement of Indian experts, forthe Lusaka Stock Exchange, is pend-ing with the Training Centre (TC)division of the Ministry of ExternalAffairs in India. Under the JointEconomic Commission (JEC), thelast meeting was held in New Delhibetween September 9-10, 2005,which was attended by a Zambiandelegation led by Ng’andu P. Magande, Minister of Financeand National Planning, and an Indian delegation led by RaoInderjit Singh, the then Minister of State for External Affairs.

In the last decade, a number of initiatives were launched topromote trade with Africa. Apart from the government, theIndian private sector has pitched in to explore the African mar-kets.

From the mid-1990s, organisations like the Confederationof Indian Industry (CII), the Associated Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), the Federation ofIndian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and theFederation of Indian Exporters’ Organisations (FIEO) iden-tified Africa as a thrust area and launched programmes to pro-mote economic and business cooperation. This includedexchange of information, conducting one-to-one businessmeetings and organising activities like ‘Made in India’ showsacross Africa. These chambers have also entered into joint

business agreements with Mauritius, Kenya, Zambia, Uganda,Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa and Ethiopia.14

The Government of India’s Initiatives

! $6 million EXIM line of credit to PTA countries: InSeptember 1992, the EXIM Bank signed an agreement withthe Preferential Trade Area (PTA) Bank to extend a $6 mil-lion line of credit to members of the PTA for import of capi-tal goods from India. The PTA covers 21 countries fromEastern and Southern Africa, and Zambia is one of them. In1994, the PTA was replaced with the COMESA.! Revolving Fund for Africa: In 1996, Prime Minister H.D.Deve Gowda announced at the G-15 Summit in Harare thecreation of a revolving fund of Rs. 1 billion ($23 millionapproximately) towards regional cooperation with Africa.15

!MoU with SADC: A Memorandum of Understanding oncooperation between India and the SADC was signed inOctober 1997 which envisaged both government and private

sector cooperation in the region, sim-ilar to the one followed by COME-SA and the Economic Communityof West African States (ECOWAS).! Meeting of HoMs/CommercialRepresentatives: Meeting of Headsof Missions (HoMs)/commercialrepresentatives of Indian missions inEastern and Southern Africa underthe chairmanship of the minister ofstate for commerce and industry washeld in June 2000. A similar meetingwas convened in October 2000 inWest Africa. This committee intendsto promote India’s economic rela-tions with neighboringcountries/continents.

Former Minister of ExternalAffairs Yashwant Sinha once said thatAfrica is the continent of the 21stcentury. According to him, the

Indian government is watching the development of SADC,COMESA and Eastern African regional groups. He even men-tioned the importance of an MoU with SADC and COME-SA under the supervision of AU for a partnership (dialoguelevel).16

Future Prospects of Joint Ventures

The “New Deal” government under President Mwanawasahas initiated several steps to weed out corruption and called forzero tolerance of corruption. It has taken several positive stepsto rejuvenate the economy and reduce economic disparities.It is committed towards improving infrastructure, investing ineducation and public health and, above all, diversifying theeconomy from the present monopolist economy to a balancedsectoral growth with a renewed focus on agriculture andtourism. The present government’s concerted efforts have

The government of PresidentMwanawasa has initiated several

steps to weed out corruptionand called for zero tolerance ofcorruption. It has taken several

steps to rejuvenate the economyand reduce disparities. It is

committed to improving infrastructure, investing in

education and public health and, above all, diversifying the

economy from the presentmonopolist economy to a

balanced one.


B I L A T E R A L S

seen Zambia achieve the Highly Indebted Poor Country(HIPC) Initiative completion point during the year 2005, as aresult of which an external debt of about $3.8 billion is in theprocess of being written off by the donor community.

Dipak Patel, Zambia’s Commerce, Trade and IndustryMinister, said in July 2005 that an export-driven economy,maximisation of local raw material, coupled with an upgrad-ing of technology, are central to Zambia’s competitiveness inthe global market.17 It shows that the Zambian government isdetermined to reinvigorate its economy and remain compet-itive in the international market for goods and services. TheGovernment of Zambia espouses a theme ‘Rebuild ourEconomy’, as a part of which it is trying its best to attract for-eign investors under the following banners.

Ten Good Reasons for Investing in Zambia:

! Abundant natural resources! Political stability!Thriving private sector! Investment guarantees! Duty free access to COMESAcountries! Progressive banking and financemarkets!Double taxation agreement!Good quality lifestyle! Privatisation! Investment in prime growth sec-tors18

Indian Support to Zambia

In the area of commerce, trade andindustry, the fourth meeting of theJoint Permanent Commissionbetween Zambia and India, held inLusaka, between October 22-25,2001, identified the following sixareas is which India can offer supportto Zambia:

! Investment in Zambian industries;! Technical assistance to entrepreneurs, policy-makers andimplementing agencies. Zambia agreed to identify sub-sectorsthat require extensive training and India would provide tech-nical expertise;! Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement betweenZambia and India;! Supply of pharmaceutical products to the health sector, aswell as establishment of joint ventures to manufacture phar-maceutical products;!Technological upgradation and transfer of technology; ! Establishment of common facilities that would form a smallindustrial area. However, all the machinery will have to bemanufactured in India. Zambia agreed to identify potentialentrepreneurs and industries to establish the same.

Current Status: Investment in Zambian Industries

The Government of Zambia has made efforts to linkZambian and Indian companies that can establish joint ven-tures mainly through information-sharing and disseminationof investment incentives. Amending the Investment Act willalso greatly enhance the business environment.

In September 2004, ESS Exports Company, which is oneof the largest companies in India producing tyres and bicycles,expressed interest in exporting bicycle components, hand toolsand auto-forging items.

Tata Zambia Ltd. has submitted a proposal to set up a motorvehicle assembly plant in Ndola with an initial investmentoutlay of $500,000 (K2.5 billion) and a project to manufacturebicycles with an initial investment outlay of $250,000 (K1.25billion). Tata Zambia also plans to manufacture buses andtrucks. The projects have the potential to transfer technology,increase exports, create opportunities for ancillary manufac-turing industries and generate employment.

Tata Zambia is still negotiatingwith the Zambian government,which had written to the former inFebruary 2005 requesting for furtherclarifications and information on per-tinent issues. Tata Zambia has alreadyordered the equipment for the bicy-cle plant and will soon start opera-tions.

Indian investors have expressedinterest in the Zambian industries ofsugar, power generation and distri-bution, as well as steel and fertilisers.

The Zambian Ministry ofCommerce, Trade and Industry hasidentified horticulture and relatedareas such as processing of cereals andoil seeds; production of dairy prod-ucts; sericulture, leather productsmanufacturing; handicrafts produc-tion; and waste management as areasof possible joint ventures betweenZambia and India.

Technical Assistance to Entrepreneurs, Policy-Makers andImplementing Agencies to Date

India has offered a credit line of $10 million that was extend-ed to the Zambian government and was subsequently associ-ated with commercial lending to small-scale industries forcapacity-building through the Development Bank of Zambia.In March 2004, the Indian High Commission informed theMinistry of Commerce, Trade and Industry that the EXIM ofIndia was ready to offer Zambia a credit line for projects in agri-culture, health, industry and capacity-building. However, theZambian government would have to provide project propos-als.

The Indian government, mainly through its High

Zambia will continue to encourage Indian investments

into its industrial sector, particularly in agro-processing,textiles, gemstones and other

industrial sub-sectors, mainly byestablishing joint ventures.

Investment promotion will beone of the methods of achieving

this objective. Zambia will continue to acquire and

disseminate information onavailable technologies from

India for all sub-sectors such asconstruction, light engineering,food processing, sericulture,

lapidary and tanning.

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Commission in Zambia and the Zambian High Commissionin New Delhi, has offered the commerce, trade and industrysector information on available machinery from India that canbe used by small and medium industries, such as equipmentfor a pineapple cannery, mini cement plant and agro-process-ing.

A Zambian delegation comprising five government offi-cials, 12 chief executives of statutory bodies and 15 private sec-tor business persons visited India between April 18 and May5, 2003, as part of an Investment Promotion Mission whichinvolved acquiring technical and technological knowledge onbusiness. The report prepared by this delegation was sharedwith Zambian businessmen, institutions and business associ-ations such as Small Scale Industries Association of Zambia(SSIAZ).

As a part of the mission, the Zambian delegation tapped bestpractices in micro-finance since one of the main constraintsfacing micro, small and medium enterprises in Zambia is lackof finance. They gained practice in the management and mon-itoring of industrial parks, thus addressing the constraint ofinadequate entrepreneurial skills.

They also acquired techniques and technologies such asgemstone cutting and polishing, which addressed the thirdmain constraint facing Zambian businesses of inadequateinformation with regard to sourcing technology. Networking,particularly identifying suppliers of equipment and variouscommodities for the Zambian market, was also facilitated bythe mission.

About 13 MoUs were signed between Zambian and Indianbusiness stakeholders. Some notable examples include theMoU between Zambia’s Private Sector DevelopmentAssociation and the PHD Chamber of Commerce of India;Kunstocom Ltd., BAFCO Pharmaceuticals Ltd., TechnicomChemi Ltd. and the Education and Medical Foundation,which are all subsidiaries of the AKC Group of India, with theMinistry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, TEVETA,Evelyn Hone College and the Private Sector DevelopmentAssociation.

The Zambian delegation signed MoUs with Hind Mineralsof India; All Indian Management Association; the Centre forDevelopment of Gems and Jewellery; as well as the JewellersAssociation Johari Bazaar, Jaipur.

A trade agreement was signed between Zambia and Indiaduring the state visit. However, it is yet to be implementedbecause the document may be still at the State House inZambia.

A Zambian delegation comprising the private sector, busi-ness associations, Zambia Bureau of Standards and EvelynHone College attended the International Technology Fair ofIndia in November 2003 to acquire more information onavailable technology for various sectors particularly industri-al sectors, suppliers of reasonably-priced laboratory-testingequipment and capacity-building of small and medium enter-prises.

Zambia has participated in a number of activities coordi-nated by the Indian government which include training andinformation-sharing at the India International Trade Fair.

Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA)between Zambia and India

The draft IPPA was initiated in March 2003 by Siakalenge,Director, Industry Department, and Subashini, First Secretary,Indian High Commission, Zambia, who sent the agreed textto Indian authorities. A response was obtained from the IndianHigh Commission in January 2004 for the draft IPPA to beinitiated by Zambian authorities and First Secretary, IndianHigh Commission.

Supply of Pharmaceutical Products to the Health Sector as wellas Establishment of Joint Ventures to ManufacturePharmaceutical Products.

The problem of HIV/AIDS has been a major focus of atten-tion of the SADC as about 15 million people are infected withthe virus. There are other epidemic diseases such as malariaand tuberculosis for which African countries have to findaffordable ways of treatment. Indian drugs cost less than one-tenth of the cost of drugs from multinational companies. Thespeeding up of the ongoing efforts to harmonise registrationprocedures for drugs and pharmaceuticals at the SADC levelwould greatly facilitate investment from India in this sector.

Technological Upgradation and Transfer of Technology

Till date, some of the industries in Zambia are usingmachinery from India such as Castor Oils Zambia that pur-chased a castor oil processing machine at Techmart 2003.Lamise Investment Ltd., that produces biscuits, snacks, plas-tic products, mattresses, furniture and linen, currently usesmoulds manufactured in India.

Information obtained from the Zambian HighCommission in New Delhi on food processing machinery wasdisseminated to the Zambia Chamber of Commerce andIndustry and the Zambia Association of Manufacturers.

Future Developments

Zambia will continue to encourage Indian investments intoits industrial sector, particularly in agro-processing, textiles,gemstones and other industrial sub-sectors, mainly by estab-lishing joint ventures. Investment promotion will be one ofthe methods of achieving this objective. Zambia will contin-ue to acquire and disseminate information on available tech-nologies from India for all sub-sectors such as construction,light engineering, food processing, sericulture, lapidary, tan-ning and leather products, timber drying, furniture produc-tion, waste recycling and any other sub-sectors that will requireinformation.

The Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry led a busi-ness delegation to India for the India International Trade Fair,between November 14-27, 2005, where it held bilateral meet-ings with several stakeholders. During this investment andtrade promotion mission, the ministry aimed to further pro-mote investment in Zambian industries, lobby for more tech-


B I L A T E R A L S

nical assistance toentrepreneurs and imple-menting agencies.

Policy-makers plan toparticipate in trainingcourses in project manage-ment and various othercourses such as agro-pro-cessing, small and mediumenterprises development.

The Ministry ofCommerce, Trade andIndustry is hoping to con-tinue working with theIndian High Commissionin Zambia to sign theInvestment Promotion andProtection Agreementbetween Zambia and India.

The ministry is also try-ing to enhance its promotion ofestablishing joint ventures in themanufacture of pharmaceuticalproducts. Technological upgradationand transfer of technology wouldcontinue to be encouraged throughthe compilation of project proposalsby the private sector.

Establishment of common facili-ties that would form a small indus-trial area, utilising machinery manu-factured in India, potentialentrepreneurs and industries to beestablished will form the list to becompiled by the ministry prior to theInvestment and Trade PromotionMission to India.19

The Indo-Zambia Bank Ltd. hasbeen established as a fine example ofa successful joint venture. It enjoysthe patronage of two friendlyrepublics, the Government of theRepublic of Zambia and theGovernment of India.

It has demonstrated how personnel drawn from four dif-ferent institutions can work together as a team and evolve adistinct and efficient work culture. Under the present cir-cumstances prevailing in the Zambian market, though allbanks are going through a phase of low returns, in view of astrong bottomline of the Indo-Zambia Bank and with built-up reserves at a very sound level, the management of the bankis optimistic that the future of the joint venture is extremelybright.

The two countries are currently working on the finalisationof a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement and a Protocolfor Institutionalisation of Annual Foreign OfficeConsultations.

Some Thoughts for BetterBilateral Relations

From time to time,India and Zambia facepractical difficulties inimplementing certainagreements, sometimesdue to change of leader-ship or financial con-straints within their coun-tries. This can be ironedout within a certain judi-cial framework.

The economic condi-tion of Zambia during thelast couple of years hasbeen volatile. The govern-ment took some very boldpolicy initiatives such as

ensuring full convertibility of thelocal currency (Kwacha), stability ofexchange rate, market-drivenexchange and interest rates, estab-lishment of the Broad-Based Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market,removal of restrictions on importsand exports, privatisation of variousparastatal entities, etc. These changeshave helped the integration of theZambian economy into the globaleconomy.

In Zambia, real GDP grew by 5percent in the year 2004 as comparedto 4.3 percent in 2003 and 3 percentin the year 2002. This expansion ingrowth of real GDP was driven bystrong expansion in mineral andagricultural production as well asgenerally favourable external condi-tions and was a direct result of thegovernment’s micro-economic poli-cies adopted in the year 2004 –– basi-

cally of restoring fiscal discipline.20

Both countries must look for an investment promotionagreement and should avoid double taxation systems. Anothercould be setting up of a joint commission that would look atstrengthening economic relations across a large number of sec-tors. Furthermore, the Joint Business Council (JBC) could beinstrumental in promoting greater cooperation both in tradeand investments through market forces among businessper-sons of the two countries. A strong banking relationship hasto be encouraged for trade to flow smoothly through properchannels. Better connectivity is required to enhance bilateraleconomic cooperation; air, shipping and telecommunicationlinks need to be improved. Besides, there has to be a strongcommercial or economic section in the high commissions so

Tata Zambia Ltd. has submitteda proposal to set up a motor

vehicle assembly plant in Ndolawith an initial investment outlay

of $500,000 and a project tomanufacture bicycles with an

initial investment outlay of$250,000. Tata Zambia alsoplans to manufacture buses

and trucks. The projects havethe potential to transfer

technology, increase exports, create

opportunities for ancillary manufacturing industries and

generate employment.

69


February-April 2007

1. A.A. Mohammad, ‘India-Africa Cooperation in the 21stCentury’, Africa Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 1, 2003, p.12. Nag, Prithvish, ‘Basis of Zambian Settlements’, AfricanQuarterly, 17,1, (1977), p.64)3. B.J. Phiri, ‘A History of Indians in Eastern Province ofZambia’, High Quality Printers, Lusaka: 2000, p.14. Indo-Zambia, Science and Technology Agreement, NewDelhi, 26 January 1975, Foreign Affairs Record, 21 (1), January1975, pp. 40-425. Foreign Affairs Record, 25 (2), February 1978, p.586. Foreign Affairs Record, 36 (10) October 1990, p. 2257. Review of Operations of Indo-Zambia Bank Limited for theyear ended, BoB’s Letter No. BBC: INT: SUB 97/150 dated30th May 2005, p.18. The Post, Home News, ‘Confusion Reigns in Parliament’,Thursday No 17th 2005, p.49. Yashwant Sinha, ‘Facets of Indian Foreign Policy’, Ministryof External Affairs, Government of India, 2003, p.610. They are Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia,Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius,Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia,

Swaziland, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe11. India News, High Commission of India, 24th October,2004, vol. 1 No. 5 p.112 Press Release, ‘Expanding the Horizon of India-AfricaRelationship’ in the 21st Century, p.113. http://meaindia.ni.in/foreignrelations, p314. www.india/s Africa policy in the 21st century15. Government of India, Annual Report, 1996-97, 1997,Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, P.x16. Yashwant Sinha, Facets of Indian Foreign Policy, p. 7417. Special, ZAMBANKER, ‘Zambia Determined to ReviveEconomy’, July 2005, Patel, p.118. Zambia Investment Centre19. Information from Ministry of Trade and Commerce,Zambia20. Review of Operation of Indo-Zambia Bank Limited, P.3.21. Yashwant Sinha, ‘Facets of Indian Foreign Policy’, Ministryof External Affairs, p.722. India News, High Commission of India, June 30, 2005, Vol.2, NO. 3, p.823. Sinha, ‘Facets of India Foreign Policy’, P.110

References

that each country could deliver the goods and provide serviceswhich are required.

At the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which is anoth-er platform for economic diplomacy for bilateral trade agree-ments within a judicial framework, emphasis can be made onpreferential trade tariffs that can lead to free trade zones forgreater integration like investment in the service sector,exchange of personnel, etc.

India should try to promote more linkages with the AfricanUnion in order to develop more tariff concessions so thattrade, investment and South-South cooperation can be boost-ed.

Government-to-government credit and aid in a specialisedmanner can be used to promote bilateral and regional relations.Furthermore, India can assist developing countries likeZambia with technical help under its ITEC programme.Zambia is, no doubt, being provided with the above facility butwould be certainly needing a lot more from India in the com-ing years.

Apart from the Indian government, more and more Indianprivate companies should be encouraged to invest in Zambia.Apart from the Tata Group, several other Indian companieslike Surfactan Industries (which manufactures wood adhesivesand polish), Agarwal Tin Manufacture Company (graded castiron and ductile iron casting for various industrial applica-tions), Sachin Chemicals and Avalon Exim Inc. (chemicals)have shown their interest in exporting to African countries.22

Zambian importers who may be interested could contact theabove companies.

Beside these, there are good prospects of investments inpower generation and transmission, tourism, commercialfarming, agro-processing, leather processing and manufactureof footwear, and other items. Especially as the Zambian gov-

ernment is reviewing its economy through privatisation,which has been pulled through quite successfully by the Indiangovernment.

Conclusion

India and Zambia, classified as developing countries, haveto act together in their own interests and play a very impor-tant role in tackling their problems. India is intending notonly to project its own economy but is also trying to promotethe interests of all developing countries and work for a betterworld. A delegation of the COMESA and Indian leaders arelooking forward to the conclusion of an India-COMESAMoU spanning diverse facets of economic cooperation. Theyare presently negotiating a Free Trade Area (FTA) with SouthAfrica. It is, therefore, being believed that the negotiationsbetween the South African Customs Union (SACU) andIndia would eventually lead to a free trade arrangement, whichwill cover all the SADC countries that are also in the processof concluding an FTA by 2008.23 The population of SADCcountries has reached around 200 million and its geographi-cal area is as large as India. Here it is very important to men-tion that India, whose population has crossed one billion andis able to meet food requirements locally, can help SADCcountries to achieve a green revolution.

The economic potential of India-Zambia relations is justbeginning to be realised. The two countries can multiply bilat-eral trade and investment between them by fully implement-ing crucial economic pacts which have been signed betweenthem. There is enough reservoir of goodwill to feed and nur-ture this growing relationship. If the present trends are any-thing to go by bilateral trade and investment are most likely tosurpass expectation in the future.


B O O K S & I D E A S

A selection of new books on Africa and by African writers from www.africabookcentre.com

Only Half of Me: Being a Muslim in BritainBy Rageh Omaar; Penguin, U.K.; 224pp; Paperback; £8.99

NEW IN paperback. The story of hischildhood in Somalia, his family’s atti-tude to religion, his double life as aBritish Muslim and that of otherBritish Muslims; the failed suicidebomber from Somalia; his cousin whowas stabbed in the neck on a Londonstreet on July 8, 2005. Full of human-ity and rage, empathy and insight‘Only Half of Me’ takes us into livesthat are widely misunderstood, andtries to make sense of our own frac-tured world.

Child Soldiers in AfricaAlcinda Honwana; UniversityPress of Pennsylvania. U.S.A.;202pp; Paperback; £15

NEW IN paperback, the bookbrings first-hand experience withchildren in Angola and Mozambiqueto bear on how children are recruit-ed, what they encounter and howthey come to terms with theiractions, particularly in their attemptsto rebuild lives within local commu-nities. It examines the wider institu-tional efforts to support thesewartime casualties.

■■ Editor’s Pick

African History: A Very Short IntroductionEdited by John Parker and Richard Rathbone; Oxford University Press,U.K.; 165pp; Paperback; £6.99

ESSENTIAL READING foranyone interested in the vastAfrican continent as well as thediversity of human history there.This very short introduction looksat Africa’s past and reflects on thechanging ways it has been imaginedand represented.

Key themes in current thinkingabout the continent’s history areillustrated with a range of fascinat-ing historical examples, drawnfrom over five millennia across thisdiverse landmass.

Archaeology and Culture History in the Central Niger DeltaBy Abi Alabo Derefaka; Nigeria Onyoma ResearchPublications, Nigeria; 330pp; Paperback; £29.95

THE BOOK presents new archaeological research onthe cultural and anthropological history of CentralIjöland, situated in the Central Niger Delta. It drawsprimarily on oral traditions, and local and internal his-tories in the reconstruction of the past. It traces patternsof migration and dispersals within and from the regionin an attempt to reconstruct phases, settlements and waysof life. And it considers both the saltwater mangroveswamps sub-zone in the eastern region, and the fresh-

water swamp and forest sub-zone of the central delta region.

A Short History of Slavery By James Walvin; Penguin, U.K.; 272 pp; Paperback; £9.99

AS WE approach the bicentenary of theabolition of the Atlantic trade, Walvin hasselected the historical texts that recreatethe mindset that made such a savage insti-tution possible — morally acceptable even.Setting these historical documents againstWalvin’s own historical narrative, the twolayers of this account of the Atlantic slavetrade enable us to understand the rise andfall of one of the great crimes of Britishhistory, the repercussions of which themodern world is still experiencing.

71


February-April 2007

Africa After Gender?Edited by Catherine Cole, Takyiwaa Manuh andStephan F. Miescher; Indiana University Press, U.S.;328pp; Paperback; £14.99

GENDER IS one of the most productive, dynamic, andvibrant areas of Africanist research today. But what is themeaning of gender in an African context? Why does gen-der usually connote women? Why has gender taken holdin Africa when feminism hasn’t? Is gender yet anotherWestern construct that has been applied to Africa howev-er ill-suited and riddled with assumptions? This collection looks at Africa now thatgender has come into play to consider how the continent, its people, and the termitself have changed.

African Women and Globalisation: Dawn of the 21st CenturyEdited by Chepyator-Thomson, Rose Jepkorir;Africa World Press, U.S.A.; 320pp; Paperback;£19.99 THIS VOLUME seeks to examine globalisation’s effecton women’s lives. In this volume scholars deconstructimportant issues and provide perspectives on understand-ing and transforming women's experiences in Africa.Writing from diverse academic disciplines and interdisci-plinary standpoints, the contributors explore the realities ofAfrican women’s lives in connection to processes of glob-

alisation. Some of the issues highlighted include the education of girls in Kenya,women’s role in agriculture, women as culture mediators in music, the participa-tion of women in sports, and women in resource management in East Africa.

Half of a Yellow SunBy Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie;Harper Perennial, U.K.; 448pp;Paperback; £7.99

A SWEEPING new novel from theauthor of ‘Purple Hibiscus’ that is setin Nigeria in the 1960s, at the timeof a vicious civil war in which a mil-lion people died, and thousands weremassacred in cold blood.

The three main characters in thenovel get swept up in the violenceduring these turbulent years. Asthese people’s lives intersect, theyhave to question their own responsesto the unfolding political events.This extraordinary novel is aboutAfrica in a wider sense: About moralresponsibility, about the end of colo-nialism, about ethnic allegiances,about class and race; and the ways inwhich love can complicate all ofthese things.

States of Vulnerability: The Brain Drainof Future Talent to South AfricaEdited by Jonathan Crush & etal; IDASA, South Africa; 66pp;Pamphlet; £11.95

THE PROBLEM of brain drain isa major policy and research issue atnational, regional as well as at thecontinental levels in Africa –– espe-cially as the trends having intensifiedin the 1980s and 1990s. This report–– a slim volume –– presents theresults of a baseline study of poten-tial skills in six SADC countries:Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland andNamibia, South Africa andZimbabwe.

The study illustrates how thepoorest countries (Zimbabwe,Lesotho and Swaziland) are the mostlikely losers. South Africa gainsregionally, but is losing skilled citi-zens to the North.

The study highlights the contra-diction between tight national immi-gration policies and the wider politi-cal pressures for stronger regionalintegration, arguing that this may yetpresent the most promising contin-gency.

World Development Report 2007:Development and the Next GenerationBy World Bank; Oxford UniversityPress, U.S.; 336pp; Paperback;£15.99

A FLAGSHIP annual publication, thereport discusses the priorities for gov-ernment action across five youth transi-tions that shape investments in youngpeople’s human capital: learning, work-

ing, staying healthy, forming families,and exercising citizenship. It concludesthat investments in young people havebeen most successful when they have notonly expanded opportunities directly, buthave also improved the climate for youngpeople and their families to invest inthemselves. Also contains selected datafrom the World Development Indicators2006 — an appendix of economic andsocial data for over 200 countries.

Of Development and Generation Next

■■ Gender Issues


B O O K S & I D E A S

■■ Fiction/Biography

WhitemanBy Tony D’Souza; Portobello Books, U.K.; 288pp;Paperback; £8.99

YOUNG, AMERICAN and idealistic, the Whitemanbounds into the Ivory Coast with a deep desire to makea difference. But the NGO’s funding dries up and he’sstranded, unable to establish a water supply for the vil-lage and with plenty of time on his hands. WithMamadou as his guardian, he builds himself a thatch-roofed hut, cultivates a field, masters the art of rainforesthunting, and inadvertently tramples all over unspokentaboos, all the while being hopelessly, helplessly, distracted by women, from the vil-lage flirt to the local chief's intended wife. Taking place against the backdrop of bloodycivil war, this is the story of a white man losing his aid-worker illusions and discov-ering a different, more complicated Africa: Perplexing and brutal, beguiling and sexy.

As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms andTorture TradeBy Mark Thomas; Ebury, U.K.; 352pp; paperback; £6.99

UNDER A fairly flimsy disguise and with the use of some worryingly poor accents,Mark set off on a journey of discovery in the company of arms dealers, torture vic-tims, politi-cians, cops, crusties and geeks. Embedded within the sharpness of hishumour is the truth of an industry fraught with loopholes, complacency and greed;that allows corrupt regimes to kill, maim and displace, but whose deals are oftensubsidised by the British taxpayer.

New Fiction emerging from Africa Grace, Tenacity and Eloquence: Thestruggle for women’s rights in AfricaEdited by Patrick Burnett, ShereenKarmali & Firoze Manji; Fahamu &Solidarity for Women’s Rights,U.K.; 223pp; Paperback; £17.99.

THE ESSAYS in this book firstappeared in theweekly electronicnewsletter,Pambazuka News.They provide aneasy-to-readintroduction tothe struggle forwomen’s rights inAfrica. The contributors describe howAfrican women won a cross-conti-nental campaign for a protocol to pro-tect their rights. In a rich variety ofarticles, they consider topics such as:women and conflict, the impact ofcurrent U.S. policies on women’shealth in Africa, women’s rights inIslam, and the implications of theJacob Zuma trial for women in SouthAfrica.

■■ Short StoriesChameleonBy Jane Bryce; Peepal Tree, U.K.;110pp; Paperback; £7.99.

WHEN A young white child discovers whyher family’s African gardener so dislikes thechameleon she spots in a tree, she is plungedinto a puzzled awareness of the complexitiesof race, colour and difference. As the ‘I’ of thestories grows into adulthood in Nigeria, shetoo becomes a chameleon of sorts, one thingwhen she is with her Nigerian friends, anoth-er with the white tribe when she can no longerresist the lure of the scarce luxuries to be hadat the British Embassy. When the ‘I’ makes thecrossing from Nigeria to the Caribbean, shediscovers that it is not only people who arechameleons. Osun, the Yoruba orisha, hasalso made the journey, a little outwardlychanged, but inwardly the same inTrinidadian and Cuban manifestations.

How to be a ‘Proper’ Woman in theTimes of HIV and AIDSBy Stella Nyanzi and KatjaJassey; Nordic Africa Institute,Sweden; 40pp; Pamphlet; £8.95.

WHEN IS one social script ofbeing a proper woman valid andwhat invalidates it? What kind ofchanges and norms are implicitly orexplicitly promoted through devel-opment interventions? Can sexual-ity be separated from material,social and political realities? Whyare there so many contradictingmessages and forces around ARVmedicines? Why is there so muchsilence and so much noise at thesame time around HIV/AIDS?Can HIV/AIDS be a force forinclusion rather than exclusion?

■■ Health

73


February-April 2007

TOP 10: NON-FICTION

1. ‘The Last Mughal: The Fall of aDynasty, Delhi1857’Author: WilliamDalrymplePublisher:Penguin VikingPrice: Rs. 695

2. ‘Planet India’Author: MiraKamdarPublisher: ScribnerPrice: Rs. 395

3. ‘Unbowed: A Memoir’Author: Wangari Muta Maathai

Publisher:WilliamHeinemann:LondonPrice: £7.25(Rs. 614)

4. ‘TheWriting onThe Wall:China and the

West in the 21st Century’Author: Will HuttonPublisher: Little, BrownPrice: Rs. 495

5. ‘Provoked: The Story of KiranjitAhluwalia’Author: Kiranjit Ahluwalia & RahilaGuptaPublisher: Harper CollinsPrice: Rs. 295

6. ‘TerrifyingVision: M.S.Golwalkar, TheRSS and India’Author:JyotirmayaSharmaPublisher:

Penguin VikingPrice: Rs. 295

7. ‘In Spite of The Gods: The StrangeRise of Modern India’Author: Edward LucePublisher: Little BrownPrice: Rs. 695

8. ‘Banker to The Poor: The Story ofthe Grameen Bank’Author: Muhammad YunusPublisher:Aurum PressPrice: £5.00 (Rs.423)

9. ‘Trees ofDelhi: A FieldGuide’Author: PradipKrishenPublisher:Dorling Kindersley (India)Price: Rs.799

10. ‘Gulbadan: Portrait of a RosePrincess at the Mughal Court’Author: Rumer GoddenPublisher: Tara PressPrice: Rs. 650

TOP 10: FICTION

1. ‘TheInheritance ofLoss’Author: KiranDesaiPublisher:Penguin BooksPrice: Rs. 395

2. ‘A GoldenAge’Author: Tahmima AnamPublisher: John MurrayPrice: £6.25 (Rs. 526)

3. ‘The Barn Owl’s Wondrous

Capers’Author:SarnathBanerjeePublisher:Penguin BooksPrice: Rs. 395

4. ‘The Quest’Author: WilburSmithPublisher: MacmillanPrice: £9.20 (Rs.774)

5. ‘Step On a Crack’ Author: James Patterson & MichaelLedwidgePublisher: HeadlinePrice: Rs. 395

6. ‘Next’Author: Michael CrichtonPublisher: Harper CollinsPrice: Rs. 195

7. ‘On Chesil Beach’Author: Ian McEwanPublisher: Jonathan Cape, LondonPrice: £6.00 (Rs. 505)

8. ‘Sister’Author: Danielle SteelPublisher: Bantam PressPrice: £11.50 (Rs. 968)

9. ‘Shopaholic& Baby’Author: SophieKinsellaPublisher:Bantam PressPrice: £7.25 (Rs. 614)

10. ‘Love in aTorn Land’Author: JeanSassonPublisher: DoubledayPrice: £7.75 (Rs. 652)

(Source: Bahri Sons, New Delhi, www.booksatbahri.com. All the books listed above are available online)

The fascination with William Dalrymple’s ‘The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857,’ topping the non-fiction category andKiran Desai’s ‘Inheritance of Loss,’ topping the fiction category, continues.

Bestsellers in India


D O C U M E N T S

Excerpts from the Joint Communique issued at the end of the

official visit to India by the East African Community

Delegation, in New Delhi on February 22.

1.0 At the invitation of the Government of India, an EACDelegation led by Hon. John Arap Koech, Chairperson of theEAC Council of Ministers and Minister for East AfricanCommunity of the Republic of Kenya paid a six day officialvisit to India from 19th to 24th February 2007. Accompanyinghim were, Hon. Eriya Kategaya First Deputy Prime Ministerand Minister for East African Community Affairs of theRepublic of Uganda, Hon. Dr. Ibrahim Msabaha Minister forEast African Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania,Hon Rosemary Museminali, Minister of State for Cooperationof the Republic of Rwanda, Hon Donatien Nijimbere,Minister for Trade and Industry of the Republic of Burundi,the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Juma V. Mwapachu Dr.Kipyego Cheluget, Deputy Secretary General, the EAC HighCommissioners and Ambassador and other senior officials ofthe EAC Secretariat.

The Mission held cordial discussions with the Ministriesof External Affairs, Agriculture, Finance, Commerce andIndustry, Science and Technology, Home Affairs, DelhiAssembly, Capital Markets Authorities, Agricultural ResearchInstitute (PUSA), RITES, Telecommunications Consultantsof India Limited (TCIL), Exim Bank, Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) and visited the Escort Agricultural MachineryFactory.

2.0 The main purpose of the mission was to discuss ways ofdeepening collaboration between the Government of Indiaand the East African Community as provided for in theMemorandum of Understanding signed on 20th April 2003in Dar Es Salaam. The Mission was also to consult on pro-posed specific projects and programmes for support from theGovernment of India.

3.0 The EAC Delegation briefed Ministers and senior offi-cials of the Government of India as well as the institutions withwhom they engaged on the progress made in the integrationprocess of the Community including the accession of Rwandaand Burundi; capacity building activities at the Community;the EAC Development Strategy 2006-2010; priority sectoralprojects and programmes; the restructuring of the East AfricanDevelopment Bank; the challenges faced in the process ofintegration and other proposed areas of support by theRepublic of India.

4.0 Similarly, the Indian Delegation briefed the Mission on thevision and direction of its support to East Africa for priorityareas of intervention in regional programmes with emphasison infrastructure development, agriculture, health, ICT, edu-cation, community development, trade, industrialisation, sci-ence and technology among others.

5.0 Following the foregoing discussions, the parties agreed asfollows:

5.1 Support for the Railways SectorThe Indian Government expressed its strong willingness

to support the revamping of the East African Railways networkas a vital contribution to the economic development of the EastAfrican Region. In line with this gesture, it was agreed that:

a) The EAC will share with Government of India theRailways Development Master Plan when completed inAugust 2007 in order to identify areas that require support;

b) That the Government of India will consider technicalsupport for detailed feasibility studies of the following railwaysprojects:i) Tanga - Arusha line;ii) Arusha - Musoma - Port Bell line;iii) Mombasa - Kampala line; iv) Isaka (Tanzania) - Kigali (Rwanda) line; v) Isaka (Tanzania) - Gitega - Bujumbura (Burundi) Line;andvi) Himo - Voi line

5.2 TelecommunicationsThe parties noted the wide scope of possible cooperation

in telecommunications. The Indian Government briefed theEAC Delegation on the progress being made on the imple-mentation of the Pan African e-Network Project and the VVIPconnectivity projects. The project is aimed at enhancing coop-eration between India and Africa in the area of telemedicineand e-learning through connectivity between premier institu-tions in health and education in both India and Africa. The lat-ter project also aims at connecting the Heads of State in Africato an alternative reliable and secure communications systemincluding teleconferencing facilities. Both projects will beunderwritten by the Government of India for five years aftercommissioning estimated to cost US$ 117 million.

The Delegation was further informed that the Protocol forthe implementation of both projects had been developed andthat 22 countries in Africa had signed including Tanzania,Uganda and Burundi. Both parties noted the urgency for thecountries that had not signed the Protocol to do so to facilitateplanning for the projects and to avail the required basic infras-tructure, exempt the projects from customs and other duties,avail visas for Indian project personnel and nominate coun-terpart personnel to the project to enable technology transferwithin the first five years of the project.

The Indian Government will consider further supportunder the above projects to facilitate the establishment of thenecessary architecture for e-networking between theSecretariat and the five co-ordinating Ministries in Kenya,Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

5.3 Energy sectorThe Government of India took note of the concerns of the

EAC on the energy deficiencies that had cost the countrieshuge losses in their Gross Domestic Products. The IndianGovernment will support the EAC in this sector with empha-sis on wind, biomass and methane gas exploitation. Technicalteams will be exchanged to assess the required support byAugust, 2007.

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5.4 Agriculture SectorThe Government of India took note of the low level of agri-

cultural productivity in the EAC countries and the frequentdroughts that have caused serious food shortages in the region.The Indian Government expressed willingness to supportEAC towards the improvement of agricultural productivitiesand value addition. In this regard, the Indian Government:

a) Undertook to support the transformation and revamp-ing of the Tropical Pesticide Research Institute (TPRI) basedin Arusha to not only undertake research in pestcides but alsogive it an expanded mandate in agricultural research;

b) Will interest Indian farmers through their State FarmersAssociations and State Governments to invest in farming ven-tures in East Africa; and

c) Will support an exchange programme for agriculturaltechnical experts from both sides to develop the necessaryskills to facilitate the transformation of EAC agriculture.

5.5 Capacity Building and Application of Science andTechnology

The parties noted that there was much scope for coopera-tion in this sector in view of the advances made by India in theapplication of science based information and managementsystems. India expressed its readiness to support the estab-lishment of the EAC Science and Technology Council (STC)and Institute to assist the region intensify and widen the appli-cation of science and technology in the production processesand better decision making.

The Indian Government will support a technical missionto EAC to develop a detailed support proposal for the EACScience and Technology Council and Institute by end of May2007.

In addition, Indian Government offered 10 Scholarshipsto the East African Community Secretariat to be utilised in thedevelopment of prioritised competencies in the region espe-cially in IT based and technology fields.

5.6 Capital MarketsThe Indian Government noted the strong desire of the

EAC to develop strong capital markets as a basis for mobilis-ing capital in the region following the Indian model. Indiaexpressed strong desire to support EAC in these fields:

a) Establishment of the institutional framework and nec-essary infrastructure for the proposed EAC Securities MarketsInstitute and assist in the review of the legal and regulatoryregimes for smooth capital markets operations in the region;

b) Assist training of trainers in capital markets operationscoupled with regular personnel exchanges to enrich the expe-riences in the stock market operations in EAC and India; and

c) Exchange of technical teams to fine tune the proposalfor support in the strengthening of the capital markets oper-ations in the region by June 2007.

5.7 TourismThe parties noted the great tourism potential existing in the

two sides. It was noted that India had successfully marketed

its tourism potential through the "Incredible India" brand.India indicated her willingness to support EAC in developingthe region's tourism potential including the operationalisa-tion of the EAC Tourism and Wildlife Conservation Agencyand exchange of personnel in the sector. It was agreed thattechnical teams will be exchanged to work out the details ofthe needed support by July/August 2007.

5.8 East African Development Bank (EADB)The parties noted the critical role that a strengthened

EADB would play in mobilising development resources par-ticularly for long term infrastructure and other activities.Currently, EADB enjoys a small line of Credit from the EximBank of India to the tune of US$ 5 million.

It was agreed that Exim Bank and EADB engage in nego-tiations on the issue of lines of credit. It was further agreedthat Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) also exam-ines ways and means of extending funds for on-lending byEADB. On its part, the Indian Government will explore thepossibility of becoming a shareholder of EADB.

5.9 Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) ConclavesOn the request by EAC to host a CII- EAC Conclave on

the sideline of the Commonwealth Heads of States andGovernment Summit in Kampala, Uganda in November2007, the Indian Government advised that the next Conclavewas planned to be held in Kampala from 26th to 29th of June2007 and notice to that effect had already been released.

5.10 Proposed Trade and Investment Framework Agreementbetween EAC and India

On the proposal by EAC to conclude a Trade andInvestment Framework Agreement between the parties, theIndian Government welcomed the idea. It was, therefore,agreed that:a) India commences a desk study to be finalised within amonth;b) The results of the desk study are shared with EAC by midApril 2007;c) A joint technical team to discuss a detailed feasibility draftAgreement starts work by end of April 2007;d) Joint negotiations commence immediately after the jointtechnical team finalises its work (proposed timeframe end ofJune 2007).

5.11 Planning/Technical MissionIn view of the urgent need to concretise the proposals for

support, India agreed with the proposal by EAC that the lat-ter hosts a joint planning/technical mission to work outdetailed documentation for projects and programmes.

Further, that following the planning/technical mission'sreport, a high level meeting between the Indian Governmentand EAC be held in Arusha to consider the concrete projectsrequiring Indian Government support.Anand Sharma John Arap KoechMinister of State Chairperson, EAC Council Ministry of External Affairs of Ministers


I N C R E D I B L E I N D I A

The state of Nagaland, in India’snortheast, has a thickly-woodedmountainous terrain with clearstreams cutting a path through itsnumerous valleys. An unexploredparadise, Nagaland offers breathtak-ing scenery, exotic flora and fauna, a“laid-back” environment and theinherent hospitality of the Naga peo-

ple. Nagaland is a place where you can put the brakes on,recharge your energy, feel good about yourself, go back tobasics and learn to appreciate life and Mother Nature.

A land with more than a 100 tribes, Nagaland covers anarea of 16,488 sq. km. It is encircled by Assam in the northand west, by Burma and Arunachal Pradesh in the east, andManipur in the South. The state is dominated by Nagacommunities and, hence, it forms a single cultural regiongenerally definable by common cultural and linguistic tra-ditions.

Nagaland has a unique blend of the ancient and mod-ern, of Eastern and Western, and is the only state in Indiawhere English is the official language.

Flora and Fauna: The variations in the altitude, climateand soil have given rise to a diversity of forest types, rang-ing from tropical evergreen to temperate evergreen and theconiferous. The largest rhododendron in the world is foundin Nagaland. Bamboo groves are extensive everywhere.Among the common species, mention may be made of theNaga Bhe and plants such as Mesuaferrea, Careyaarbotreaand Fiscus Electica. On the hill slopes are found oak, chest-nut, birch, magnolia, cherry, maple, laurel and fig. Pinetrees are found at higher altitudes, varying from 3,000 to4,000 feet.

Nagaland is the meeting ground for the sub-Himalayan,Indian, Chinese and Burmese fauna. Elephants, tigers,barking deer and sambar are found in the state. Monkeys,jackals, wild buffaloes, wild pigs, bear and wild dogs aresparsely distributed through the Naga Hills.

Dzukou Valley: This valley is tucked away at 2,438 metres.From June to September, the entire valley is covered witha carpet of wild flowers. Here, you are completely at peacewith nature. The valley is ringed by hills and natural cavesand is ideal for camping.

Japfu Peak: Scaling the Japfu peak at 3,048 metres can betiring, but the expansive vista of natural beauty compensatesthe effort put in. The range is covered by mist at the breakof dawn, adding to its mystic beauty.

Kohima War Cemetery: Kohima War Cemetery offersspace for a contemplative stroll. This is a symbolic memo-rial raised to the sacrifices made by the officers and men ofthe allied forces, to halt the tide of the Japanese onslaught

Enchanting

NAGALAND

during the Second World War. This was their last post. Thecemetery is beautifully and meticulously maintained by theCommonwealth War Graves Commission.

Wildlife Sanctuaries: Nagaland boasts of several sanctu-aries, each different in terms of variety and scenic beauty.The Fakim Sanctuary is close to the Myanmar border,receives high rainfall and is home to some of rare species offlora and fauna. The Intanki Wildlife Sanctuary is the hometo some rare species of birds and the Hoolock Gibbon, theonly Gibbon found in India.

Tourist Permits: Domestic tourists visiting Nagaland arerequired to obtain an Inner Line Permit. These permits areissued by: The Resident Commissioner, Nagaland House,29 Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi; Additional ResidentCommissioner, Nagaland House, 12 Shakespeare Sarani,Kolkata; Assistant Resident Commissioner, NagalandHouse, Nongrim Hills, Shillong, Meghalaya; AssistantResident Commissioner, Nagaland House, Guwahati,Assam. It is also issued by the Deputy Commissioner,Dimapur, Nagaland.

Foreign Tourists need a Restricted Area Permit from theMinistry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi.

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HOW TO GET THERE

BY AIR: The nearest airport isDimapur (74 km from the statecapital Kohima), which is air-linkedwith Kolkata.

BY RAIL: Dimapur also serves asthe nearest railhead, and is con-nected with some of the majorcities of India.

BY ROAD: By road, Kohima isaccessed by National Highway 39.Kohima is well connected by thisroad from Dimapur.

BEST TIME TO VISIT:You can visit Nagaland throughoutthe year.

WHERE TO STAY:Nagaland offers a range of accom-modation from spare and simple todeluxe.

T O U R I S T I N F O R M A T I O N



■■ K. MATHEWS, a noted expert on African affairs and international relations, is currently Professor of InternationalRelations at the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, since 2003. Earlier, he was Professor of African Studies and Head of theDepartment at the University of Delhi (1991-2003). He has lived in Africa for about 17 years and has travelled extensive-ly in the continent. He has taught at the Universities of Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania (1976-82), and at the University of Nigeria,Nsukka, (1982-90). He has also held visiting research/teaching position in several other universities/institutions, includ-ing the University of Oxford, England (1988-89), Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada, the Africa Institute of South Africa,Pretoria (1998), among others. He has over 80 publications to his credit. His book, ‘Africa, India and South-SouthCooperation’ is widely referred in India and outside.

■■ YESHI CHOEDON is Associate Professor in International Organisation in the School of International Studies,Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She did her Ph.D. from the School of International Studies, JNU, in 1988 andworked as Lecturer and later as Reader in Political Science and International Relations from October 1988 to March 2004at Sikkim Government College, Gangtok. Her area of specialisation is the United Nations. Choedon was awarded the UGC“Career Award” in 1995 and also the ‘DAAD Fellowship’ in 1997. She published a book entitled ‘China and the UnitedNations’ in 1990 and has published extensively.

■■ RUCHITA BERI is Research Officer at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). She is also the vicepresident of the African Studies Association of India. She has an M.Phil. degree from the School of International Studies,Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is also an alumnus of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research,Uppsala University, Sweden, and Women in International Security, CISSM, University of Maryland, USA. For the last18 years she has been involved in research on political and security issues relating to Sub-Saharan Africa and has partici-pated in various national and international conferences and also published numerous articles in books and journals.

■■ M. VENKATARAMAN is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Addis Ababa University,Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has served as Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Asmara,Eritrea, between July 1999 and July 2004. He completed his Ph.D. in 1997 from the Centre for South and Southeast AsianStudies, University of Madras.

■■ JAMAL M. MOOSA is currently working as Reader (International Law, Human Rights and Minorities’ Rights) in theAcademy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. New Delhi. His areas of specialisation are African Studies,International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights and Conflict Studies. Currently, he is working on issues related to childsoldiers, refugees and stateless persons and Francophone Africa. He has also contributed articles to Africa Quarterly and Journalof Peace Studies. Moosa did his Master’s in Political Science from the Centre for Political Studies, JNU. He was awardedM.Phil. degree for his dissertation tilted, ‘Ethnicity and Secessionist Struggle: A Comparative Study of Biafra and Eritrea’,from the Centre for West Asian and African Studies, School of International Studies, JNU. Subsequently, he went on todo his Ph.D. on the theme, ‘Ethnic Conflict and the Problem of Refugees: A Comparative Study of Rwanda and Burundi’from the same university.

■■ RANJIT KUMAR is working as Special Correspondent for defence and diplomatic affairs with Navbharat Times, NewDelhi. Invited as a visiting Press Fellow by the University of Cambridge, U.K., Kumar has written books on the Kargilconflict, India’s nuclear policy and on SAARC titled ‘South Asian Union’. The author has visited India’s peace-keepingmissions in Sierra Leone and Lebanon.

■■ KAMINI KRISHNA is Lecturer at the University of Zambia, School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She did herPh.D., Master’s and B.Ed. degrees from the University of Patna (India). Immediately after obtaining her doctorate degreein Indian History and Archaeology, she proceeded to England where she did research on bronze iconography. She authoreda book entitled ‘Bronzes of Early Bihar’. Dr. Krishna has presented papers at international conferences. Dr. Krishna is cur-rently researching Indo- African Relations. She has also been signed by the Indian High Commission, Lusaka (Zambia),to do research on Indians settled in Zambia.

■■ MANISH CHAND is editor of Africa Quarterly. He writes on foreign policy, politics, culture and books for Indo-Asian NewsService (IANS). He has also worked with The Times of India, The Asian Age and Tehelka. His articles have been published in lead-ing national and international dailies.

■■ Contributors

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Africa Quarterly, published since 1961, is devoted to the study and objective analyses of African affairs andissues related to India-Africa relations. Contributions are invited from outstanding writers, experts and spe-cialists in India, Africa and other countries on various political, economic, social-cultural, literary, philo-sophical and other themes pertaining to African affairs and India-Africa relations. Preference will be givento those articles which deal succinctly with issues that are both important and clearly defined. Articles whichare purely narrative and descriptive and lacking in analytical content are not likely to be accepted.Contributions should be in a clear, concise, readable style and written in English.

Articles submitted to Africa Quarterly should be original contributions and should not be under consid-eration by any other publication at the same time. The Editor is responsible for the selection and acceptanceof articles, but responsibility for errors of facts and opinions expressed in them rests with authors. Manuscriptssubmitted should be accompanied with a statement that the same has not been submitted/accepted for pub-lication elsewhere. Copyright of articles published in the Africa Quarterly will be retained by the IndianCouncil for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

Manuscripts submitted to Africa Quarterly should be typed double space on one side of the paper and twocopies should be sent. A diskette (3 ½” ) MS-Dos compatible, and e-mail as an attachment should be sentalong with the two hard copies. Authors should clearly indicate their full name, address, e-mail, academicstatus and current institutional affiliation. A brief biographical note (one paragraph) about the writer mayalso be sent.

The length of the article should not normally exceed 7,000 to 8,000 words, or 20 to 25 ( A-4 size) typedpages in manuscript. Titles should be kept as brief as possible.

Footnote numbering should be clearly marked and consecutively numbered in the text and notes placedat the end of the article and not at the bottom of the relevant page. Tables (including graphs, maps, figures)must be submitted in a form suitable for reproduction on a separate sheet of paper and not within the text.Each table should have a clear descriptive title and mention where it is to be placed in the article. Place allfootnotes in a table at the end of the article. Reference numbers within the text should be placed after thepunctuation mark.

Footnote style: In the case of books, the author, title of the book, place of publication, publisher, dateof publication and page numbers should be given in that order, e.g. Basil Davidson, ‘The Blackman’sBurden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation State’, London, James Curry, 1992, pp. 15-22.

In the case of articles, the author, title of article, name of the journal, volume and issue number in brack-ets, the year and the page numbers should be given in that order.

In addition to major articles and research papers, Africa Quarterly also publishes short articles in the sec-tion titled News & Events. They may not exceed 2,000 words in length. Contributions of short stories andpoems are also welcome.

Contributors to Africa Quarterly are entitled to two copies of the issue in which their article appears inaddition to a modest honorarium. Contributors of major articles accepted for publication will receive up toa maximum of Rs. 4,000.

Contributions may be sent by post to:The Editor

Africa QuarterlyIndian Council for Cultural Relations

Azad BhavanIndraprastha EstateNew Delhi-110 002

Contributions may be e-mailed to:

[email protected]

Note to Contributors

africaVolume 47, No. 1

February-April 2007

I N D I A N C O U N C I L F O R C U L T U R A L R E L A T I O N S

Q U A R T E R L Y

! India’s energy safari in Africa

! India and its peace-keeping missions

! Ethiopia-India ties: Upward spiral

! Globalisation and democracy in Africa

! In Conversation: Wangari Maathai

! Trade ties: India and Zambia

! U.N. reforms: An African perspective



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