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INSIDE AFRICA
Gadhafi to Head African Union
Aired February 7, 2009 - 19:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Isha Sesay. You are watching INSIDE AFRICA. This week, we go inside the African Union, which has just chosen Moammar Gadhafi for its rotating chairmanship. The Libyan president has some ambitious pan-Africanist goals, but he faces some enormous challenges in his new role. Over the next half of hour, CNN's Robyn Curnow will take us through those challenges, and on the lighter side, she'll give us a feel for the vibe of the host city, Addis Ababa. Here she is now with our special report from the Ethiopian capital.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, and welcome to Addis Ababa. Now, we're here in the Ethiopian capital during the African Union summit. This, of course, is an opportunity for African leaders to assess the state of the continent. It's also, though, a good opportunity for us to assess the impact of the African Union on the life of ordinary citizens.
For the next 12 months, Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi holds the reins of the African Union, and the newly elected A.U. chairman says he plans to steer it towards his long-held dream of a United States of Africa. While some dismiss his idea as a pipe dream, it actually dovetails with the A.U.'s founding mission.
PATRICK SMITH, AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL: Its aims are very similar to the European Union. That is, through a combination of a economic cooperation and agreement to build itself into a single market across the whole continent, and eventually to achieve a political union in which there will be a pan-African government.
CURNOW: Mr. Gadhafi may, however, find himself sidetracked from that goal. He faces a number of daunting challenges to stability around the continent. His predecessor as A.U. chairman cites Somalia, where about 3,000 A.U. troops are stationed.
JAKAYA KIKWETE, TANZANIAN PRESIDENT: The most difficult matter which I've handed over to -- to the new leadership is Somalia. Somalia is -- it has now taken an international dimension, with the piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
CURNOW: Hundreds of A.U. troops are also on the ground in Darfur and the eastern Congo. Critics say the African Union hasn't done nearly enough to end those conflicts, both of which have dragged on for years. But on that point, the A.U. does have its defenders.
SMITH: The United Nations, with all its resources, which are certainly hundred fold of the resources that the African Union has access to, all its resources -- its successes in countries such as Sudan, Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo have been extremely limited. So it seems slightly perverse to expect the African Union to achieve much more.
CURNOW: And then, there is Zimbabwe. For the most part, the A.U. has simply opted to stay out of the political and humanitarian crisis there.
SMITH: The African Union has really devolved all the major decision- making on the political situation in Zimbabwe to the regional body, which is the Southern African Development Community. And within that body, really that the pace of negotiations and the structure of those negotiations has been dominated by South Africa, by far the biggest power in the region.
CURNOW: But with thousands of Zimbabwean dying in a cholera epidemic, the threat of mass starvation and an economy in tatters, many human rights activists ask why Zimbabwe is not higher on the agenda. And in the face of so many glaring challenges, skeptics wonder how can the A.U. ever meet its lofty goals?
Human rights activists accuse African Union of shirking its responsibilities by constantly deferring down to regional organizations, such as the Southern African Development Community, or SADC. I sat down for a cup of coffee here in Addis with a Zimbabwean and a South African to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe. They say, despite the fact that there has been a power-sharing deal there, the situation is still desperate and it demands A.U. attention.
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CURNOW: We're here in Ethiopia. African leaders are meeting. What is your message to them?
KUMI NAIDOO, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: We're here to urge the African Union to act with urgency, to ensure that the people who are in prison in Zimbabwe are released. Those who have been abducted need to be produced by the government and brought -- if they need to be charged, must be brought to court. * REV. NICHOLAS MKARONDA, ZIMBABWEAN EXILE: What we expect the African Union to do is to provide an environment that is enabling and that gives confidence to civil society activists that the deal that was reached by the political parties, mediated by the regional body, will be implemented, and that their lives be secure. And we're saying to Africa, Zimbabwe had given a lead (ph). At independence, we raised our educational system. At independence, we opened people's clinics all over. At independence, we (inaudible) development programs going on. They have been completely, completely destroyed now.
But what also happens, I think what we need Africa to recognize, and African Union to recognize, is that the people who suffer most in Zimbabwe, the 90 percent are the poorest. When they flee, in what we call forced migration, they're going into the region to live amongst the poor. So the poor of Africa are looking after the poor of Africa.
CURNOW: Both of you have been -- and are being deeply affected by this crisis. You're a South African, but you're in the middle of a hunger strike.
NAIDOO: Well, you know, I was an activist in the ANC from the age of 14, right? And -- and I understood, you know, the -- how important solidarity was. In fact, we had a song that we used to sing to acknowledge all the peoples of the world that had supported us.
And, you know, the verse for Zimbabwe used to go "Zimbabwean people, loving people, yet we are far from home. We will need you, we will love you for the things you've done for us." Supporting our liberation struggle.
And so, how can we now be passive and not reciprocate that solidarity that we received? What we're appealing to African leaders is to recognize that those of you who might have received solidarity from Zimbabwe and feel you owe a debt -- and we certainly owe a debt to the people of Zimbabwe -- they need to understand that that debt is not owed to Mugabe and Zanu-PF alone. That is a debt that should be owed to the Zimbabwean people as a whole.
CURNOW: So, do you think African leaders have let you, Zimbabweans, down?
MKARONDA: As a Zimbabwean, I feel let down by African leaders. As a Zimbabwean, we have consistently, as citizens of Zimbabwe and the region, provided them with information, with testimonies of our experiences. They've (inaudible) our testimonies. But as a Zimbabwean and as an African, I still wish to say to African leaders, you have an opportunity, an opportunity to leave a legacy for this continent, an opportunity to leave a landmark for this continent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Powerful stuff.
Well, there's much more on this special edition of INSIDE AFRICA after a short break. We're going to be visiting one of the continent's biggest markets to assess just what kind of an impact the global economic downturn is having on Africa. Stay tuned.
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CURNOW: Welcome back to this special edition of INSIDE AFRICA from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. We're in the Makarta, which is one of the biggest markets in Africa. As you can see, it`s bustling with commerce. But African leaders are deeply concerned about the effects of the global economic crisis on Africa.
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CURNOW: Ethiopia is a nation of coffee drinkers. Coffee beans were first cultivated in this country hundreds of years ago. Coffee houses like Tomoka grow their own Ethiopian beans on site, and serve a strong, heady brew to locals and tourists. But the talk here is of tough time and the global economic downturn.
AKALU WOUBE, TOMOKA COFFEE HOUSE: They will come here, in the coffee house. They discuss about the economical problems. So -- the way it hurt them, that every -- every -- when they can't take a cup of coffee, they mention the economics problem.
CURNOW: Coffee accounts for much of Ethiopia's export revenue, and tourism is also an important money earner for this poor East African nation. Now, both these crucial industries are hurting, and the locals are feeling the effect. The assistant manager here says fewer tourists are visiting and drinking their coffee. Also, the coffee market has been hit by falling prices and sagging exports.
WOUBE: We export coffee. So the frequency of exporting coffee now it's become very slow.
CURNOW: Meeting in Addis Ababa, the African Union leaders devoted hours of discussion to the global financial crisis. Speakers painted a bleak picture of Africa's economies, which are hugely dependent on exporting commodities like coffee, sugar, cotton, as well as oil, gold and platinum to overseas markets.
DR. MAXWELL MKWEZALAMBA, A.U. ECONOMIC COMM.: Resulting in reduced demands in the prices for our primary commodities. This is going to negatively impact on a growth performance of the African continent.
CURNOW: The effects could be dire, according to leaders who are projecting slower economic growth in Africa, declining foreign reserves and a drop-off in foreign investment because of the credit crunch. Bleak assessments, which remind ordinary Ethiopians just how much their lives can be linked to the workings of complex global finance.
Almaz Edam (ph) is making traditional Ethiopian bread. She's all too aware of the fallout from the crisis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via translator): If anything happens in the U.S. or the rest of the world, it affects us.
CURNOW: She and her sister are proud of Ethiopia's heritage, especially the ancient traditions of coffee roasting and drinking. But like many families in Africa, they talk and worry, not yet knowing just how bad this year is going to be on the family finances and on their country's vulnerable economy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: I had a chance to sit down with the Tanzanian president to discuss the economic challenges facing Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAKAYA KIKWETE, TANZANIAN PRESIDENT: The effects of the economic crisis in the developed countries is now beginning to set here. Because reduction of consumption -- and we're dependent on export, commodity exports -- you see that it's falling exports. We're essentially commodity exporters, and with the falling demand, this is impacting us. For us, the price of cotton has fallen, the demand for cotton has fallen. The demand for coffee is also falling. So, as commodity exporters, we're having an effect on that. Tourism has fallen. Yes. I've visited our game parks last time, and the revenues have fallen between 8 and 15 percent.
CURNOW: So, we're talking here about perhaps less aid (ph).
KIKWETE: This is the fear, because when I addressed the General Assembly in New York in September last year, I said there is an economic crisis, but please, don't cut on aid to developing countries, because this is so critical for us, because aid helps us with infrastructure, with development of social and economic services for our people. So we need that, because if we lose on aid, so much more would be lost.
We're losing in terms of -- of -- on the production side, on the export side. If we lose on development -- on developing the basic social and economic services, now for Africa that's going to be a bit too much.
Again, we had voices here in the morning saying that this assurance that they will not cut down on aid. I don't know. With all these stimulus packages, so much money being diverted or spent on other activities, I don't know how much will be left for us. But we -- we can't worry.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Coming up after this break, it seems that the global economic downturn is not affecting business at Africa's best Italian restaurants.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: We're in the old part of Addis Ababa, in an area called Piazza, which is, of course, an Italian name, and there is an Italian restaurant. Restorante Castelli has a fantastic story. We're going to tell you about the history and the very rich cultural heritage of this restaurant. It's famous. Many people say it's one of the best restaurants on the continent. Let's take a look.
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CURNOW: Thank you. This is a family restaurant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course.
CURNOW: And so, tell me a little bit about the history. Your dad came here when?
TIZIANA CASTELLI, RISTORANTE CASTELLI: Dad came in 1936.
CURNOW: With Mussolini's troops. He was a soldier in Mussolini's government.
CASTELLI: And he liked it so much, he decided to stay. And I was born here, I was brought up here. So this is home for me. I only (inaudible).
CURNOW: This wall is fascinating, because it's a little bit of the history of this restaurant. It's (inaudible) Ethiopia at the same time.
CASTELLI: They have famous customers who've been here. Romano Prodi is the ex-prime minister of Italy. Bob Geldof.
CURNOW: He is the one the city comes to.
(CROSSTALK)
CASTELLI: He is the one. Yes. We also have an article about him.
CURNOW: Let's go to the kitchen. When did you open this restaurant?
CASTELLI: In 1957.
CURNOW: 1957. And it's -- nothing's changed.
For beginning of the.
(CROSSTALK)
CASTELLI: It has to pass through the machine many times.
CURNOW: OK.
CASTELI: And then it will be put in this machine.
CURNOW: Now, this is obviously a newer machine, and it can make any type of pasta.
CASTELLI: Yeah. It can make pasta ravioli, which is soft pasta.
CARLOTTO CASTELLI, OWNER: (SPEAKING ITALIAN)
CASTELLI: This machine is from 1955.
CURNOW: 1955.
CASTELLI: Yes.
CURNOW: So, it was brought over from Italy. In 1955.
CASTELLI: When the Italians came.
CURNOW: When the Italians came. With the troops, with the soldiers. They brought this.
CASTELLI: My father.
CURNOW: So, he was an Italian soldier, and he traveled with this pasta makers to Ethiopia.
This smells wonderful. It's a wood-fired stove. It's -- how old is it?
CASTELLI: It's 40 years old.
CURNOW: OK.
CASTELLI: It gives the food a very good taste. It's much better than gas or electric. It's the roast veal, and potatoes.
CURNOW: And you've been cooking like this since this restaurant opened.
CASTELLI: Yes. Since my parents and my uncle opened it 50 years ago.
CURNOW: And it's this very traditional Italian food. From what region in Italy?
CASTELLI: Well, we come from Piedmonte, which is in the north, and my family is very proud of the food from the north. But we have food from all over Italy.
CURNOW: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here meeting my friends from business and enjoying the food. It's one of the best restaurants that I've ever been in Africa. And by Italian standards as well, it's very good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, this is the best.. Nothing compares, anywhere in the world.
CURNOW: This is some of the pasta we saw being cooked in there earlier. What is this?
CASTELLI: This is fettuccini algo gonzola (ph).
CURNOW: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Coming up after this break, more from Addis Ababa on INSIDE AFRICA.
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CURNOW: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. I'm Robyn Curnow. Well, that was just an example of what it's like shooting on location. We're here in Addis Ababa, and one of the things we've really enjoyed about this trip is Ethiopian coffee. There are coffee bars dotted across this city. Also, there are clubs, playing traditional Ethiopian music. But one night, my cameraman, Shevon Rasin (ph), and I hit the town. This is what we experienced.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The masenko is made from wood, goat skin and horse tail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Our fathers and grandfathers listened to this music and played these traditional musical instruments, the masenko and krar.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Well, that's it for the special edition of INSIDE AFRICA. From Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks so much for watching. I hope we've given you a sense of the rich culture of this nation, and, of course, also of the challenges facing African leaders.
But we're going to leave you with some pictures that we filmed at the African Union summit, of leaders wearing their traditional clothing, and I think mention must be given to Moammar Gadhafi, the Libyan leader, for being quite bling. His gold robe definitely took the sartorial award of the week.
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SESAY: Many thanks for that, Robyn. I think it's time to put Addis Ababa on your list of places to visit, all of you out there.
Before we go, this reminder -- you can watch INSIDE AFRICA online by going to our Web page, cnn.com/insideAfrica. I'll be back with a brand new show next week. Thanks for watching this special presentation.
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