The civil society in face of international decision makers

Inside the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, high ranking personalities were united: on the European side, Louis Michel, development and humanitarian aid commissioner, Peter Mandelson, commercial commissioner; on the African side, the chief negotiator of the central African zone, Antoine Tsimi and the ministers of the sub regions in charged of APE. Facing them on the hotel’s esplanade, the demonstrators were gathered by the PANAEC [1].

They were members and representatives of groups of professionals, of productors and of women, of non governmental organisations, of associations for the defence of citizens’ rights. They came from Gabon, from DRC, from Congo Brazzaville, the republic of central Africa; Sao Tomé and Principe and from Chad. With backup from slogans and tams tams, they showed their opposition to a free trade zone with the European Union, who is hidden under the initials of the EPA.

In Yaoundé, the PANAEC presented recommendations elaborated during the preparations for the meeting at Douala the 5th July 2007. They consider that the African countries are not ready to open their markets to stiff competition, all the more to European cpompetition, as foreseen by the EPA. Furthermore, the losses of customs revenue fragilise even more the already tight budget of the state concerned. In addition, Africa is not integrated enough to be an important interlocutor in the European Union. The PANAEC has therefore requested that Africa be given the time to develop economically before opening up its markets to competition. Otherwise, quoted Bernard Njonga, co-ordinator of PANAEC, “the flood of European products onto the central African markets will kill the states, lead to social and political upheavals, assassinate our most viable enterprises, crush our initiatives and farming productions and will definitely drive us all to take refuge in Europe.”

An international demonstration of scale

For the associations of the civil society, the European commissioners came to pressurised the African negotiators, as the deadline of 31 December 2007 fixed 5 years ago at the beginning of the negotiation approached. They were nevertheless confronted by a large opposition. So during the African/ European Union summit last December, the Senegal president took up the arguments raised by the farmers’ organisation and refused to sign the EPA. The mobilisation against the EPA countries has already permitted the African states to discuss among themselves and the representatives of the civil society association to participate in the debate. It reminds us of the mobilisation of the civil society in Latin America against the free trade treaty with the United States, which took place with fairer-based negotiations.

The mobilisation on the African continent has led to mobilisation inside Europe too. Over 20 representatives of African associations created an anti EPA group that materialised last December at the Trade Union centre in Paris. They hope to be able to take over the voice of Africa by addressing directly to the European Commission.

Also read: Resonances Africa N°20 - January 2008