seeRt1 ne e u 10 1 1110111 STOCT MENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE AFRICAN POSITIONI Withinl the P ISt few months there have been ind1cations trat some African represenf tives y strongly challenge developed counfries• doctrine im environmental matters at the upcoming Stockholm Conference•- per aps as strongly as Brazil has done on previous occasions While they may be overridcla by more lllCderete viJ of other Africln rep esentatives their views linking environmentI 1nd development wfll be with us in the years to come I ECA Versus OAU The Economic Commission for Africa ECA 1s attempting disassociate itself from the guidelines adopted at an April meetiQg in rakar at the UN ' s Institute for Economic Dev lop 1181 t and Planning IOEr · The representatives of eight African nal ions concluded that lmeeting with a proposed Joint African stand wh1 h was sent to the lmembe s of the Organization of African Unity OAU The meeting also ca11 L for a caucus of African nations 1n Stockhi lm two days prior to the opening of the UN Conference on the Human Environment on June 5 to discuss and adopt common African positions on aJnda Items I I The OAU will be having its annual summit June 5-15 in Rabat The USG has taken a hands-off 1pproach to these deliberetions for feer I that any efforts on our part would be cou ter-productive and n the SECitLl UC I 0itCJ0II 813581 SZOitCIJ 110 I OllLl i 61SJS · -2- hope that the J re moderate African states will modify the proposed posltlo Africans Suspicious of Developed Countries' Motives The Dakar I I group of exerts take the position that the documents prepareil for the Stockholm Conference give far more weight to the preoccupati s of · ' · · - ' - · discussed apStocr holm are of a political nature and urges rer resenta• tion there by Afrli can cabinet ministers backed by experts The group rec0tr111ends hat all African countries should de1111nd a reapprlhal of all the reg¥latiors methods and models imposed from abroad lhich have so far lgoverred the economic decision of some African countries and wllich have 1elt to a ruinous exploitation and waste of thejr I natura1 res9urces _ • _ Dakar Group Proposes Reparations The group contends that African I nations have a right to reparation by countries which have prtially based and continue to base their growth on this exploitatf j I I The talk of lrepar t ions does not apper to mean actual repar tions The drafte s of he Dakar guidelines were Messrs Humaraci qnd Ben Selah of the Environmental Secretariat in Geneva and Sami Amin of IDEP D Ami1 is Director of this UN Institu e in Dakai s tays in the favor ot Senegal 's President Senghor is a Marxist and Is J10 longer considered la citizen of his country of 6irth Egypt D r Amin was one of the two major forces behind controversial papers di s tributed at the lfrica1 Population Conference in Ghana during Decenf •r 1971 OE J SS flED J ft fO51 Aulhority Sy - 1 GE6PS ill8 F8 11 11 B155 1I E8RE'1 118 F8R l911 BISSOi -3- ' but rather clpens 'tlon in the form of increased foreign aid iThe polluters-11111sj •Pay principle for ongoing activities is endorsf The proposed stra egy is to attempt to split tha Americans from tha Europeans l I at the Stockholm Co ference by saddling the Europeans with the onus of I · I colon a e r no e tt t k o s not see I any conflict etween development and environment provided development is within the fra work of a model specifically designed to se ve the Interests of frica's population Although the model is not spelled out there Is a hin of it In the group's call for an examinatipn of all mining an6 powe projects in the perspective of long-term selfcentered devel opmenL The group also cal ls for regional cooperation particularly with egard to river basins and coastal areas On popul tlon growth and labor the group proposes stating that The reject the arguirent according to which a halt to population growth advocated In certain quarters as al waylof hal ting the advance of the •colored parfl Is one of the preconditions for development and for safe guar1ng the human environment in Africa They rejel t the idea of African people being simply I considered as a factor of production as cheap labour which only worsens Inequalities lo the International I division of labour or the use of Africans to feed the lgrowth of the advanced industrialised countries The Ideas' Wi l l i linger After the Rhetoric Dies It Is doubt ful that such pol r ic language will end up in the proposed joint Arrican stand if one is adopted but this direction of thinking may Wfll surface 9 8Rn1'll8 F8MUIII II l Olill SECREIJHG I GRC OU D199 11 -4- ' The Dakar gr up's r roposals reflect not only an Increasing African militancy on l development matters but ·an atte11pt to link a series of development-relatJ Issues Thus t he Stockholm Conference on ithe Human I I Environment s seer as a forum for going beyond purely envlronii ntal matters Into po11 t cal social trade and economic questions The basic poslti worf ed out In Dakar in April 1972 li kely will r appear in some form at the UN Conferences on the Law of the Sea 1n 1973 and on I I World Popula l on I 1974 as well as In other forums DE ' SSlflED Authorl y A __ ft f05I Sy 9 9A f 'IIO FOll IOII ll ill I •