MEDIA REACTION WSSD; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 001965 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WSSD; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "Needed: sustainable political development" the independent daily "The Daily News" dedicated its August 27 editorial to encouraging African leaders attending the Earth Summit in South Africa to "relate the fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS to the development of sustainable political systems." Excerpts: ¶2. "The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD),opened by President Thabo Mbeki this week will enable many African leaders to exchange ideas on how to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS on the continent. For Africa it seems that far more important at this stage is the development of sustainable political systems. Many analysts have suggested that as long as African politics are mired in conflict, there will be little time to concentrate on the fight against poverty. They suggested that the `political kingdom' to which Kwame Nkurumah referred, may still be an unattainable dream for many Africans. Has Africa had much time to tackle poverty since Ghana became independent in 1957? There have been coups, civil wars, corruption on a grand scale, there has been electoral fraud on a huge scale. Yet poverty has escalated. Clearly, what needs urgent attention in Africa today are its political systems. Democracy has a chance, but is frowned upon by many leaders because it deprives them of the chance to be tribal chiefs they really want. At the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, let's hope they can relate the fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS to the development of sustainable political systems as well." SULLIVAN