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EU Committee: EU and Africa

My Lords, I have been asked to reply on behalf of my party to this important debate, and I welcome the opportunity to be back in your Lordships' House, especially as a temporary member of the Front-Bench team again. However, it is a very temporary position, as I now spend 50 per cent of my life working in Africa, so I cannot take part in your Lordships’ debates as I used to. Such debates are always fascinating, but this has been a particularly fascinating hour and a half. We have a responsibility following 2005. It was Britain that made it the year of Africa and raised awareness. It is now a big responsibility for Britain within the EU to take matters forward, as many noble Lords have said. I particularly welcome the remarks of my noble friend Lord Bowness and his work in chairing Sub-Committee C. There is no doubt that when a committee as well versed as this sits down and examines the issues, we see what has been achieved—there has been achievement—but also many of the things yet to be done, as the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, explained. The European Union has a good system, if it can be made to work, to help the African Union develop, but like so many grand bodies it will be only as effective as its constituent parts. The same is very true for the African Union, which has some strong, devoted and committed members and some that just sit on the sidelines. We have exactly the same situation in the European Union. We in the European Union are natural partners for the African Union, but the capacities are very different. If there is one plea that I put to the Government in all that they are doing, and doing well through the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office, it is that we need to build capacity to deliver the aspirations that we share on all Benches in your Lordships' House, and probably across all Governments. The capacity to deliver is lacking. Let me say a few words about governance. Through Britain’s activity in 2005 and the Commission for Africa, we moved this interesting continent to the heart of EU and G8 policy thinking, but we cannot stop. All the bodies in the world that may be set up to follow the Commission for Africa will be only as effective as the inputs in the countries concerned. Hard work is now with us. The year of Africa is past. We have to focus on a decade of delivery. Although the report does not deal with trade—it was dealt with in a previous report—our European Union Committee has put its finger on many of the challenges facing Africa. Delivery alone may be a key word, but when we consider just how much need there is for faster sustained growth if African nations are to spring the poverty trap of more than 3 million Africans still living on less than a dollar a day, then the means to achieve that have to be willed in terms of human input, not just money. It is very easy to commit increasing sums of European money to this continent that is so much in need, but it is the implementation and what we do with the money that counts for the Africans. I spent the first half of this week in Nigeria. Consider 150 million people. Regrettably, so many of those talented Nigerians are outside Nigeria. One of the efforts of each European Union member should be to connect with the diaspora of Africa and encourage those committed and well educated people to return to help their own countries. It is a question of persuasion. It is not always a question of supplementing salaries, but it is a question of believing that they can make their own countries a better place from within those countries rather than by standing outside and only sending remittances. That is an effective way in which we could help those countries perhaps to meet the millennium development goals that are significantly off track at the present time. Assistance from the European Union must be in the three main areas of the co-ordination of development assistance, building partnerships in governance, and human rights. I am convinced that we have the people within the European Union to do it. We have the ideas and, in most countries in Africa, we have the partnerships that can deliver on the ground. There are exceptions and I will return to the subject of Zimbabwe in a few moments. But what seems to be lacking is the trust between some countries in Europe and some countries in Africa and the ability to see that success in Africa is success for the European Union. One country in the world has seen such success clearly. China has seen that it can gain a great deal from being active in Africa. There is an enormous gap between our approach to the needs of Africa in infrastructure and the approach of China. I learnt directly this week just how important the issue is to African leaders. They tell me every time that, while we in the West, in government and in companies, talk about conditionalities, the Chinese say, ““We want to sign; we want to do business with you””. There is a danger, as was cited by the noble Lord, Lord Lea of Crondall, that if we do not act to understand the way in which China is now starting to work with Africa, we in the European Union will lose out very badly indeed. And this will be not only in the economic relationship, but in the promotion of good governance and human rights—which we believe is the right way to go and which the majority of citizens of African countries believe is the right way to go. Governments could be tempted by what is on offer from China to go down a very different path. The packages offered by China now seem very attractive to African leaders, but they may havemajor shortcomings in the longer term. ButAfrican countries will win from obtaining that infrastructure—road and rail transport, processing plants and help with agriculture. These will appear to be very attractive, with soft loans repayable over the long term. They are the kind of projects that western Governments regard as too risky at the moment. We must look at what is happening in that relationship, or the EU’s influence will be put aside and behind the needs of African Governments. I mentioned the importance of improving governance. I have been impressed by some of the countries that have seriously taken up the APRM, which many noble Lords, particularly the noble Lord, Lord Hannay of Chiswick, have referred to. Governments want to fight corruption. The work of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria is very significant. It is not widely understood, but it is making progress in a country that has had far too much corruption. However, it is not getting much support from anywhere except the United Kingdom. I wish that Brussels could look for successes, even if they were not invented in the European Union but in those countries, and could strengthen and espouse such things as the fight against corruption, where the committees are trying to get to the bottom of the problem and change minds. A lot can be done by encouragement and involvement, but successes often pass us by because they are not on somebody’s programme sheet but have come from the country concerned. If home-grown successes in Africa are supported, they will lead to successful copying in neighbouring countries. Here, I think particularly of Rwanda, which has transformed itself in the past 10 years. While it may not have the sort of governance that we want to see in countries across Africa, it is gradually evolving its own form of good governance and of open debate, which was not possible 10 years ago. I do not think that we in the European Union give enough attention to a sad development in human rights. I am told by representatives of Liberty, who spoke with many of my Conservative colleagues earlier today, that more women and young people are being exploited today than were ever involved in slavery centuries ago. That is a real problem in Africa. It is not one that can be solved by diktat from European Union members. We must work with African Governments to stop the trade in children and women, which is a serious matter. Speaking of human rights, let me turn to the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza. What is happening in Zimbabwe is tragic and is a blot on the African landscape, as the noble Lord, Lord Hughes of Woodside, said. However, it is not simply Africa’s problem; it is for the whole world to stop such situations developing, which can happen only through dialogue. It is sad that, at the moment, it is a dialogue of the deaf when it comes to those who knew Zimbabwe in the days when it could feed itself. It is a dialogue of the deaf if we try to dictate. I do not fully understand how the Government can get into dialogue in Harare, but there are people in Zimbabwe who are desperate to try to help change. There is no clear Opposition, which is a grave problem, as the noble Lord, Lord Hughes of Woodside, said. The human rights of people in Zimbabwe are a shocking example to other nations that think that they may be able to get away with poor human rights records, which includes Sudan and Western Sahara. Too many copycat situations could be spawned if the European Union and, in particular, the quiet diplomacy of the British Government are not deployed. There is no doubt that we have to make another effort. When speaking of human rights and the failure to persuade change, the noble Lord, Lord Hannay of Chiswick, made a serious point: how do we deal with failed or failing states? Much has been written. Professor Chester Crocker at Georgetown University has concentrated on looking for solutions. The Global Leadership Foundation, of which I am proud to be a trustee, is trying to assist Governments who are in danger of breaking up or systems of government that are not working well together. But more attention on failed states must be an effort that the European Union can make. In my days in government, I well remember spending much time with the east European countries, helping them to move from failed systems of government towards systems of government that would make them eligible to become members of the European Union. We have done it before in a different context. I see no reason why the European Union and the member states cannot use their skills and experience, together with others who are also seeking to overcome failures of the past, to make it all the more effective. It is very easy in a debate such as this, particularly when the expertise of this committee has shown us a great deal of foresight, to be congratulatory and perhaps to look back at what has been done. But I want us to look forward: I am sure that the noble Baroness the Leader of the House will be looking forward in her remarks. It is in everyone’s interests across the world to see economic uplift in Africa. It is certainly, as the noble Lord, Lord Lea of Crondall, mentioned, very much in our self-interest to be involved, especially when we look at the development of the mega-cities without jobs and with considerable social problems. Here, I believe that budgetary support in development assistance, while it can be good, needs to be backed by expertise support. I come back to the comment that I have made on many of these issues: the expertise that is lacking will not be grown overnight in African countries, but having someone in charge of the implementation of European Union development assistance in every single office—someone who will really help to spend the money wisely—is something that we in Britain should really support. I believe that economic uplift is the wanted way by many African nations today. They want a reduction in the insecurity of doing business. I pay tribute to the comments of the EU-Africa Business Forum which met in Brussels just two weeks ago. It advocates not only greater private sector co-operation and dialogue but also much greater involvement with the public/private partnerships work of the EU-African fiscal policy. Some businesses have worked in Africa for donkey’s years—one is Unilever, in which I am proud to be a director with responsibility for the developing world. I have learnt from Unilever and many other businesses that very often the business sector, with proper governance, can help the European Union to help Africa to help itself. That I mention particularly as one of the ways in which we will build a very much more stable and growing Africa in the interests of all its people. We know well that there are some particularly difficult circumstances in different countries, but we do ourselves no justice—and certainly Africa an injustice—if we do not look at the economic growth that is occurring. Sub-Saharan Africa has changed. While growth averages 5 per cent across the OECD, in many countries in Africa we are now seeing figures of 6, 7, 10 or 15 per cent—there is growth there. We have to look at the success vehicles and work with those policies of success by enhancing those with expertise in an attempt to help the African Union to copy the success vehicles into the countries that do not have them at the moment. When success is recognised, as the committee clearly said in its report, we see improvements many times over. It has been an honour to speak again in your Lordships’ House. I hope that we will be able to deal with some of the detailed issues in this report, which is of great value. I hope that we can encourage our European Union colleagues to get really involved—not just to speak up but to deliver what needs tobe done for Africa. Africa will respond, but encouragement and expertise are what are needed.