| High-level talks begin at African housing and urban development
conference
DURBAN, 3 February 2005 - Ministers and senior officials from
more than 40 African countries gathered in Durban, South Africa on Thursday
at the First African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development
(AMCHUD) to thrash out ways of tackling growing urbanization in a continent
where, south of the Sahara, over 70 per cent of urban dwellers live in
slums.
The meeting, which ends tomorrow after two-days of high-level talks on
an Enhanced Framework of Implementation in Promoting Sustainable Cities
and Towns in Africa, is aimed at not only dealing with acute urban poverty
in the continent, but also pushing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
a step further than originally intended. It is organized jointly by the
Government of South Africa, the African Union and the United Nations Human
Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT).
In the build-up to the ministerial segment of the talks this week, representatives
of several countries stressed that Africa had to push particularly hard
on the MDGs, whatever the financial cost, because failure would carry
a heavier social and financial price in the longer-term. Given present
conditions, it is unlikely that Africa will be able to achieve the MDGs,
unless drastic action is taken to address the continent's most pressing
socio-economic crises.
Figures carried in the enhanced framework document showed that in sub-Sahara
Africa it is estimated that 71 percent of the population live in poverty;
that two out of five live in extreme poverty on less than one US dollar
a day; that 31 African countries' life expectancy is only 46 years, and
the per capita GDP just 469 US dollars. Africa is also the region most
heavily afflicted in the world by HIV/AIDS, with 25.4 million sufferers
in 2004 -- a year when 2.3 million Africans succumbed to the disease.
In Africa, rapid population growth has been accompanied by rapid urbanization.
The pace of socio-economic development in urban centers has not been matched
by parallel development of infrastructure and social service facilities.
In some cities, the population living in slum areas reaches more than
60 per cent. Consequently, the majority of the population in some of the
major African cities lives in abject poverty, illiteracy, and in unlivable
housing conditions. Lack of basic services, such as water and sanitation,
is an issue of major concern; only 19 per cent of the urban population
in Africa has access to running water and only 7.5 per cent is connected
to a sewerage system.
The eight-page document, negotiated over three days of painstaking talks
on the urbanization of poverty on a continent where 20 million refugees
have fled their countries, and where conflict has displaced a further
25 million people within their countries, is intended to enable Africa
to harness its resources and take the initiative in bringing relief and
hope to the poorest of the poor. The new framework aims to highlight measures
for better urban development policies and strategies, so that the governed
and those who govern will have a new urban vision for the future.
UN-HABITAT's Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, who arrived in
Durban on Wednesday to deliver a keynote address on urban poverty to the
ministers, will also be reporting the views expressed at the conference
to the Commission for Africa set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair to bring
African concerns to the fore of the agenda of the Group of Eight industrialized
nations.
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