Amilcar Cabral's Vision of Diplomacy
An address by Ms. Carmen Neto, on the occasion of the 4th Annual Amilcar Cabral/Martin Luther King Day Conference, 17 January 2000
Let me express my gratitude to the organisers of this meeting for extending the invitation to me to address this conference. I consider it an honour to Guinea-Bissau's re-emergence as a democratic nation. Allow me, before reading my speech, to take this opportunity to offer you my respectful greetings and to say how honoured I feel to be here before the "4th Annual Amilcar Cabral/Martin Luther King Day Conference". I do so with joy and in full awareness of the fact that you are our companions in struggle. This difficult, but inspiring struggle is for the reconstruction of our country, as well as for the realisation a world of peace, security and progress.
In this paper, I attempt to look ahead into the "The political thought of AmÌlcar Cabral at the end of the Millennium", in relation to Diplomacy and International Politics of Cabral/PAIGC/Movement for National Liberation. I also tackle the concept of regional integration within AmÌlcar Cabral's work on regional integration in West Africa in the past, present and future. He was a visionary who was dynamic and understood world politics. In this regard he would have wanted to see a sense of African community. On the same paper, I analyse AmÌlcar Cabral with the Non Aligned Movement or West African Unity redefining integration movements for the 21st century. To finish, we will concentrate on the reinterpretation of AmÌlcar Cabral's work: are AmÌlcar Cabral's thoughts outdated or whether they are applicable today?
Amilcar Cabral:
In 1968/9, thorough the organisation and clear political leadership of AmÌlcar Cabral, in spite of a Portuguese military presence even stronger in proportion to the populations involved, the PAIGC controlled over two-thirds of Guinea, while continuing and extending the armed struggle. They completely transformed the life of the people within the liberated zones.
Cabral's political analysis however, go beyond the confines of Guinea itself, to revolutionary movements throughout the world, including and perhaps particularly those in Europe. The struggle in Guinea is of prime importance as an outstanding illustration of the need to study one's own concrete conditions, rather than relying on the experience of others, valuable as this may be.
The physical aspects of Cabral's work was fragmented by the very nature of its subject - a national liberation struggle fought under the most trying conditions and motivated by the dual purpose of freeing a colonial people from foreign domination and of creating a social revolution. Cabral was the best read of all the African nationalists or revolutionaries. That is, at the two extremes of political discourse, in his capacity for abstract theorising and in his sensitivity to social process at the village level, Cabral was the most gifted member of his generation.
It is also held together by Cabral's largely intuitive skills as a political theorist. Cabral was always, even in the earliest essays, a political theorist who was not in the least interested in theory. In his work there is an implicit distinction between theory and knowledge; knowledge he identifies with practice and the changing of re-shaping of the world, while he tends to identify theory with Marxism, that is with useless intellectualising. His rejection of Marxism was motivated at the base by what he believed to be its impractical quality. Cabral's intellectual world was fundamentally ambiguous; it was a world which was at once essentially visible and tangible but it was also a world which was moved by abstract principles in which material interests were not an adequate guide to felt needs or beliefs or behaviour. It is at this point that Cabral's theory is refracted from his biography and it is here that he differed from his contemporaries. Cabral's theory is a penumbra of his class experience as a member of the indigenous petty bourgeoisie. This is why on the surface of his work there appears to be no guiding scientific theory.
The final lasting quality of Cabral's work is found in his uncompromising honesty. Cabral was never evasive and never polemical and his truthfulness lends his work an imaginative quality that alone is sufficient to distinguish his writings from those of his contemporaries. This is also seen in his refusal to seek to disguise, for his own advantage, his essential beliefs. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Cabral's appearance before the US Congress Foreign Relations Committee when his disarming honesty was maintained in the face of out-right hostility.
Throughout all this it is clear that there was at the time a clear leadership, a political will and a revolutionary strategy. Something we ought to learn today if we are to go forward.
Guinea-Bissau's International Relations:
Cabral realised the importance of planning carried out in the international field. He was aware of the strategic necessity of isolating the Portuguese colonialists even from their own allies, in order to combat Portuguese colonialism on an international level.
For Amilcar Cabral, African revolution means the transformation of our present life in the direction of progress. The greatest difficulties concern the winning of economic independence, and the struggle against neo-colonialism. A philosophical vision inspiring the PAIGC's leaders at the time with the ability to realise the dream, embracing local experiences in the conquest of fulfillment of true independence, and national unity are all weapons that they deployed at every instance to win the struggle against these twin scourges that continuously invaded and destroyed our societies. For this, he emphasised time and time again that we have to count on the support and the assistance of all our people at home and in the diaspora to assist us in our efforts.
It is so easy to forget and give up hope, but that was not the national liberation movement, neither the actual Guinea-Bissau's aim. We must seize every opportunity to vanquish this trends of underdevelopment. I am sure this is what Amilcar Cabral would have wanted had he been alive. Let us transport ourselves back in time and reflect and on his philosophy. Cabral pronounced that we should envisage, beyond the liberation struggle, the problem of the future of our peoples, of our economic, social and cultural evolution on the road to progress.
With regard to international policy, Amilcar Cabral's PAIGC declared itself for "peaceful co-operation with the peoples of the world" and expressed its acceptance and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and those of the Bandung Conference. At the international level, the PAIGC enlisted not only the sympathy but also the active support, political in the main, of peace and freedom-loving peoples and governments, and also of democratic and progressive organisations, in fights waged by the peoples of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands.
Throughout the 1960s, the PAIGC received a warm welcome in many parts of the world, due largely to its success against the Portuguese colonialist army and to the oratory and diplomatic skills of AmÌlcar Cabral, its secretary-general and frequently travelling ambassador. AmÌlcar Cabral's impact has been felt at the United Nations since December 1962. He was granted in 1970 an audience with Pope Paul VI, adding to the international visibility and legitimacy of the PAIGC.
On 14 November 1972, the UN General Assembly recognised the PAIGC's authority in Guinea-Bissau.
The PAIGC also enjoyed early diplomatic success with the OAU, China, Cuba, most of the Eastern bloc and various support groups in Western Europe, and the United States. Despite the suspicious and hostile stance toward Cabral's party by most Western nations and NATO allies, Cabral insisted on a non-aligned stance for the PAIGC and argued this position convincingly throughout the Western bloc.
The non-aligned position bore fruit as early as 1969, when Sweden became the first Western country to provide the PAIGC with humanitarian and material support, followed later by Denmark, Norway, Finland and Netherlands. In fact, within three weeks following the PAIGC's declaration of national independence on September 24, 1973, over sixty foreign governments recognised Guinea-Bissau, with more than twenty additional countries adding their recognition within a few months. The majority of Western countries followed when Portugal itself formally recognised Guinea-Bissau in September 1974.
Since that time, the PAIGC has continued to pursue a policy of substantive nonalignment, refusing to become overly dependent on any one international bloc. As a result, aid has flowed from all corners of the developed and developing world, and Guinea-Bissau has maintained good diplomatic relations with countries of every ideological persuasion, also including international agencies such as The World Bank and IMF.
In 1990, for such a small country as Guinea-Bissau, one could find a striking array of embassies and diplomatic missions. The country is an active member of OAU and the Movement of Non-Aligned Nations and has remained a vocal participant in the UN General Assembly. Guinea-Bissau received a boost in international attention and concern from the visit of Pope John Paul II on January 27-28, 1990. This ability to be friends of all and satellites of none which Cabral not only espoused but practised, is still essential for us today as we traverse and chart our destiny towards development of our society, if we wish to take our place as an equal partner among the nations of the world on the global stage. It cannot be accomplished or we cannot gain the international respect as a global player, if we continue to be adversarial or if we neglect our duty to safeguard for ourselves and our continent an environment that fosters peace and promotes development.
Non-Aligned Movement:
On the international level, we practise a policy of non- alignment. It is the policy which most accords with the interests of our peoples in the current phase of our history. We are convinced of that. But for us, non-alignment does not mean turning one's back on fundamental questions of mankind, or of justice. Non-alignment for us means that we do not commit ourselves to regional blocs, that we are not aligned with the decisions of others. We reserve the right to decide for ourselves if our options and our decisions coincide with those of others.
At the African and Afro-Asian level, during the liberation struggle, the PAIGC has developed fruitful relations with the governments and parties of the independent countries and with the nationalist organisations of the countries as yet dependent.
AmÌlcar Cabral's perception of Non-alignment was as follows:
•Condemnation of imperialism and every kind of foreign domination as being the main source of the tensions, the suffering and the dangers which burden humanity.
•vIt was against war, of foreign military bases and of recourse to violence as a means of settling conflicts between ideologies, between nations and between states.
•He defended peaceful co-existence, loyal and constructive international co-operation and the need for equitable sharing of the world's riches, which have been created by man.
•Banning of nuclear tests and weapons, as well as general and total disarmament, have become necessary conditions for guaranteeing the survival of the human species and even of our planet.
•Support for the principles of the United Nations Charter and determination to work effectively for the immediate liberation of that Organisation, which is still at present like a giant with its hands tied, so that, its structure renewed, its institutions democratised and its voice strengthened to include those of hundreds of millions of human beings, it may fully serve the noble causes of freedom, fraternity, progress and happiness for mankind.
AmÌlcar Cabral recognised the Conference of Non-Aligned Countries has not constitutes the most important or at least the most effective international organisation of at the time. But he recognised however that in our ethic of non-alignment, one vital need for alignment: we must be capable - and free - to adopt without equivocation any position which aims to serve the dignity, emancipation and progress of peoples.
There is not one of you before me today, that can argue that these aims crafted by the Non Aligned decades ago, are no longer relevant. In fact, I would opine, that they are more so than ever. We can see what has happened with the WTO meeting in Seattle, the demonstration in London and elsewhere.
Regional Integration:
Cabral said that whatever the forces of the enemy, our victory over Portuguese colonialism depended mainly on ourselves, on our own militants. In this regard he noted that we must be conscious of the real forces at our disposal and base our revolutionary work on the popular masses.
However, he was also aware that it was obvious that the concrete aid and support of our neighbouring countries could play an important and decisive role if their leaders wish. He was sure of the solidarity of all the African peoples in our struggle. He was conscious of the fact that our struggle for national liberation did not only serve our own peoples: it also serves the fundamental interests and the progress of all the peoples of Africa and of the world.
Diplomatic relations have not been as consistently friendly with Guinea-Bissau's West African neighbours. Despite initially Leopold Senghor, President of Senegal, opposed the PAIGC because he assumed it was a Communist movement, he became more tolerant after meeting with AmÌlcar Cabral. With President Sekou Toure of Guinea-Conakry, despite some difficulties, in most instances he remained supportive of the PAIGC.
Today, more than ever, there is a need to justify the importance of the Non Aligned Movement or the West African Integration Movement. The Movement has to be redefined not only with the emphasis on fighting a cold war as was done in the past, or the impending problems of globalisation if states did not concur, but also with the emphasis on fighting one of the greatest scourges that has been with our countries for decades with or without the cold war or globalisation and that is: Poverty.
In this regard we applaud the vision of AmÌlcar Cabral, a man ahead of his time who understood the importance of African Unity and the need to build a society to fight the scourge of poverty and its attendant ills, death and destruction.
The current turmoil in our region implores of us to reassess our conduct in international relations/diplomacy and focus on how developing countries like ours can best build an integration movement that will be able to promote and sustain our interests into the 21st century and beyond. By this I mean we must focus on the need to unite to face any future challenges that may occur in the global economy. I would therefore look at re-examining the need for south/south co-operation and why it is still important today, and the way forward for building African Co-operation.
The popular revolt against the neo-liberal economic politics and globalisation which is destroying the economies of developing countries was demonstrated at the third Ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle in November last year. I hope not too distant in our memories. The themes of the meeting tend to be more the farce of the last century, rather than the agreements of free commerce between member countries of the WTO, nothing more than marked maps through which the USA and the EU approve the increase of mechanisms to exploit other countries. Instead of covering a real position on the free market, the Third World has to adhere to the idea of subsidies and protecting its agricultural produce. Agriculture has to be protected because food security is a question of national survival. One can look into WTO/international trade policy/developing countries/developed countries, in relation to their relevance and validity on AmÌlcar Cabral's thoughts.
For Guinea-Bissau's development, international and regional integration are vital. Regional conflicts provoke disruption. Therefore, the following elements are important for development of our sub-region and in particular to Guinea-Bissau: humanity, materials, and attention on the environment.
Developing human interaction in Africa is very important and the best way to do it is through education and training. There is an urgent need to draw attention to education of our young generation, priority to focus on education as a development strategy tool, in order to create capacity and accountability.
In order to improve governance in Africa we need to encourage future leaders with leadership qualities. We can not deficit the trends of modernity. It is necessary to build systematic government with a national view and not personalise the office of Presidents. We need to develop the aspirations to rebuild our community, enhance the standard of the Government and leadership and the rights of citizenship. Empowerment of Africans themselves to rebuild Africa, to keep hope alive, and to show the world that we can't be disregarded.
Despite our dependency in terms of price of our raw material and abject poverty, we still are challenging the west. We need a good development plan and not to be directed by the West. The political wand in the wrong hands only brings us more suffering and underdevelopment. Part of the solution to this problem is based on education. We must be objective in our purpose and not just be emotional. We need to open to interact with the world, in order not to become a victim again. Nobody works alone; we need to be with the other countries of our sub-region and of the world in general, to analyse the impact of the globalisation in general and especially in small economies. We must learn how to take advantage of the networks established that favour globalisation in international trade and international business. It favours trans-national networks.
We need to pay more attention to our behaviour if there is to be a recovery of our economy in sub-Saharan Africa. Investors are looking in a cool way into Africa and the role of donors is to look for:
a) accountability; b) government factors; c) good governance; d) avoidance of internal, regional conflicts and risks of uncertainty; f) more competitions in a more competitive world. With the end of cold war, there is less political pressure on donors
But we the Africans, we still suffer from the following challenges: poverty; population growth; AIDS and other human tragedies.
To mitigate this downward trend, we need the following assets:
•Sustainable growth
•To raise people's political participation
•Repatriation of capital to our countries
•Incentive repatriation of human resources to Africa and participation of Africans in Diaspora
•Potential resources of Africa kept outside should be send back home
•Participation in small sizes business/investments
•Take the example of Asian tiger economies that before us engaged in development
And the challenges to achieve this goal are:
•Good governance
•Democratic elections
•Developing key institutions in local government
•Transparency, power sharing
•Removal of constraints and regulations, in order to provide an incentive for investments
•Improve existing infrastructures or create new ones
Donors will do none of this. It will be apt to us to do it.
We by now should have learnt that we Africans should gain a consciousness that we are responsible for our own survival and growth.
OUA:
At the beginning of this new century, nations are gradually accepting the value of co-operation. Co-operation, driven by the realisation that the phenomenal achievement of human civilisation through growth in different fields of human endeavours and technology, especially in communication, has turned the world into a global village. Global villages, in which diverse perceptions of governance and the ideologies that drive governance, are converging in their majority towards democracy.
The greatest challenge therefore is in sustaining the fledging democracies in Africa. If democracy is projected as the best form of governance, its practice should bring positive changes in the lives of the peoples. Needs such as creation of employment opportunities to earn reasonable wages and live a decent life, in peace and in security, respect for human rights and access to the basic necessities of life, etc., must be met.
Although investment opportunities abound in Africa, the continent has been unable to attract many foreign investors, because of a myriad of real and imagined obstacles. In the recent past, many foreign investors hide under non-fulfilment of World Bank/IMF conditions such as non-liberalisation of the economy and non-adoption of democracy by African States as reasons for not investing in Africa. However, since the adoption of democratic governance and liberalisation of the economy by many African countries, the influx of foreign investments has remained paltry. Other reasons are now being put forward, such as insecurity, poor infrastructure and non-payment of debilitating debts owed by many African countries to multilateral institutions and creditor clubs.
The Parliaments, Governments and Judiciaries must ensure transparency in governance. The three must work to ensure that all despotic tendencies are nipped in the bud. Secondly, the Parliaments must make laws that allow internationally acceptable values of democracy respect for human rights and international co-operation to be accepted by the population. On international co-operation, such laws should help to ensure protection of investment, fighting of corruption, drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and fundamentalism.
Amilcar Cabral said that, in Guinea and Cape Verde, the people openly declare in the PAIGC Programme that we are ready to unite with any African people, with only one condition: that the conquests, the gains of our people in the national liberation struggle, the economic and social gains, the gains of justice that we pursue and are already achieving little by little, that none of this should be compromised by unity with other peoples. This is our only condition for unity.
He said that Africa countries helped us during the national liberation struggle, yes. There are some African countries that help us as much as they can, directly, bilaterally, as Africa comes to understand precisely the value and the importance of our struggle against Portuguese colonialism. Moreover, our friends throughout the world, and particularly our friends from socialist countries, are certainly aware that the development of our struggle entails the development of their fraternal aid. With his diplomatic charisma, he convinced both the forces of the socialist countries and the progressive forces of the West to develop their aid, the political, moral and material support for our national liberation struggle.
In Africa, we are for an African policy that seeks to defend first and foremost the interests of the African peoples, of each African country, but also for a policy which does not, at any time, forget the interests of the world, of all humanity. We are for a policy of peace in Africa and of fraternal collaboration with all the peoples of the world.
A critical look at African international relations reveals the dominance of power politics. In Africa alliances are short-lived and tend to be entered into in order to balance out the power of either a potential aggressor or a domineering state and for the purposes of preserving sovereignty and independence.
Economic dependence has been another feature of African international relations. The declared goal of all African states is economic independence
In relation to Africa, we said that we are for fraternal collaboration between the African peoples, against narrow nationalism which do not serve the true interests of the people. A geographic, historical and even ethnic analysis of Africa shows that news of economic, political and social existence are developing on the continent. We are for African unity, on a regional or continental scale, insofar as if it is necessary for the progress of the African peoples and in order to guarantee our security and the continuity of this progress.
In a telling statement of Amilcar Cabral's thought which merits repeating as a reminder as to what our goals are lest we forget, is that we are committed to our peoples, but we were not struggling simply to hoist a flag in our country and to have a national anthem. We are struggling to build our countries, in Angola, in Mozambique, in Guinea, in the Cape Verde Islands and in Sao Tome, a life of happiness, a life where every man will have the respect of all men, where discipline will not be imposed, where no one will be without work, where salaries will be just, where everyone will have the right to everything that man has built, has created for the happiness of men. It is for this that we were struggling. If we do not reach that point, we shall have failed in our duties, in the purpose of our struggle. Africa is therefore rich in examples today and if we, continue to betray the interests of our peoples, it will not be because we did not know, it will be because we wanted to betray and we shall not therefore have any excuse.
Portugal:
With regard to Portugal, Cabral always said that we weren't against the Portuguese, but against Portuguese colonialism. We have never confused the people of Portugal with Portuguese colonialism. To reach his goals, Cabral studied Portuguese colonialism, in order for Guinea-Bissau to achieve its independence. For him, independence should go through negotiations. But the Portuguese colonialism never accepted the negotiations. That was the reason why the PAIGC decided to start the struggle for the national liberation. Is there a role for Portugal today in our development? Is there a form of finding a way of reinforcing co-operation between Portugal and Guinea-Bissau, developing the internationalisation of Portuguese businesses in Guinea-Bissau? To both these questions I say yes. Our national businesses are on the margin of globalisation, and there is need to be brought into the fold of the globalised markets. In the ceaseless demand for partners, we need the expertise from these businesses to introduce our country to the intimidating audience of internationalisation. Such chaperoning is essential if our companies are to assume a dynamic innovative and audacious character in the future willing and able to tackle the globe. Foreign companies can act in joint ventures with ours and through this shared partnership create new and enhance opportunities for our economy. Guinea-Bissau's most historically significant diplomatic partner was Portugal and there is every sign that they will remain so. Like the consummate pragmatist, I also share the view that there is still much to be learnt from the Portuguese and in this regard their expertise is still invaluable in helping our business partners to traverse the globe. Through the same spirit of co-operation for development which Cabral espoused this is one of the new ways through which we can put our new partnership to work.
Guinea-Bissau's Present Foreign Policy Position:
Guinea-Bissau's foreign policy priority has been to accomplish the National Unity Government mandates before anything else. Then, talking exactly on this matter, one can describe the priorities as to re-establish trusteeship with the neighbouring countries (Senegal and Guinea Conakry); to develop a good neighbour policy; re-establish the trusteeship with the international community whose pre-conditions were the free and fair elections; and to mobilise financial, technical and human resources to re-launch the economy.
However, we can say that there is already some positive balance, as we realise signs of improvement in our relationship with Senegal described during several official visits to this country, in order to improve the relations between the two countries. Regarding Guinea Conakry, the situation is more difficult and we can say that since the conflict, there is no improvement between the two governments.
At the sub-regional level, we improved our relations with ECOWAS. Even at the last month's heads of states meeting (December 1999), they congratulated the changes and openness which has happened in this government of National Unity that end up with the realisation of legislative and presidential elections. They also request the international community all the necessary support to Guinea Bissau at the LomÈ Summit on the 9/10 Dec. 1999, in helping the country to retake its constitutional normality.
At the African continent level, at the last OAU Summit in Algiers, there was clear support for this process of normalisation transition and in lobbying the international community to support Guinea-Bissau's democratisation process.
Regarding the international community, several consultations took place with the European Union last July. The French government was reluctant in giving its support because the damage they suffered in this conflict but, due to the improvements at the internal scenario in Bissau, they reached the conclusion that it is important and also there were all the conditions to continue the co-operation with Guinea-Bissau.
With the CPLP there was a meeting last July and relations are going well.
With the UN, during the last General Assembly, Guinea-Bissau did a presentation of the post war period general situation. The message was well accepted by the Security Council, which at the time was under The Netherlands presidency.
We can say that at the international level, there were substantial and positive changes. The main concern is how to mobilise resources to help the country's reconstruction. All the foreign aid we get until present was only for the elections as foreign aid is subject to the realisation of the free and democratic elections. Whatever is the result of these elections, the international community will decide its relations with our government.
There is no doubt that Guinea-Bissau needs today a new diplomacy oriented to co-operation, to conquer markets of products and capital. Relying on foreign aid nowadays is a thing of the past. We must rely on our own trained and experienced people, improve human resources, put out national staff into international organisations, and most important, be more aggressive diplomatically and in the international arena, and correct the lack of a proper foreign policy.
Conclusion:Future prospects for the country:
The people of Guinea love peace and freedom and wish to put an end to the misery, the suffering, the state of ignorance and the trepidation in which they live.
More than twenty-five years ago, during the colonisation period, it was the internal conditions, the realities of their daily life, which decided the people of Guinea to undertake the struggle for national liberation and for the speedy and total liquidation of Portuguese colonialism and events have been echoed in the recent civil war. But the struggles and victories of other African peoples against foreign rule and the progress made by mankind in the realms of freedom, human dignity, social justice and international law have played no small part in influencing and strengthening that decision. That is why the fight of Guinea for national liberation is part and parcel of the struggle of the African peoples for the total abolition of foreign rule in Africa, which is one of the outstanding features of contemporary history.
In pursuing those efforts, Cabral acted on the principle that liberation should be work of the people themselves, who should rely primarily on their own resources to attain this goal. Even at that stage, more than twenty-five years ago, Cabral was already imagining an environment of good governance and good political will, good relations with countries not only in the region but also in the rest of the world, including Portugal.
We are asking today if the ideas, values and concepts of Cabral of the past are still valid today, and if they have any application in the new millennium that we are now entering. I think his philosophy and ideas are very much still valid in the practicalities of international diplomacy and relations, and we have much we can learn from the ideas of that time.
Will there be a democratic culture on the part of new actors, and will there be governability in Guinea-Bissau? Thinking about development and national unity one would ask if the bad governance that took place previously in the PAIGC era were in the past in our country. It is worth thinking about the future and be willing to participate in a better future. All Guineans have to take part in the collective round table of understanding. If not, there can only be a nightmare of an eternal circle.
The most important thing is that there is peace, tolerance and well being. There are more points of agreement for reconstruction than divergence. It is imperative to think of collective well being. There has to be consensus in relation to prioritised and strategic agendas. It is urgent to have a better understanding between various political actors. It is also urgent to have a positive leadership, which unites the people in relation to peace and to the better future. The problem must be the culture of democracy and the notion of time and space. The political class needs to accompany the evolution of thought in the consolidation of the democratic process and of the ethics of power. Our governors have to learn that they are the servants of the public, and have limited mandates, because civil society is aware, and it is started to appear the first serious attempts about ethics, the fundamentals and the modus operandi of the system of political apparatus. The government needs to be dynamic, open and genuinely at the service of the people of Guinea-Bissau.
AmÌlcar Cabral¥s PAIGC performed a very important role during the struggle for national liberation. But the PAIGC from the post-independence period until the present time has had a disastrous role in the development process of independent Guinea-Bissau, following completely different principles from those of his founding leader. It distanced itself from the people's aspirations, benefiting only the well being of its leaders. However, with the turning of page for our suffering people and country, with this second Presidential and Legislative elections that took place recently in Guinea-Bissau, which gave victory to the opposition, let us see if Cabral's words and ideology will still be valid in this democratisation and reconstruction process. I think it still valid.
Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in Sub Saharan Africa. The latest UNDP Human Development Report ranks Guinea-Bissau among the ten least developed countries in the world. The task of reconstruction will be challenging, and its success will depend on the harnessing of resources in all spheres of endeavours. But, as we say in Guinea-Bissau, the longest journey begins with the smallest step. It is hoped that through the launch of this reconstruction initiative we are able to commence this process of rebuilding.
The return to normalcy and the development of the democratic institutions will depend upon the external support that have been promised by the international community. Guinea-Bissau's institutions urgently need all the support in order to enable them to fulfil their democratic commitments. It is imperative of the international civil society that Guinea-Bissau be assisted in creating the conditions to stay focused in this trying period of transition to a truly democratic state. Political parties, trade unions, NGOs, religious organisations, corporate associations, the media have all been supportive in endorsing and promoting a common attitude of "relief and hope". This attitude has been echoed across Guinea-Bissau Society.
The principal goal of Guinea-Bissau post conflict is to concentrate on the rapid return to a normal situation for population groups most affected by the conflict, by considering specific measures to ensure the re-activation of socio-economic activities. This part should include support and participation of the private sector. This can also take the form of encouraging highly trained Guineans to return using their skills to promote economic development. Complementary efforts must be undertaken to examine ways of rehabilitating key infrastructures particularly those required to re-activate development activities in health, education, water and sanitation, energy telecommunications and roads.
The Elections in Guinea-Bissau
The legislative elections, given the victory of the opposition, will equally allow a healthier balance of power. Yesterday saw the second round of the current presidential elections, and although we have no results yet, let us hope that the results for the people of Guinea-Bissau will be peace and the ability to conduct our lives in a constructive and dignified manner.
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