Conflict settlement a prerequisite to lasting development in Africa, Moroccan foreign minister says

The settlement of conflicts in Africa is a pre-requisite for a harmonious and lasting development in Africa. The statement was made by Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Mohamed Benaissa, who took part in the ministerial follow-up meeting of the France-Africa summit conference, held in Paris on December 7.

Benaissa told the meeting that the easing of inter-African tensions will surely contribute to enhancing mutual assistance and solidarity in the continent.

Alluding to the latest World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, Benaissa voiced appreciation for the exceptional consultations conducted between African delegations and for the solidarity evidenced by African countries that are members of the WTO.

For probably the first time, Africa succeeded in having its voice heard and defending its interests, and each time such a solidarity is evidenced, the positive incidence is immediately felt, Benaissa told the Paris meeting.

Benaissa also surveyed Morocco's efforts to promote its relations with African sisterly countries either at the bilateral level or at the level of a three-sided cooperation involving Morocco, an African country and France.

He stated further that the results scored in matters of economic and social cooperation and in peacekeeping are evidence that underdevelopment is not a fatality and that Africa's shared destiny is a mutually-enriching element. These shared interests and hopes require from African states new cooperation relations at the Afro-African and at the Afro-French levels.

The Moroccan official also voiced satisfaction at the participation, for the first time, of Algeria, Libya and Sudan, in the follow-up meeting. "Their presence among us is an additional asset for the consolidation of inter-African solidarity and cooperation and for the settlement of all kinds of conflicts in our continent," he said.

Algeria, which has never attended the France-Africa biannual summit before, was represented at the Paris meeting by foreign minister Ahmed Attaf.

Libya and Sudan, which had not been invited to the 20th France-Africa summit, were invited to the follow-up meeting.Libya sent a senior official, Omar Al Muntasser, while Sudan was represented by Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail.

The midterm follow-up meetings were instituted at the proposal of the late King Hassan II during the 15th France-Africa summit held in Casablanca in 1988.

The France-Africa summits, incepted in 1973, are held every two years alternately in France and in an African country. Morocco has always been present in these summits since its first participation in 1979.