Development
President Konare sees Mali's future in Internet

afrol.com, 7 July  - As the UN Economic and Social Council began the second day of its high-level segment yesterday, the President of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare, told the Council that Africans understood what was at stake in the areas of information and communication - that control of them was the condition for freedom in the modern world. 

"We reject the marginalization of Africa", he added. He stressed the need for more assistance to Africa, so it could become a full-fledged member of the new global information order, and said he wanted to see each part of Mali linked through the Internet, contributing to transparent elections, enhancing communication and facilitating the exchange of products and ideas. Was that an impossible dream? he asked. It could be done. It should be done. “You need to help us”, he said. 

Mali’s President was one of 21 speakers this morning, who addressed the high-level segment’s theme “Development and international cooperation in the twenty-first century: the role of information technology in the context of a knowledge-based global economy”. A number of the speakers stressed the need for local content to increase the relevance and value of available information to African users and users in other developing countries. 

Anne Kristin Sydnes, Minister of International Development of Norway, said the dominance of ideas and values originating in developing countries and reflecting western culture might come in conflict with the values of local communities in developing countries. She said Africa had 20 per cent of the world’s population, but only 2 per cent of its telephone lines. The continent’s access to the Internet was still marginal. Furthermore, there was a need for local content to increase the relevance and value of available information to African users and users in other developing countries. Cyberspace was not a value-neutral area and it must never become an ethics-free zone. “We must bring our values to cyberspace - it must not become a place where the rule of law does not apply”, she stressed. 

Ebitimi Banigo, Minister of Science and Technology of Nigeria, speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, said the moving force behind information and communications technology (ICT) was primarily the private sector. It was, therefore, important to forge a partnership among governments, private sector corporations, civil society organizations and international organizations. He called on the private sector to contribute its expertise and resources towards bringing the information revolution to the marginalized regions of the world. 

The Economic and Social Council met yesterday for the second day of its three-day high-level segment, initiating its substantive session for 2000 with a focus on development and international cooperation in the twenty-first century; the role of information technology in the context of a knowledge-based global economy. 

Oumar Konare, President of Mali, said the weak presence of Africa in light of the current issue did not mean that it was not aware of what was at stake in the areas of information and communication. Africans knew that control of those parameters were the conditions for freedom in the modern world. They had spoken several times throughout the 1990s about the necessity of a new world order in communication and the need to move away from unilateral information space and strategic satellites. 

He said everyone knew that the least movement in any remote African village could be dissected in the minutest detail by sophisticated instruments of communication. Yet, Africa was only presented through its conflicts, its diseases and its famines. The continent always appeared as a person in the throes of continuous agony. Even though that was one of the images of Africa, it was not the only image of Africa, he stressed. 

He said there was also an Africa today that was pushing ahead with small steps through hundreds of small-scale projects, micro-credit and the establishment of democracy. If Africa was the poor relative of the world, it was due to the prohibitive cost of advanced technology - where the cost of telephones, for example, was beyond its reach. The Internet was an unprecedented revolution that allowed the continent to be present in the world without an intermediary. Through it, Africa was better known today than it ever was. The Web also helped Africans to have better grasp of common problems. 

He called for the construction of societies where freedom of communication and expression were not just empty words, but the hallmarks of a truly democratic society. The question of world technology, information and communication raised the issue of overall assistance to Africa. Collective access and community measures must be given priority in African countries. While the new doctrine of planetary information technology was only an ideology to some, it was fundamentally based on the vigilance and maturity of Africans. 

He said there was a greater push for cellular phones in Africa than there was to erect local infrastructure. Priorities had to be refocused. He wanted to see each part of Mali linked through the Internet, so that reliable statistics and information could be made available, which would contribute to transparent elections, enhance communication within the country and among the populations and facilitate the exchange of products, knowledge, tradition and ideas. 

Source: United Nations

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