THE people and governments of Africa are losing out massively to overseas mining conglomerates and private investors, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said Thursday.
"The mines, one of Africa's riches, seem to symbolise the curse of our continent," said Mamadou Makhtar Gueye, director for economic integration.
"There needs to be a standardisation of practises, so that states can negotiate with investors from a position of strength.
"The potential is there," he added after a seminar organised in conjunction with the US branch of the international development charity Oxfam.
"It's a question of judicious exploitation for the benefit of the people, the states, (and) in the spirit of environmental protection, for the investors, provided the balance is just and equitable."
Oxfam America's regional director, Mamadou Biteye, said: "Superprofits are generated, but they don't go towards financing priority development sectors".
With major investments to come in Senegal on top of existing interests in Liberia, global steel giant Arcelor Mittal is just one of the companies Biteye has in his sights.
"In the majority of cases, less than five percent of revenues stays within the country concerned and the (mining) contribution to gross domestic product is in the region of one percent," Biteye added.
The Dakar conference, which runs through until Saturday, aims to adopt a mining code for member states aimed at securing a higher share of investor profits.
Gueye said the non-governmental organisation's plans were to be "saluted".
ECOWAS has 15 member states: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.
AFP
READER OPINIONS
Omugabe • dziva@sanandresano.com Subject: Africa for Africans Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:14:44 • Is anyone surprised that Africa is STILL being plundered, especially when dealing with European entities?
Europeans historically are viscous thieves and plunderers, who are DRIVEN BY UNMITIGATED GREED!
That is why Africans need to Look Inward & Look East!
This does not mean that greed is not also rampant in the East: It means that with the people of the East it is much easier to have WIN-WIN interaction; beause Asians are far less vicious than the destructive European invaders and plunderers.
Gabon is being plundered of its oil by the French, South Africa has been plundered of it gold and diamonds by invading robbers and murderers, etc, while the average indigenous people live in abject squalor.
For the amount of oil that Gabon produces and the relatively small size of its population, the people of Gabon should be living in splendor like Arab oil sheiks.
Not to mention the African oil that is being plundered by the thieving Arabs in North Africa.
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