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10 January 2000

On behalf of the staff and board of the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), I am pleased to welcome panellists and other participants to this electronic roundtable. APIC is honored to be associated in this pilot venture with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and with Bellanet, both organizations with a distinguished track record in making use of new electronic technologies to facilitate inclusive dialogue on important issues.

As many of you know, APIC's roots are in the struggle for liberation of the African continent from colonialism and minority rule. In that period, information was an essential tool in mobilizing supporters around the world against the denial of human rights to the majority in the southern region of the African continent. When confronted with the realities of oppression, diverse political forces joined in repudiating political systems that denied the unity of the human family.

As a staff member working on African issues in the U.S. Congress at that time, I repeatedly observed that policymakers took Africa seriously only when there was a critical mass of informed constituents who demanded that they do so.

The issues at stake at the turn of the millenium in the relationships between Africa and the international community -- including powerful and rich nations such as the United States -- are many and complex. For the most part they lack the unifying factor of an easily identified common menace, such as overt racial rule.

Yet behind the technical debates and complexities of particular policy arenas, it is clear that developing adequate international responses to African realities -- as well as solutions within African regions and nations -- requires that policy debates be opened up to those most affected by the policy decisions. Most recently in Seattle, African trade ministers, in refusing to accept an artificial consensus, eloquently stated that "There is no transparency in the proceedings and African countries are being marginalised and generally excluded on issues of vital importance for our peoples and their future." As you are aware, the same applies in many other arenas.

Our hope for this roundtable is that it will be one window through which statements of African priorities and perspectives can be projected more forcefully into wider arenas of public opinion and policymaking.

We look forward to a lively and thought-provoking roundtable.

Again welcome. Make yourself at home.

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