The Yaoundé Declaration:
What it means for Africa
Maximin Paul Nkoue Nkongo
Minister of Posts and Telecommunications
Cameroon
On 28 May 2001, African ministers responsible for telecommunications, assembled
in Cameroon to prepare for the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-02)
scheduled to take place in Istanbul from 18 to 27 March 2002, adopted a joint strategy for
bridging the digital divide that separates the North from the South and urban areas from rural
areas.
Known as the "Yaoundé Declaration", the strategy is one of several
initiatives adopted in recent years by the African plenipotentiaries and by other multilateral
meetings. It reflects in particular the active solidarity now breathing new vigour into the
continent, and a new awareness which is a strategic departure from earlier initiatives.
Furthermore, the Yaoundé Declaration embodies the new vision which Africa plans to convey to
the world by implementing the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
WTDC-02 and the Yaoundé Declaration
With Istanbul in mind, Africa's first step was to take stock of progress in the
implementation of the Maitland report, The Missing Link, published in 1985. The aim of the
report was to redress the balance in the number of fixed telephone lines between developed and
developing countries. Africa noted that, despite the noble aims stated in The Missing Link and
the efforts made so far, the situation on the ground has remained static. What is more, nearly
two decades on, the situation has been compounded by a new concept: the digital divide, on which
all telecommunication development strategies are now focusing.
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The entire continent has
opened up its telecommunication networks to operators the world over
Photo: R. Woodridge (ITU 020026) |
Through the Yaoundé Declaration, Africa is appealing with one voice to decision-makers,
firms, equipment manufacturers, funding agencies and information technology specialists to
ensure that the right solution is found to close once and for all the huge gulf in the rate of
penetration of information technologies in daily life that separates the people of the North
from those of the Southern hemisphere, and Africa in particular.
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With the necessary resolve, a digital Africa
can be built and will give globalization greater coherence. The Yaoundé Declaration
is both a rational and an emotive plea from a continent in search of equity and
fairness in the development of ICTs
Photo: PhotoDisc (ITU 010053) |
What prompted the appeal was the meagre results yielded by the enormous efforts which our
States have undertaken, in vain, at the instigation of the Bretton Woods institutions in order
to restructure the telecommunication sector. The Buenos Aires Action Plan (BAAP) set a target
for the developing countries of five telephone lines per 100 inhabitants in urban areas and one
line per 10 000 inhabitants in rural areas. The revolutionary growth of mobile telephony in 2001
still leaves Africa with as few as 15 million subscribers, and the advent of the Internet
benefits barely 4 million users.
By adding the Yaoundé Declaration to prevailing development strategies for Africa, in
particular NEPAD, our region is expressing its appreciation of the encouraging contributions it
has received from countries of the North and ITU's cooperation in the continent's
telecommunication restructuring process. Thanks to them, the rate of connectivity is rising in
our cities.
Africa also wishes to alert the international community to the limited nature of results so
far and to convince it that mentalities in the continent are in the throes of radical change.
The concept of democracy has spread throughout the continent, overthrowing the established order
and challenging traditional values. People are constantly making painful sacrifices as they cope
with economic crises and demanding structural adjustment programmes, impoverished as they are by
falling prices of agricultural goods and armed conflict which is destroying the meagre
infrastructures in place today.
YAOUNDE DECLARATION
We, African ministers responsible for telecommunications
and information technologies, meeting in Yaoundé on 28 May 2001 within the
framework of the Africa Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 2002 World
Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC_02), organized to identify and
analyze obstacles to the development of telecommunications and information
technologies in Africa and to identify strategies, priorities and other appropriate
means of overcoming those obstacles,
Considering
— that digital technology and the development of
high-capacity telecommunication media such as optical fibre and satellite systems
have led to the advent of the global information infrastructure and to convergence
between telecommunications, information technology and broadcasting;
— the relatively low level of development of the basic telecommunication
infrastructure, telephone penetration and the use of new services derived from
information technologies;
— that the digital divide is now widening the gap that already exists between
developed and developing countries in terms of access to, and the use of,
telecommunication services and services derived from information technologies;
— the role played by ITU in the development and harmonious use of
telecommunication services and information technologies,
Reaffirming
the particular importance and central role of
telecommunications and information technologies in political, economic, social and
cultural development in the age of globalization and the information society,
Noting
the efforts deployed by African countries, despite a
particularly difficult economic context, to stimulate the development of the
telecommunication sector,
Further noting
— with satisfaction, ITU's initiatives and other
initiatives, including the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and African
Connectivity;
— ITU's participation in, and contribution to, the meetings of "Dot
Force" - a working group set up by the G8 Summit in Okinawa,
Declare
— that we welcome the actions undertaken on behalf of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) by South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria,
particularly their fruitful participation in the Okinawa G8 Summit, and invite them
to continue with such actions;
— that we undertake to devote more actions to the timely addressing of issues
relating to telecommunications and to information and communication technologies,
these being issues which we consider to be of prime concern;
— that bridging the digital divide must of necessity entail development of the
tele-communication and sound and television broadcasting infrastructure, and that
development partners must consider this parameter, in particular with respect to
rural areas;
— that it is essential that African countries, given the importance of
telecommunications and information technologies in political, economic, social and
cultural development, adopt innovative strategies and policies designed to stimulate
development, particularly through reform of the telecommunication and information
technology sector;
— that each African country should henceforth define a common, or at least
coordinated, national policy and strategy for the development of telecommunications
and information technologies that takes account of multimedia convergence
(telecommunications, information technology and broadcasting),
Recommend
that African administrations take the necessary measures to
stimulate the development of the private sector as well as measures to encourage
private investment,
Appeal
— to ITU to pay particular attention to the urgent
development needs of African countries and to continue to implement activities and
programmes that will make a concrete and tangible contribution to reducing the
digital divide in Africa;
— to ITU to assist African countries in developing their human resources and
strengthening their capacities in the area of information technologies;
— to subregional economic integration institutions to work towards the
harmonization of policies and regulations in the field of telecommunications and
information technologies;
— to development partners, African regional institutions and international
institutions to strengthen cooperation and coordination between all projects and
initiatives with a view to ensuring the harmonious use of resources. |
The struggle against poverty and the establishment of good governance in public affairs are,
without doubt, signs of an awakening on the continent — an awakening that can no longer be
reversed. For all these reasons, the West has an historic and humanitarian duty to support,
without any new conditions, the elimination of the digital divide, as advocated by the Yaoundé
Declaration.
It is against this backdrop that WTDC-02 is taking place. Africa will be going
to Istanbul full of hope and with the conviction that the world will be more attentive to its
problems. The Yaoundé Declaration, which sums up all the proposals set forth in the various
regional and subregional initiatives, lays down guidelines for the work that will be done at
Istanbul on the digital divide. It is Africa's intention to obtain from WTDC-02 new measures to
encourage, in particular:
-
an increase in teledensity in our States so that telecommunications can
play its role as an economic catalyst;
-
implementation of pilot projects conducive to universal access in
Africa;
-
more sustained establishment of equipment manufacturers with a view to
developing
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appropriate technologies at lower cost as a means of increasing
teledensity on the continent;
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instant access for people in all corners of the continent to all forms
of information, the key to a new society in which people will acquire broader freedom;
-
training, human resources development and capacity-building in
information technology;
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financial flows from funding agencies to support telecommunication
infrastructure development programmes for the benefit of inhabitants in the rural areas
of our continent.
What gives these hopes and ambitions their legitimacy is the fact that the
entire continent has accepted to open up its telecommunication networks to operators the world
over.
Those who are reticent argue the need for short-term financial returns. The
counter-argument is that our society is seeking to acquire the information and communication
technologies (ICT) it needs for development. With the necessary resolve, a digital Africa can be
built and will give globalization greater coherence. The Yaoundé Declaration is both a rational
and an emotive plea from a continent in search of equity and fairness in the development of
ICTs.
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