Speech by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency Benjamin William Mkapa, at a New Year Sherry Party for the Heads of Diplomatic Missions Accredited to Tanzania, The State House, Dar es Salaam, January 9, 2001

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the People and Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, I extend our best wishes for the New Year to your Heads of State and Government, to you and your families, and to all members of your staff.

I welcome those of you who joined the diplomatic community in Dar es Salaam last year. To you, and to all your colleagues, I reiterate my personal desire and that of my Government to work with you to promote friendship, co-operation, development, peace, justice, and mutual respect and understanding among people of all nations.

Your excellencies,

Fresh out of an election - an election that my Party and I won so handsomely - I can be forgiven if I talk about democracy. And I should like to start by agreeing with Winston Churchill when he said,

"At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper..."

Those of us who uphold and profess the principles and values of democracy must learn to respect the wishes of that little man, or woman, who on 29th October and 5th November last year went into the little booth, and made a little tick, on a little bit of paper. I am sure it is the wish of that little man or woman in the United Republic of Tanzania, but especially in Zanzibar, that we should not relive the tension of the last five years.

Whatever formidable challenges the legacies of history impose on us, Zanzibar can rise and shine again. The people of Zanzibar can and must create a better future for their children. Reconciliation and development are possible in Zanzibar. What Zanzibar needs is leadership - leadership across the political divide - that puts the genuine wishes of the ordinary Zanzibari ahead of all sectarian politics, and all egocentric and parochial considerations. Amani Abeid Karume is such, and that, leader.

President Karume and I, and the entire CCM leadership have on our part committed ourselves to providing that kind of leadership. Developments and initiatives taken since the elections provide sufficient proof of our intentions and goodwill. We will cherish and jealously uphold the mandate given to us by the people. We shall do so firmly, believing it is also a mandate to heal Zanzibar. We will reach out to all our citizens without discrimination on any grounds. If they take our hand we will work together, as we promised during the election campaign, to bury the mistrust and bridge the societal and political chasms that appeared from 1995.

Towards that end, I renew my plea to the Opposition in Zanzibar, in complete earnest, to play their rightful role as a loyal opposition - not loyal to CCM, but loyal to the people of Zanzibar who deserve better, and who are entitled to representation in the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.

The next election will be in 2005, and in the meantime our two governments will work closely for peace and development to enable Zanzibar turn a new page.

From you in the diplomatic community I ask for support to bring about and nurture that process. Help us to heal our wounds, not to open fresh ones. And those who want to be part of the healing process will find in me, in President Karume and in CCM, very willing partners, for the sake of the little men and women in those little booths. Let the New Year bring with it good tidings and the scented breeze of a new dawn and political beginning.

Your Excellencies,

In the last 5 years, we devoted great energies in effecting the policy, structural and economic reforms necessary to put macro-economic fundamentals in place for sustained growth and poverty alleviation. We also reached the Decision Point in respect of debt relief under the enhanced HIPC initiative; we submitted to the boards of the IMF and World Bank our Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper; and we promulgated the Tanzania Assistance Strategy.

I reaffirm our commitment to all these initiatives, processes and goals including hastening to meet the conditions precedent to reaching the Completion Point for debt relief. Given the continued support of these institutions as well as bilateral development partners, and in the face of our proven and demonstrably unshakeable political commitment to reform at the highest level, we should be able to overcome any obstacle on the path towards an early and full access to debt relief.

But economic reform can only be politically and economically sustainable if it contributes directly to poverty reduction in as many areas as possible, in as many households as possible.

Towards that end we will continue to count on external support in building the financial, technical and human resource capacity to implement poverty reduction and growth policies and programmes that will conduce towards sustainable growth and development.

The HIPC debt relief is a welcome move as we seek to build up capacity for poverty reduction. Let it be noted, however, that even after full access to debt relief we will still have to make an annual debt service of about USD 126 million, an amount more than enough to fully fund our Education Sector Development Programme for 3 years.

In translating poverty reduction targets into financiable programme, the emerging picture is one of a big resources gap. For example, the delivery of an acceptable level of basic health care in Tanzania requires an appropriation of USD 9 per capita, an amount that is twice the present budgetary allocation to the health sector.

Your Excellencies,

The war on poverty in Tanzania cannot be won unless and until we sort out the problems of productivity and marketing in the agricultural sector. Let me take advantage of this occasion, therefore, to clear the air regarding the decision I took recently to establish a Ministry of Co-operatives and Marketing. For, I am told that fears have been expressed that this is symptomatic and projective of nostalgia for, and resumption of, the days of crop marketing boards and state intervention in the workings of the market.

I want to assure you that we will not turn our backs on the policy reforms to promote a market economy. Our purpose in the revival of the co-operative movement is to increase the production and marketing capacity, and the bargaining position, of the small producer and consumer in the power play and operation of a market economy.

The experience of the last several years has shown clearly that as long as our people, especially the peasants are not united in strong and efficient co-operatives they will continue to be short-changed and short-supplied in a free market environment. Without a strong co-operative movement, the welfare growth of the smallholder farmers who account for over 90% of agricultural production in this country will be stunted if not reversed.

As I speak to you the country faces a crisis in the marketing of cashewnuts. Last season the farmers were paid an average of shs.600 per kg. This season the price they are being offered is an average of only shs.200 per kg. How can we expect them to weather this huge price shock? Unless we can bring greater order to the market, or empower farmers through their co-operatives to process and market their own produce, very soon the gains of the last few years, which saw the cashewnut production double from 60,000 tons in 1995 to 120,000 tons last year will be reversed as farmers are discouraged by such wide price fluctuations from one season to another. And unless we can ensure a constant flow of cash into rural hands, the majority of our people will not win the war on poverty.

Your excellencies,

As we step into the new millennium, global power asymmetry between rich industrialised countries and the poorest ones is becoming more evident and more poignant. We first witnessed the wealth gap, then came the technological divide and now, in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we see the worst of all divides - the divide in the value attached to life itself.

I do not mean to be ungrateful to all our partners who have done so much to help us in the war on HIV/AIDS. But the truth is I am awed by the challenge and the dangers that the unabated spread of HIV/AIDS poses to the African continent, to my country, and to my people. Africa is perishing in slow motion, and the world watches with near indifference as this tragic drama unfolds. In rich countries, HIV/AIDS is now a serious but manageable disease, like diabetes; but in Africa it is a veritable threat to life and to the very future of entire nations and their development. Once a disease is perceived to be a poor person's disease, few companies are ready to invest sufficient resources in research and development of vaccines and drugs. And no wonder, since a hefty four-fifth of all pharmaceutical revenues, and an even higher share of profits, comes from just seven countries in North America, Europe and Japan. The whole of the African continent accounts for only 1% of pharmaceutical revenues and profits.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs hit the nail on the head when he said:

"Like most things in the world, it comes down to money, and nobody has been willing to commit money to this... To me, it's as though the Black Death were going on in Europe in the 14th Century, and China were sitting on a cure and saying, 'Why should we help?' We would consider it the crime of the millennium if that had happened, and yet we seem to be able to accomodate this without trouble."

I repeat. I do not want to appear ungrateful to all governments and charitable trusts that have tried to help. I am only trying to relate the assistance so far received to the magnitude of the compunding problem. We have been helped with resources, with exhortation and with advice. But clearly much more concrete support is needed to sustain a direct onslaught aimed at the heart of the matter - cutting down the rate of infection.

The situation reminds us of the proverbial anecdote of the rabbit that was being chased by a dog. People running behind it were urging the rabbit to run harder and escape.

"Thank you for your kind encouragement," said the rabbit, "But for goodness' sake, shoot the dog!"

The Tanzania National AIDS Commission I have formed will certainly need greater support, for we cannot cope on our own. I am grateful for the support we have received so far, and the many others we read about. There has even been offers of loans, although I find it somewhat odd, being on the road to reaching Completion Point for accessing debt relief under the enhanced HIPC Initiative, to contemplate accepting debt-creating assistance in the war on HIV/AIDS!

Your Excellencies,

Tanzania wants to reaffirm its commitment to peaceful coexistence and a good neighbourly relationship with all neighbouring countries.

We have been dismayed by developments in the Great Lakes Region in the course of 2000. The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not improving, and efforts to get the Lusaka Agreement implemented scrupulously by all parties have not succeeded. Recent activities and violations of the agreement further complicate the situation and fill us with alarm. We have resumed efforts and contacts to add momentum to the implementation of the Lusaka Agreement on which we expended so much time and resources.

In Burundi, efforts to push forward the evolution of a new democratic political dispensation, to be followed by the repatriation of refugees and launching of externally supported national reconstruction efforts, have also stalled.

Tanzania has always, and consistently, done all in its power to push that process forward so that ultimately the interests of the Barundi people may prevail, through the restoration of democratic governance as a condition precedent to sustainable peace; democratic governance that will give all the people of Burundi equal and adequate guarantees for peace, development, and political inclusion and participation.

We have, likewise, scrupulously fulfilled our international and humanitarian obligations by receiving and hosting refugees on our territory. From our point of view, we have three categories of refugees.

As I speak we have over 500,000 refugees under UNHCR, over 172,000 in camps that are not under UNHCR, and another 300,000 that are scattered in various areas, neither in camps nor under UNHCR, adding up to almost 1 million refugees. And the numbers in each category are increasing. In the last six months, for example, we received 46, 429 new refugees, an average of 7,700 refugees a month, from the Great Lakes region. Of the total, over 33,000 (72%) came from Burundi.

But two developments in the course of 2000 especially dismayed my government and me. The first one was a political subterranean diplomatic offensive to demonise Tanzania; to say in flattery that Tanzania "holds the key" to the peace process in Burundi, the innuendo being that we give training, arms, passage and sanctuary to the armed groups. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The key to peace, reconciliation and reconstruction in Burundi is in the hands of the people of Burundi themselves.

The Arusha peace initiative was intended to show the people of Burundi where and how to use that key to unlock a better and more secure future for their country, and their children. Until this day the parties to the conflict, and the political forces that seek the right to shape the future of that country, have not had the courage to insert and turn the key to open the dispensational door to such a future.

Tanzania is a victim of the problems created by successive political leaders in Burundi. I cannot, therefore, countenance Tanzania's leadership being made the scapegoat for the lack of courage of the political leaders in Burundi to open a better future for their country. But we commit ourselves to continuing to do all in our power to facilitate the implementation of the Arusha accords. I call upon all the signatories to live up to their solemn undertakings, and I urge other belligerents to agree on a cease-fire, and to urgently put in place the transitional arrangements to democratic governance.

The second development that has dismayed us is the creeping aid fatigue towards refugees. As refugees have continued to pour into Tanzania, the support of the international community to UNHCR and to my Government in support of relief work in Tanzania has declined to the point where even food rations for refugees have to be cut. It is now as if the refugees are Tanzania's problem, with the rest of the world slowly turning its back on them. Refugees must continue to be an international responsibilty. The fulfilment of our obligations as their first point of refuge must not be abused, or used as an excuse to place a disproportionate burden on the shoulders of the poor country that Tanzania is.

The fact is that Tanzanians are also not immune to the refugee fatigue syndrome. Against the phenomenon of reduced international material support to refugees, and of increased criminal activities by truant refugees, there is developing a palpable erosion of the national policy of support to, and hosting of, refugees. I ask your governments, and the international community as a whole, to bear your fair share of advocacy and responsibility for the plight of these refugees.

Your excellencies,

I have spoken longer than I had planned to do. But coming out of 2 1/2 months of electioneering, I can be forgiven for being carried away, as politicians are prone to be.

I have not, however, forgotten the legendary episode of diplomatic representation from the earlier days of the Greek City States.

An Ambassador, having come to Sparta from Perinthus; spoke at great length.

"What answer shall I return to the Perinthians? he asked.

"Say," said the King, "that you talked a great deal, and that I did not utter a word."

I wouldn't want to reverse those roles with you today, King though I am not and must now give time to your Dean to speak for you!

With my renewed very best wishes for the New Year, I thank you for your kind attention.