Rome, Italy
February 19-20, 2002

Mr. Chairman,

I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate you and your Bureau on your election to Chair our 25th Session of the Governing Council. Let me assure you and your members, of my Delegations' cooperation and support at all times.

I would like to thank the President of IFAD for a good start together with the entire staff for their hard work and support to this great Institution. My Delegation is grateful to all of you for your dedication to service.

THE REBEL WAR

Mr. Chairman,

Over the past several years, I have reported to you about the conflict in my country, through its various stages and up to the time the International Community through the United Nations, acted to help the people of Sierra Leone. There are countries I mentioned last year that helped our country on a bilateral basis.

Having so reported in the past, I am duty bound to underscore with pleasure that on Friday, January 18, 2002, the Document declaring the end of the civil strife was signed by the President, Alhaji Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabba and the leader of the Rebel Movement, RUF. This new chapter in our history came into being after the UN Mission in Sierra Leone has disarmed about forty seven thousand combatants from all the various warring functions.

My Government is grateful to the International Community, as well as to those countries that on a bilateral basis went the extra mile in helping the Government and the people of Sierra Leone to reach this stage.

Mr. Chairman,

Notwithstanding the progress made so far in the peace process, below is just a summary of the food insecurity situation in Sierra Leone and likely consequences for my country:

Food Insecurity: A major concern of my Government is that of food insecurity especially among the vulnerable groups; - rural households, refugees, former combatants and other internally displaced persons. Most of the members of these vulnerable groups and households, in both the rural and urban areas do not have access to food or means of acquiring food due to low (or even no) domestic production levels, which are the direct consequences resulting from their displacement from previous land settlements, lack of basic farm input and the general non-existence of agricultural infrastructure. The alarming state of our roads network particularly feeder roads, further restricts access to major markets and negatively affect the distribution and marketing of even the basic food items, thus restricting income growth among households that have been able to rehabilitate after the decade long civil strife.

The Rebel War has seriously disrupted agricultural activities country wide, resulting in the displacement of over 400,000 farm families. In the past 2-3 years, less than 20% of our national rice requirements of 449,000 metric tons were domestically produced. The livestock population and fish stock have been drastically reduced.

As a consequence of the above, the daily per capita supply of calories has diminished and estimated at about 2000 Kcal. Protein intake of 44 grams is low compared to 67 in other countries. This has largely resulted in the high prevalence of malnutrition, especially among women, children and young adults. Many of my fellow countrymen are now living below the one-dollar per day ($1.00) poverty line.

The food security scenario in Sierra Leone leaves one with a clear impression that a crisis situation is a certainty if urgent measures to help the country are not taken and adapted soon.

I regret to inform you that, this situation runs across the entire spectrum of the national economy and involves over 80% of the population, which belongs to the vulnerable group.

Mr. Chairman

As peace returns, and most of the populace returns for rehabilitation, the fall-outs from the war will further worsen the already difficult situation. Therefore, against the above background, there is a need for collective efforts involving both public and private interventions to produce sustainable remedies.

As Senator George Mc Govern stated, "I am sure that we have the resources and knowledge to end hunger, the big question is; Do we have the political leadership and will to end this scourge in our time?"

SUPPORT FROM IFAD, FAO AND WFP

Mr. Chairman,

We are grateful for IFAD's sympathetic position on our situation. Very recently, we have restructured our outstanding debts and suspension of disbursements to the North Central Agricultural Project has been lifted. It is expected that agricultural activities in Kono, Port Loko and Tonkolili Districts will start soon especially with the end of the war. However, this action alone will not do much to pull the country through. Therefore, on behalf of the Government and people of Sierra Leone, I am appealing to IFAD to initiate a post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation Assistance Programme for the Agricultural Sector so as to create investment linkages and "trickle-down effects" which would in turn enhance poverty eradication. The Government and people of Sierra Leone would greatly appreciate such an initiative and Assistance in addition to the on-going initiatives and Assistance by FAO in providing funds for the Ministry of Agriculture to purchase farm implements and seeds for the returnees. Also, WFP has been and is still a great provider of food to our refugees and returnees.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

Mr. Chairman,

No political cause can justify the killing on September 11 of innocent people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. We should all collectively determine and be united in our efforts to bring those responsible to justice. What happened in the United States was a crime against humanity, an act of horrendous violence against all races.

But as the President of IFAD stated to us in his Letter of September 6th 2001, "Financing Development -The Rural Dimension", such horrendous act serves as a reminder to all of us to work collectively to EXPOSE the forces that create poverty, injustice, intolerance, hatred and environmental degradation that can lead to an unstable world.

We believe that "Financing Development - The Rural Dimension" is most appropriate for this Council and IFAD at this point in time. The poorest of the poor are in rural areas and they are the majority in our countries consisting of at least 80% of the population.

Mr. Chairman,

The terrorist attacks have had effects on each and every one of us. It has focused a lot of attention on what is going on in other parts of the world and the recognition that, there is an enormous disparity between the haves' and the have-nots''. There are enormous inequalities that play-out a lot in what has and is happening in our countries.

It is rather unfortunate that, the effects of September 11 are set to put Africa in the loosing position even though Africa did not and will never contribute to such an act and have condemned the act in its strongest terms possible. One clear example of African loosing out is the recent postponement of the negotiations in Sweden on the replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF). It is our opinion that, the effects of September 11 should in fact act as a catalyst for Donors to do more in setting identifiable and verifiable goal in the drive toward reducing poverty by the year 2015.

For the above reasons, it is our humble suggestion that the prosperous parts of the world should be ready to make significant efforts in the provision of resources and the appropriate mechanism for the transfer of these resources (whether human, Financial or Technological), from rich to poor, as part of an overall strategy in bringing sustainable development to the poor. Otherwise, the problems facing us will not go away and may become more fierce and relentless. This humble suggestion was also recently stated by the former president of the United States of America, Mr. Bill Clinton in his recent lecture in England.

AL QAEDA

Mr. Chairman,

In my letter of January 9, 2002, to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, I have called to their attention the recent reports about the RUF and the Al Qaeda connection,-a very serious problem that we should all be concerned with in helping Sierra Leone not to become a breeding ground for Al Qaeda. There were concrete proofs that through Ibrahim Bah a resident of Burkina Faso, a contact and arms supplier to RUF in Sierra Leone, Al Qaeda did buy diamonds from the RUF and as you may realize, the funds from the sale of diamonds could easily be used to fund destabilizing programmes in the Region. As a matter of fact, less than a week ago, the former United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone told the United States Senate that Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah are believed to be using funds from the sale of Sierra Leone Diamonds to fund their operations.

Having said this let me quickly assure you, that the Government of Sierra Leone will do all that it could possibly do to avoid such happening in Sierra Leone. However, if left alone with its present fragile position and it is disabled as it happened in the past, such groups may want to take advantage of the situation to enhance their presence and especially when we consider the present situation of the Mano River Union, which is far from being perfect. Should this happen, it will lead to a breakdown of Law and Order and could result in serious human rights abuses as well as destabilizing effects in the West African Region. It is a fact that, on the basis of geographical location, West Africa Region is much closer to Europe than Afghanistan. It stands to reason therefore, that any serious problem of unrest in the Region is likely to affect Europe.

Mr. Chairman,

For the above reasons, I wish to kindly request that donor countries and the international community should not forget Sierra Leone because the war has ended; as was the case of Afghanistan when it was forgotten after its own civil conflict the war and, thus, became the breeding grounds for Al'Qaeda. Today, the international community and donor countries are raising billions of dollars to reconstruct Afghanistan as well as getting rid of Al Qaeda. From this experience, it is only important and necessary that Sierra Leone is not left alone after the end of the Rebel War and the holding of Elections, which are scheduled for May this year.

It is a great comfort and relief that, Honourable Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Great Britain has indeed noticed this problem and has so stated during his recent visit to West Africa indicating that this problem should not be taken lightly and therefore, the need to help our country.

GLOBALISATION

Mr. Chairman,

Globalisation today is simply a fact of life. We can no longer ignore it, as it has been a real threat rather than a help to our Continent. Having realized this fact, there is a need to have a just and fair system that brings sustainable, economic benefits to rich and poor countries alike. Without this, the forces that forged civil unrest can, in extreme cases, give rise to terrorism. Therefore, if we are to follow this year's theme, "Financing Development - The Rural Dimension", there is a need to alter current trading patterns and practices so that poverty in the developing world could be eradicated as well as the environmental problems that go with it. While no corner of the world has escaped the effects of Globalisation, it is often clear that the contributions of the various regions and nations have differed greatly as the engine for these major advances is still in favour of the highly industrialized countries. African countries contribute passively to this system. Also, greater integration has led to the further marginalisation of African countries further making them unable to compete effectively.

In the absence of a fair and just global rule as stated elsewhere, Globalisation has increased the ability of the strong to the detriment of the weak, especially in areas of trade, finance and technology. It is fair, therefore, to request the International community and Industrialized Nations to create fair and just conditions in which Africa and other developing countries can participate effectively in the Global economy.

Finally, we are happy with the collaboration IFAD has with the other UN Agencies in Rome and elsewhere. In the same vein, we wish to continue to urge IFAD to seek further collaboration with Institutions in the Region that are relevant to our development process and to continue its support not only in terms of project realization in our continent but also in the area of Regional Representation. We believe the recent appointment of Mr. Cyril Enweze as vice-president of IFAD is in the right direction.

I thank you.