Tough Love for Africa.(Brief Article)(Interview)

Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade's peaceful election two years ago ended nearly four decades of Socialist Party rule and thrust the French-trained economist into the front ranks of Africa's reformers. In recent months the longtime opposition leader has emerged as a leading spokesman for a new incentive program that would fundamentally change the way development aid is doled out on the continent. The proposal, drawn up with the presidents of Nigeria, South Africa and Algeria, would tie renewed aid and investment from wealthy nations to democracy, legal transparency and other reforms. A conference in Dakar this week of nearly half of Africa's heads of state and hundreds of international business executives will be the last step in forming this New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). They will formally present the plan to G8 leaders at a June summit in Canada. Wade, 74, met with NEWSWEEK's Tom Masland last week in Dakar. Excerpts:

MASLAND: Plenty of recovery blueprints have been drawn for Africa. How is this one different?

WADE: Experts wrote all the others. I was an economist on the panel that wrote one of the first, in 1973, and it never got further than the room where it was written. The chiefs of state never read it. The chiefs of state have worked out this plan themselves. This is a big difference. And this plan is very concrete. We have identified what we call the super priorities, beginning with good governance. We know that the main obstacle to private-sector capital flows is bad governance. And it is democracy that allows long-term stability in a country.

Will you be giving the visiting business people a sales pitch next week?

The role of the private sector is central. Previous Africa plans were based mainly on public resources--aid or loans. No country ever has developed that way. The paradox is that Africa has a lot of natural resources, Africa has a big market--700 million people. We have intelligent people; if they are trained they can do any work. People can do business in Africa. They can make money. [But] our objective is not to sell projects. Our objective is to set up a partnership to make them confident in Africa. The problem is not to ask them today to invest millions and millions of dollars. The problem is to show them that they have in Africa growing possibilities and even sometimes big possibilities, ...