UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
NATIONS UNIES
COMMISSION ECONOMIQUE POUR L'AFRIQUE ~
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'fk-No. 4790 11 May 1995
AFRICAN GROUP REPORTS ON PROGRESS
The African states are coromi tted to human settlements and shelter as a priority sector in their national economies as described in various declarations from sUbregional meetings held recently towards Habitat II. The right to adequate shelter is contained in a number of the constitutions of Member states.
similarly, key issues have been agreed upon for inclusion in the general principles, commitments and Global Plan of Action for the
Istanbul Conference next year.
Just as the African Group has similar problems, so has i~
identified eleven key issues, among them poverty, resource development and distribution, land tenure, financial reform, building:-, materials and related technology, environmental -i mpac t
a~se~sment, gender balance, human resource development, civil:'and human-rights en~orsement, and disaster prevention and mitiga~ion.
The idea that "cities and the-countryside are not enemies" should, they -felt, also be highlighted in the Preparatory committee document'towards Habitat II.
H.E. Amath Dansokho, Minister of Urban Planning and Housing of Senegal, described the often perilous state of security and hence stability in African cities. "Governments must be committed", assist the poor to get land and perhaps credit, for the market itself cannot solve the problem. Hence too the need to take initiatives to involve all sectors. '
He was speaking at a press conference by the African Group called by Hon. Dr. Eric Adriko, Third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Land, Housing and Urban Development, Uganda and Chair of the Africa Group at the recently concluded fifteenth session of the Commission on Human Settlements and of Habitat II and its preparatory process. Dr. Adriko stressed that African ministers responsible for housing had fed into the first Preparatory committee meeting in Geneva in April 1994, and the ongoing second
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meeting. A number of sUbregional meetings had issued the Dakar, Kampala and Brazzaville Declarations; the Africa Group of states had reached a common position on key issues towards Habitat II and established its own expert groups.
H. E. Antoine Zanga, Under-Secretary of Urban Planning and Housing of Cameroon reiterated the importance of Habitat II for the future of the planet, and the vital need to involved the private sector, non-governmental organi zations , and local authorities.
World Habitat Day 1994 had been celebrated in his country by a workshop including representatives of national and local government, the media and the private sector.
H.E. Pamela Mboya of Kenya, Permanent Representative of Kenya to 'UNCHS (Habitat) and Vice-President of the Bureau of Habitat II, referred to the Kampala's Declaration stress on gender balance, vi tally important particularly for women-headed households. "Women and shelter are inseparable"; hence the need for access to land tenure and finance also mentioned in the Kampala Declaration.
Replying to a question on building materials, participants mentioned the need to change building codes and regulations, use local ,materials as much as possible~ and encourage multi-nationals to invest in research on the topic rather than promoting more expensive imported materials. H.E. Mrs. Mboya reported that the African Housing Fund was training women in local building materials such as tiles and soil blocks, while Jenerali Ulimwengi, -M. P . ,
United Republic of..Tanzania, asserted that the right to housing was meaningless given a dearth of building materials. If we can but 'ove r c ome the commercial colonization of the mind, he said, we can rediscover the worth of traditional materials; NGOs and community~
based groups as well as governments must teach this lesson.
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