| On December 20 2006 the Confederation of Farmers’ Unions in Burkina (CPF) organised a protest march in the capital Ouagadougou against the Economic Partnership Agreements, which are now being negotiated between the European Union and the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific – ACP. Farmers from other West African nations took part in the march, which terminated at the Place de la Nation. There the declaration of Niamey calling for food sovereignty in West Africa and the mid-term evaluation document of the EPA process were handed over to the general secretaries of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade. In their present form the EPAs – free trade agreements – do not have the assent of the farmers’ confederation or, in a wider setting, of ROPPA (Réseau des organisations paysannes et producteurs agricoles de l’Afrique de l’Ouest), the regional network of West African farmers’ organisations and agricultural producers. “If the EPAs are signed in their present shape, they will endanger West African development” they state on posters ciurculated in information and awareness raising campaigns and in lobbying and advocacy work. In order to make their voice heard louder and better, farmers of the region rallied in the capital of Burkina Faso on December 20 for a protest march through the streets of Ouagadougou ,…/…, ending at Place de la Nation. Here the president of the national union of Niger, Mr Djibo Bagnan, read out a declaration from the men and women farmers in West Africa, addressed to the Heads of State, who were to gather in Ouagadougou on December 22 and 23 for the summit meetings of the ECOWAS and the WAEMOU (the Economic Community of West African States and the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa). The declaration described the devastation that would follow in the wake of the foreseen liberalisation and reasserted the support of the farming community for the ECOWAS agricultural policy for the region, adopted in January 2005. It recalled the points on which the farming world expects West African governments to act in order to preserve their regional agricultural market. These points are stated in two separate documents, providing the citizens’ and farmers’ contribution to the creation and defence of a dynamic region, aware of its potential”. The documents are “The declaration of Niamey for Food Sovereignty in West Africa” and the mid-term evaluation document of the trade negotiations between the EU and West Africa . Subsequently the newly elected president of the farmers’ confederation of Burkina, Mr Bassiaka Dako, read out the Niamey declaration of November 2006, issued at a meeting organised by ROPPA in which farmer organisations, producers, members of parliament, senior officials of the Ministries of Agriculture and Trade in West Africa , research scientists and other groups took part. After a review of the food situation in West Africa , participants committed themselves to i.e. the drafting and implementation of a West African charter on food sovereignty, a trade policy and protective measures in line with the food sovereignty objective. The handing over of these documents to Mr Abdolaye Coulibaly, general secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Mr Sériba Ouattara, acting secretary general for Trade, marked the closure of the ceremony…./… LE PAYS (S.D.) Daily paper of Burkina Faso Ouagadougou , 21 December 2006 Have a look at some of the pictures in our photo show (18 snapshots and captions – which you may use freely, but please indicate the source: Bulletin abc Burkina, View of the South – View from the South). Main heading: The farmers of West Africa say no to the EPAs in their present form. |
View from the South