From Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, Institute for Sustainable Development
The biosafety negotiations are a complex issue with a long history and I
understand the need for simplification
(15 January, p 14). But to say that the
confrontation is one of the US versus Africa only is oversimplification.
I was elected by the “like-minded” group of countries from the South and
negotiated on everybody’s behalf, not only on behalf of Africa. Similarly,
though the suggestion is flattering to me, I can’t take credit for convincing
the 53 member states of the Organization of African Unity to adopt model
biosafety legislation—though I might have contributed to that.
African negotiators to the biosafety talks asked us, the Ethiopian
delegation, to prepare draft model legislation. This was later reviewed and
modified into a common African position paper at a meeting of all African
countries. I cannot be credited, as in a mythology of heroes and villains, with
managing the feat of making Africa confront the US single-handedly. At best I
was a catalyst.
Anyway, thanks a lot for turning me into a hero of Africa, and Africa into a
global David.
Advertisement
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
