Sall’s growth plea

DAKAR: Senegalese President Macky Sall has pleaded for the fair and sustainable development of Africa and implored the international community not to blame Islam and Muslims for the acts of a faithless and lawless minority.

Sall made his impassioned plea from the UNGA (UN General Assembly) podium on Tuesday as the international body met in New York for its annual general debate.

“For us, African countries, energy is a vital issue because there can be no industrialisation or development without access to electricity at competitive prices,” he said, unfolding a vision of a continent on the fast track to full development thanks to investment and trade, not aid.

“Africa cannot continue to light up other continents thanks to its resources while itself remaining in darkness. Africa cannot continue to serve as a reservoir of raw materials that are transformed elsewhere to the detriment of its own industrialisation.

“Africa cannot continue to be the continent most affected by climate change while its share of CO2 (global warming emissions) linked to energy remain the lowest, on track to reach only 3% by 2040.

“Let us rather see Africa not as a land of humanitarian emergencies and a recipient of public aid for development, but as a continent on the build, a pole on the cusp of progress. Such is the Africa of roads and highways, of bridges and railways, an Africa of dams and power plants, of industrial parks and agricultural farms.

“That is our ambition for our countries. We will realise this ambition not through aid but by massive and urgent investments in those sectors that bring growth and development,” Sall said.

He also called for the reform of international financial governance to ease access to credit for financing and development.

Turning to of terrorism, Sall stressed that no cause, much less a religious one, could justify violence.