‘Shouldn’t there be a greater sense of urgency? Isn’t Africa facing severe political disruption, even conflict, if the economic crisis isn’t contained?’ was one of the questions from the 50 or so journalists who came to the launch of the APP’s annual report by Kofi Annan, Graca Machel and Linah Mohohlo (Michel Camdessus missed his plane, stuck in a flood).

It’s clear from the many discussions going on here that there is no consensus on how bad the impact of the global economic crisis will be on Africa. Some are pointing to rebounds in commodity prices and recovering global financial markets as evidence that the crisis has bottomed out. Others that the worst is yet to come, jobs are still evaporating and financial flows dropping. A lot of scary statistics on poverty levels and malnutrition are flying around.

Surprisingly, journalists’ questions at our launch did not focus on aid levels or effectiveness. Dambisa Moyo was not even mentioned. She is supposed to be here but had to cancel. Most questions were about the quality of African leadership. This is welcome given the central message of the report.

Graca said that leadership is lacking in Africa: it needs to be ‘focused and sustained, thinking 30 or 40 years ahead, and able to make tough decisions about priorities given the myriad social and economic problems that people in Africa face’. She’s right, but quality leadership is in short supply everywhere. Kofi said that accountability is a sound basis for economic growth. Obama would agree with that.

The report launch took place just before the opening by Jacob Zuma of this year’s Africa Summit of the World Economic Forum, one year before the World Cup hits South Africa. Cape Town is sunny and surprisingly warm, given that it’s winter here. There’s a lot of talk about Africa needing to become more competitive, to identify champions, and to score goals. Expect a lot more.

-Michael Keating, Africa Progress Panel