The diagnosis on urban mobility and transport in African cities points out difficult conditions of travel and a failure in the organisation of public transport :•    a mobility scheme dominated by walking impo¬sed on many urban populations due to high transport costs,•    a motorised mobility often implemented in bad conditions (time, comfort, safety) limiting the demand,

The participants agree that urban safety is an essential element for the sustainable develop¬ment of cities (economic, social and cultural). It is a basic service which should be accessible to all citizens. Moreover, it is a concern for every citizen, and in particular for the poor, who are affected most by urban insecurity since insecu-rity plays a major role in hindering the possibi¬lity for the poor to break the cycle of poverty and fully participate in development efforts. This is particularly true for women affected by domestic violence as well as by other forms of crime.

The institution or consolidation of policies of decentralization that has been going on for seve¬ral wars almost everywhere on the African conti¬nent implies a transfer of responsibilities to the local level and consequently a need to strengthen the capacities of human resources of locd gwernments so as to equip them to produce the expected results of decentralization with respect to planning, programming, project management and service delivery to the populations

A new map ofAfrica is being sketched, at a time when the structural adjustment policies have reduced development objectives to short term and sector-based visions. The changes it brings will be the determinant factors for the future dyna¬mics. The breakout of violent conflicts in many African countries, puts the internal forces and neighboring countries on edge, thereby transfor¬ming the trans-border areas into breeding ground for new crises. These conflicts generally pose a challenge for national and regional institutions to restore and follow up the structural transforma¬tions in the area. They also reveal the limitations of the current development approaches at natio¬nal, as well as at regional levels.

The policies of decentralization being propagated in Africa express the willingness to see local governments take over from Central Government in the quest for development. This is what lied to the birth in 1997 of the Programme on Revitalization of Local Economies (ECOLOC) jointly implemented by Municipal Development Partnership (MDP) and the Club du Sahel.

We, mayors, attending the Africities 3 noted that despite efforts made particularly with develop¬ment partners to ensure access to basic services by our populations, 70% of our population is living in rural area while in urban area, 60% still live in shantytowns. These populations lack basic services, live in crowded housing units that fall short of minimum health standards, the units are built on unsafe sites and they have no titles to the land they occupy.We also stressed that far from weakening the State, decentralization has proved to be a deter-mining factor in stimulating local development, and enabling citizens to increase their participa¬tion in management and decision-making process in cities, as it makes it possible for people to iden¬tify appropriate means for solving their problems.

The session was chaired by Professor A k i n M A B O G U N J E, Chairman of the Presidential Technical Committee on Housing and Urban D evelopment, Nigeria. The session was conve n e d to provide specific examples of programme activ ities in the two areas comprising the Cities A l l i a n c e mandate:City Development Strategies, and citywide and nationwide slum upgrading.

Joint Action (JA) is about partnership arrange¬ments at local level where all local actors find space, including and especially the poor (inclusi¬veness). It is based on dialogue on equitable basis that goes beyond contractual public-private part¬nership arrangements ( or out-so urcing ). Joint Action is a process, not just a task and requires a cooperation environment, developing a common agenda, developing a culture of working together and bearing joint responsibility for outcomes. Joint Action can then both be seen as a means to an end (i.e. a partnership arrangement to achieve specific goals) as well as an end in itself (i.e. as a dialogue between actors to enhance accountabili¬ty and foster democracy). In its most potent form it is crucial in achieving poverty reduction and good governance objectives at local level.

NEPAD, conceived as a framework based on the innovative populations in order to speed up the sustainable development of Africa and the eradi¬cation of poverty, is based on the conviction of the African leaders that democracy, stability, good governance, human rights and economic develop¬ment on the continent constitute the prerequisite for reversing the tendency towards poverty and to attract foreign investments. Thus, NEPAD targets a development and a sustained growth, a goal which cannot be reached without a perennial urbanization. NEPAD must thus tackle the issue of urbanization and its consequences if it must transform the urban centres into poles of resource creation, ready to attract investments and capital flows. The fight for the sustainable development of Africa which is the actual mission of NEFAD, will be won or lost in the cities.

People’s access to basic services and the conservation of resources are both at the heart of sustainable development strategies and anti-poverty policies. Fast urban growth in recent decades has been accompanied by the equally fast growth of shantytowns. Today, three billion people live in cities, and a third of them live in shantytowns.