Malika Benradi: An African centre to promote research

ALM: You have just taken part, in Addis Ababa, in a meeting on the establishment of an African Research and Innovation Centre (CARI/ARIC), an initiative taken in 2011 by the African Union, although Morocco has not been a member since 1975. How is it that you were invited to this meeting?

Malika Benradi: I took part in this meeting on the establishment of CARI, following an invitation from the director of IDEP (United Nations Institute for Economic Development and Planning), who chose six African researchers from across the continent (three women and three men) to reflect on the design of the Council and the modalities for its establishment, following the example of the European Research Council.

The Director of IDEP, Adebayo Olukushi, former Executive Secretary of CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa), had met me as President of the African Women’s Association for Research and Development (AFARD/AWORD), which I had the honour of chairing for two terms.

Mr. Adebayo, who was appointed Director of IDEP after CODESRIA, was entrusted by the AU with the task of coordinating the reflection on the establishment of CARI. It was as Director of IDEP that he called on me as a researcher, and he actually honoured me, as I was part of a high-level group tasked with carrying out this project.

Can you tell us about the process of this major project?

The AU Commission’s Department of Human Development, Science and Technology mandated the working group to carry out a feasibility study on the establishment of an African Research Council (ARC) and the definition of the role of this institution, its mode of operation and the powers of its organs. Within this framework, we held four meetings: the first took place in Addis Ababa, at the AU headquarters, on 24 and 25 January 2011. For my part, my contribution consisted in analysing the situation of social science research in Africa, obviously in a comparative approach and on the basis of the Unesco reports, I cited Morocco as an example to highlight the advances but also to identify the problems facing research in our country.

The 2nd meeting was held in Nairobi on 31 March and 1 April 2011, and aimed to develop a strong case for the need for the continent to have CARI. The 3rd meeting, held in Johannesburg on 18-19 April 2012, presented the case to a panel of researchers and senior officials from African research institutions for their views on the need to establish CARI.

What about the 4th meeting?

The fourth meeting, which just took place in Addis Ababa (9-13 December 2013), and which coincided with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the AU, was essentially aimed at discussing the mandate and role of CARI, the powers of its organs and their composition. In fact, the draft statutes and rules of procedure of this council, AMCOST (editor’s note: Conference of African Ministers of Science and Technology) agreed at the meeting of African Ministers of Scientific Research in November 2012, to establish this Council which should, according to AU officials and in particular the Director, be responsible for the implementation of the Strategy 2024 (STISA) as part of the 2063 plan. The next meeting, which will take place, certainly in Addis Ababa, the AU headquarters, during 2014, will consist of adopting the statutes of CARI and officially announcing the creation of CARI.

A creation in Morocco. Why not?

For the Nairobi meeting, I had personally suggested Morocco to host it, the members accepted this proposal with great joy, unfortunately as IDEP called on other researchers and heads of research institutions to consult them and clarify the role of CARI, which will not replace or compete with existing research bodies but will support them for a better organisation and management of research at the African level, it was not easy to mobilise the necessary funds to ensure the travel of some forty people to Rabat. I spoke to Mr Lahcen Daoudi as Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research, who welcomed the initiative with great interest.

How did the members of this high-level group, set up by the AU, react to your presence when Morocco is no longer a member?

My presence and my contribution were very much appreciated, the members are above all high-level researchers and at no time did they raise this issue or question my presence.

At the first meeting in Addis Ababa, I presented my paper on the state of social science research in Africa, no participant raised the question of my belonging to Morocco. The same was true at this last meeting in Addis Ababa, where the Director of the Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology, Mr Abdul Hakim Elwaer, from Libya, answered my questions with great interest without asking a single question about Morocco. Moreover, many representatives of African countries wished that Morocco would regain its place in the AU and « return to its homeland » to play its rightful role.

How does it feel to be in a high-level group when your country left the AU in 1975?

My first feeling is one of revolt. Let me explain: when I entered the AU headquarters for the first time, I was vainly looking for the portrait of the late HM Mohammed V next to that of the late Bourguiba and Nasser, the builders of African unity. I was very disappointed to find the portrait of El Ouali Sayed Mustapha, even though it was in Casablanca in 1963 that the idea of the OAU was born. Not to recognise Morocco’s efforts in the creation of the OAU is ingratitude, the portrait of El Ouali is nonsense.

So you hope that Morocco will return to the Union?

Obviously, there is no reason for Morocco to remain outside an organisation that it founded, given the role that Morocco plays in Africa, which has become increasingly visible since the enthronement of HM Mohammed VI, it seems to me that it is the Rads, which should leave the AU since more than half of its members do not recognise it.