Prize winner: Why Cape Verde is the best place to live in Africa

The Mo Ibrahim Prize was established by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to recognise and celebrate excellence in African leadership. It is an annual $5 million award paid over 10 years and $200,000 annually for life thereafter. This year’s winner, former Cape Verde (2001 to 2011) President Pedro Pires received the award last Saturday. BEATRICE KARANJA spoke to him about politics in Cape Verde and Africa

What was your reaction upon learning that you’d won the 2011 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership?

I must say I was surprised — and honoured of course. The Ibrahim Prize means a lot to me as recognition of my time in office. I believe it honours the hard work of all Cape Verdeans who, together, have brought the nation to where it is today.

You’ve been active in Cape Verdean politics since the struggle for Independence. What led you to choose this path?

I’ve dedicated my entire life to the cause of my country and of course the first part of that was the cause of Independence. Back in 1975, our country was an impossible place to live for many people. As a nation, we’ve made major efforts and we’ve made successive progress. Personally, it was an obligation, a duty to do everything I could to take my country forward. As leader of the Cape Verdean state, I think that I’ve done my best to ensure that the country could have a taste of progress, with the rule of law being established, getting better and consolidating.

Near the end of your second term, there were calls for amending the Constitution to allow you to run for a third term. Why didn’t you entertain these propositions?

In my country, the institutions of rule of law are credible, which is essential to ensure political stability, people’s confidence and predictability of decisions and the future. The law must be respected, this is what we have worked so hard to achieve.

Cape Verde is a small state compared with the majority of its African counterparts, yet it has been able to impact African politics. How did you achieve this?

We tried to be creative and useful. In my view, any international political actor, big or small, should strive to be politically credible, reliable and helpful.

The cause of my country and the cause of Africa and the African people are in many ways the same. Ever since the movement for Independence we realised that as Africans we are bound by a joint future. The success of one country is shared among all of us and we all have an interest in working together to achieve our common aims.

We made certain to consolidate relationships with important non-African countries that have a stake in Africa’s future. For example, we proposed the first Ecowas summit with Brazil, focusing on trade between South America and West Africa as well as strategies for tackling drug trafficking from South America to Europe via West Africa.

Many of Africa’s challenges are global in nature, and it is important that we open dialogue on an international scale to find solutions.

You have also played a role in conflict mediation on the continent. What drove you to get involved in peacemaking?

We have to work for a peaceful world and a peaceful Africa, striving for harmony and understanding. In our independent states in Africa the importance of this has been clearly demonstrated by the costs we have borne through conflict. It is vital that we implement a policy of peace and search harder for appropriate solutions to conflicts.

Cape Verde has been called upon to mediate conflicts on the continent on many occasions because we exercise a policy of loyalty, balance and friendly interaction with our African counterparts. We have assisted in conflict mediation in Southern Africa and Guinea-Bissau and have been asked for advice on the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire. We have also been called upon in many other cases, not so well covered by the press.