WE, Southern African civil society organisations campaigning on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs), meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, from 20-22 November 2007, to review the EPA negotiations, re-affirm our opposition to these self-serving Free Trade Agreements that the European Union (EU) seeks to impose on African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. We unreservedly condemn the interim arrangement put in place to address market access to the EU at the expiration of the Cotonou preferences on December 31, and view the treacherous framework as designed for bulldozing Africa into signing a comprehensive EPA/FTA. We note that the proposals on market access contained in the interim agreement still reflect the offensive interests of the EU and are not comprehensively linked to addressing supply-side constraints in the region. Commitments in Agriculture and Fisheries should not undermine the region’s quest for food security and sovereignty and should not undermine sustainable livelihoods in our region. As currently conceptualized and proposed, EPAs/FTAs are anti-developmental and will have tremendous potential to destroy the economies of these countries. We reiterate our condemnation of the growing abuse by the European Commission (EC) of the December deadline for the conclusion of the negotiations and expiry of the Cotonou waiver to put unjustified pressure on our governments to concede to the EU’s proposals on the EPAs. We note with concern that the time dedicated for EPA negotiations in this phase was inadequate for the conclusion of a comprehensive FTA whose outcome will ensure sustainable development in SADC. In this respect, we caution against embracing the recently unveiled EPA framework because it will lead to a bad deal. We are deeply concerned that CSO engagement with EPA negotiations still remains token and in some countries, governments don’t even consult stakeholders generally, classified in the Cotonou Agreement as Non-State Actors. We are dismayed that, in spite their own explicitly stated lack of preparedness to conclude the negotiations by December, our governments are allowing themselves to be dragged along the EU agenda. Therefore, we call on the governments to demand their right under the Cotonou agreement to preserve benefits derived from Lome. We reiterate that Singapore issues, belong to the multilateral/WTO level and should not be imposed in the EPAs negotiations. We note with concern that there are still divergent views between the EC and SADC/ESA regarding the meaning of sustainable development. Further, we realize that the EC’s commitment to fund the region’s development needs still falls far short of what is required to eradicate poverty. We are also concerned that the new deadline of December 2008/9 set for concluding a comprehensive EPA is unrealistic and has no logical basis. We urge African governments to reflect deeply on the implications of the framework before considering signing a comprehensive EPA/FTA and intensify consultations on EPA processes and viable alternatives. We re-assert the widely-acknowledged principle that Africa’s sustainable development, poverty eradication and regional integration can only be achieved on the basis of a strategy driven by the needs and priorities of our people. This principle must be the basis for any relationship with the EU. It should and cannot be bargained away, as is being done in the EPAs, for continued access to the EU market, especially when there are credible alternatives to ensure that market access. EPAs/ FTAs have derailed locally driven initiatives for regional integration and in this respect, SADC has lost its orientation. When the EPA negotiations were launched, civil society organizations from all over Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific and Europe warned that the EPAs were anti-developmental. We pointed out that the EPAs posed a threat not only specifically to government revenue, local producers and industries, food sovereignty, essential public services, and the regional integration of African countries; but also to the right and capacity in general of African countries to develop their economies according to the needs of their people and their own national, regional and continental priorities. In this regard, we re-affirm the positions of the StopEPA Campaign that EU-ACP trade cooperation should protect ACP producers, as well as domestic and regional markets; respect the principles of non-reciprocity and special and differential rights; exclude the pressure for trade and investment liberalisation; and support the space of ACP countries to formulate and pursue their own development strategies. We therefore call upon our governments to: (a) reject the EU pressure to conclude the EPA negotiations by the end of December 2008; and also reject the false claims by the EU that only the EPAs can protect access of African (and other Caribbean and Pacific) exporters to the European market; (b) reject the EU agenda for the EPA—in particular -the reciprocal elimination of tariff on goods; -the liberalisation of services; -rules on investment, competition and government procurement, and -strengthened obligations in intellectual property rights; (c) create space for exploration with their citizens and other stake-holders of existing and viable options on the basis of which to establish a relationship which is consistent with the developmental imperatives of Africa’s economies and with Africa’s own integration agenda. We pledge to work together with allies in reclaiming SADC and transform it into development community that is people centred and to ensure that the EPAs as currently proposed do not come into being. For more details contact Barulaganye Mogotsi, BOCONGO on phone 3911319/71673458.