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Most visitors to the tiny island nation of Mauritius come in search of a predictable mix of unspoilt beaches and hot weather. Few will have been aware of the Government's strong record on human rights and most are probably unaware of its rigorous anti-corruption legislation and policies on poverty, education and health.
But now the 1.2 million people who live in Mauritius may start boasting about those achievements a little more loudly. Mauritius, about 1930km off the coast of mainland Africa, has been named the continent's best-governed country in the first comprehensive ranking of African governance.
The rankings, devised by a team of Harvard academics, are the brainchild of one of Africa's richest men, Mo Ibrahim, who established one of the continent's biggest mobile phone networks.
The Ibrahim Index tests all 48 sub-Saharan countries against five measures of governance, including rule of law, security and human development. Mauritius came top, with another island state, the Seychelles, coming second. Botswana, which has widely been recognised as one of Africa's best governed states, came third, Cape Verde was fourth and South Africa fifth. South Africa would have been higher were it not for a terrible score on "safety and security". It scored less than war-torn Somalia.
"We are shining a light on governance in Africa," said Ibrahim, "and in so doing we are making a unique contribution to improving the quality of governance. For the first time we have this comprehensive set of data. I hope governments will use it as a diagnostic tool to see which policies were successful."
The 48 countries were judged over a five-year period, enabling the index to record which countries had made the biggest improvements and which had gone backwards. Rwanda was named the most improved country, climbing 18 places. Alfred Ndahiro, an adviser to President Paul Kagame, said the country had taken giant steps. "Economy-wise we've made good progress. Rwanda is probably the safest country in the region. "
The top 10 also included Ghana and Senegal, countries that, along with Botswana and South Africa, are considered Africa's strongest democracies.
Ibrahim rejected criticisms that it was unfair to judge Mauritius, Seychelles and Cape Verde against mainland African countries. "The smaller the population, the better the chance that everybody will behave. That's an advantage definitely, but we cannot just drop them."
Unsurprisingly, Somalia, which doesn't even have a functioning central government, was named the worst country. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Sudan fared little better. "These are countries which have major conflicts going on," said Ibrahim.
" If you have a severe conflict in your country it affects your governance. The economy collapses, you abuse human rights. This index is a cry for peace in Africa."
- Independent
