AHG/Decl. 2 (XX) DECLARATION ON THE CRITICAL ECONOMIC SITUATION IN AFRICA MADE BY THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY AT THE TWENTIETH ORDINARY SESSION OF THEIR ASSEMBLY HELD IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA FROM 12 TO 15 NOVEMBER, 1984 PREAMBLE We the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 12 – 15 November 1984, for the 20th Ordinary Session of our Assembly, Having considered the Report of the Secretary-General a.i. on the African Economic Situation in Document AHG/110 (XX) and its Annexes. Most greatly concerned by the deteriorating and alarming economic and social conditions of our countries, and in particular, the unprecedented effects of the persistent drought, which have caused untold misery in most of our Member States, to the extend that 27 of them are currently dependent of food aid, Recognising that the poor performance of our economies is due, on the one hand, to such external factors as declining export prices of Africa’s major exports, drastic drop in the level of official development assistance in real term, mounting external debt and persistent balance of payments deficit, and on the other hand, to weak economic structure and to certain aspects of domestic policies that our countries have been compelled to adopt partly in response to external economic situation, Greatly disturbed by the strong possibility of further deterioration in our economies if the current situation is allowed to continue, Determined to adopt effective policy measures at the national, sub-regional and continental levels of the improved performance of our economies,