Launching the facility 29 August at the Water Dome, one of the major exhibitions at the 10-day World Summit on Sustainable Development currently underway in Johannesburg, South Africa, Salim descibed the initiative as an African one "meant for Africans". The former secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) said the new facility emanates from NEPAD (the New Partnership of Africa's Development) which calls upon governments and donors to enter into partnerships that can effectively solve Africa's water supply and sanitation problems.

The African Water Facility has its origins in the need to meet water priorities as identified by NEPAD, the Africa Water Vision and the Accra Stakeholders' Conference of April 2002. It seeks to facilitate the achievement of goals set out in the Africa Water Vision, which are to:

• reduce by 50 percent the number of Africans who do not have access to safe drinking water by 2015;
• reduce by half the number of Africans who do not have access to sanitation services by 2015.

The Netherlands, represented at the launch by Crown Prince of Orange, Willem Alexander who is also water adviser to the United Nations, has already provided funding for the formative stages estimated to cost US$2 million.

The facility will be hosted by the African Development Bank with formal links to African water ministers who are also meeting here to discuss, among other issues, water as an instrument for regional integration.

At the regional level, the facility is expected to provide support for developing shared river basin visions and activities, such as those of the Zambezi Basin. The Zambezi Basin is one of the most shared and third largest in Africa after the Congo and Nile Basins. It drains a total area of over 1.32 million sq km, stretching across eight countries namely Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The just launched facility recognises the fact that water a resource that is rarely owned exclusively by one country. It is a resource that runs across boundaries, posing a potential for conflict. However, the African Water Task Force in general, and southern Africa in particular, are determined to exploit the trans-boundary nature of the resource and use it as an instrument for regional integration. (SARDC)