By Karin Strohecker
LONDON (Reuters) - Progress in governance across Africa has stalled since 2011, with deteriorating safety and lack of economic opportunity blunting any gains made on the human rights front especially in resource-rich nations, a survey reported on Monday.
The Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) - the most comprehensive survey of its kind on the continent, rates 54 African nations against criteria such as security, human rights, economic stability, just laws, free elections, corruption, infrastructure, poverty, health and education.
Mauritius held onto its top spot, followed by Cape Verde, Botswana, South Africa and Namibia, but overall the index has improved just 0.2 basis points over four years and half of the top 10 ranked countries have declined, the survey found.
"We see countries that have conflicts, we see countries that have tensions, we need to pay attention," said Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese telecoms tycoon who launched the foundation that compiles the report to promote better governance and economic development in Africa.
"A lot of these are self-inflicted wounds by presidents who do not want to leave power or people driven by personal greed, and that is criminal," he told Reuters in an interview.
Ibrahim said progress had begun to slow down and, in some countries, had ground to a halt. "We just don't see the continuous stride forward, so we raised a red flag there and say 'please, pay attention now'."
The report showed the category of sustainable economic opportunity - relating to governmental efforts to provide an appealing environment for investment, business and to develop a more prosperous society - had suffered the biggest decline over the past four years.
The deterioration was caused by a worsening in the business environment for four straight years, with the subcomponent on the soundness of banks showing a double-digit decline.
Governments, Ibrahim said, needed to focus on cutting red tape and improve delivery of services, making sure young people get the right education and ensure lasting peace.
RELIANCE ON COMMODITIES
Much of Africa depends on the production and export of commodities - from oil-reliant Nigeria and Angola to copper-rich Zambia or bauxite miner Guinea. Recent sharp commodity price falls are expected to take a heavy toll on these economies.
Data used for the IIAG survey ends in 2014 and would not have fully captured the end of the commodities super-cycle. However, 11 of Africa's 16 commodity-exporting states had seen a worsening in the sustainable economic opportunity category.
"For many years everybody has been saying, 'Please, please diversify'... Unfortunately many countries did not really pay attention," Ibrahim said. "Sometimes you have to learn through pain, but hopefully the solution will then be there - we simply cannot depend on a single product or resource."
The report did highlight some positive trends, noting improvements in infrastructure across the continent, thanks to better telephone and IT systems, as well as air transport.
Ivory Coast - Africa's largest cocoa producer - topped the list of the 10 biggest improvers over the past four years following a decade of political turmoil and civil war.
Others to move up were Zimbabwe, Senegal, Kenya, Togo, Morocco, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Madagascar and Tunisia. Together, they represent almost a quarter of Africa's population.
Ivory Coast now ranks 35th on the infrastructure front, well above Africa's largest economy Nigeria in 39th place on the list, below Burundi, Cameroon and Djibouti.
(Reporting by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
