Apart from the weaknesses on the part of the G-8-Africa Action Plan, NEPAD faced a more serious challenge in Africa. Criticisms against NEPAD came in two forms. NGOs and other civil society organisations (CSOs) complained about the lack of consultation wit this sector and that NEPAD was a top-down process. This sector was also highly critical of what they saw as the 'neo-liberal' economic prescriptions embedded in NEPAD which, according to them, smacked of a self-imposed structural adjustment programme. On a more positive note, many CSO organisations came out in support of the political aspects of NEPAD, in particular the insistence on democracy, accountability, and good and democratic governance.
The second challenge came from other African governments. Just like CSOs, many such governments also complained about the lack of consultation by the NEPAD architects. Concerned was also expressed that some supports of NEPAD wished to see NEPAD as some super program outside the confines of the African Union (AU). To be sure, many autocratic African governments were critical of NEPAD because they were visibly threatened by NEPAD's strong emphasis on democratic and accountable governance.
In the end, a revised NEPAD was adopted by the AU as the 'economic programme' of the union, and the NEPAD steering committee was increased from 15 to 20 African states during the official launch of the AU in Durban, South Africa in July 2002.
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