By William Schomberg and Ingrid Melander
BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The European Union made a breakthrough on Wednesday in its rush to meet an end-of-year World Trade Organisation deadline, saying it had initialled new trade deals with three former African colonies and was on the verge of brokering more agreements. Days after some African leaders said their continent rejected the EU's Economic Partnership Agreements, Namibia inked one with the EU, the European Commission announced.
The Commission said it had also inked deals with the Indian Ocean economies of Comoros and Madagascar.
Cameroon looked set to do the same after lawmakers cleared the way for its president to sign up and officials said Ghana was also close.
South Africa, one of the strongest critics of the EU's EPA plan, said it might get back to the negotiating table next year although it still had serious concerns.
The EU is racing to bring its long-standing preferential trade arrangements with the nearly 80 countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific group into line with World Trade Organisation rules before a WTO waiver expires on Dec. 31.
Some ACP countries stood to see their exports to the EU hit by higher import tariffs from Jan. 1 if agreements were not reached by that date.
The poorest countries in the ACP group are under less pressure as they will qualify for duty-free, quota-free access to the EU's market under its "Everything but Arms" programme for impoverished countries.
The 27 nation bloc is offering to open up completely its markets for almost all goods from ACP countries which would also have to cut their import tariffs but over a period of up to 25 years in some cases and exemptions for some sensitive products.
NO WAIVER
Many African countries wanted more time but EU trade chief Peter Mandelson refused to seek a new waiver, arguing that the EU and the ACP had had seven years to strike the new deals.
"(The EPAs) will encourage the growth of regional markets in Africa and put in place the conditions that will attract much-needed foreign direct investment," Mandelson said in a speech on Wednesday in Slovenian capital Ljubljana.
Cameroon's parliament on Wednesday authorised the country's president to sign an interim deal with Europe, covering goods.
Opposition members of parliament had opposed the bill, which was introduced only a few days ago, saying they had not had enough time to study and modify the text.
But President Paul Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) easily carried the vote thanks to its overwhelming parliamentary majority.
It was unclear when Biya would sign the agreement.
Like other countries, cocoa- and banana-exporting Cameroon has been under pressure to reach an interim deal to ensure its exports to the EU are not hit by increased tariffs on Jan. 1.
Top cocoa producer Ivory Coast initialled a deal last week with Brussels, the first to break ranks with regional bloc ECOWAS's demand for more time, and neighbouring Ghana, the second biggest grower, is expected to reach a deal any day.
Mandelson on Wednesday rejected harsh criticism by African leaders at a summit over the week-end, saying in a speech in Slovenia that the critics -- which included South African President Thabo Mbeki -- did not speak for those African countries that needed the deals.
The EU has initialled deals with 16 African and Indian Ocean ACP countries, of a total of nearly 50 in the region, plus Papua New Guinea and Fiji. It hopes to strike a full EPA, covering issues such as services, with the Caribbean region soon.
(Additional reporting by Tansa Musa in Yaounde, Kwasi Kpodo in Accra, Paul Simao in Johannesburg, Editing by Mary Gabriel)
