MAKE POVERTY HISTORY
 |
From July 6-8 at Gleneagles, northwest of
Edinburgh, the Heads of State or Government of
the G8 (UK, USA, Germany, France, Italy, Canada,
Japan and Russia) and the President of the
European Commission, together with leaders from
Africa will be parading in their suits, agbada
and Kente all with the purpose of finding
solutions to Africa's many problems as well as
tackle Climate change issues seriously.
|
The British Prime Minister will
be at his convincing best to focus the attention of
the world once again on
Africa
. He will be saying "…
Africa
is a wonderful, diverse continent with an
extraordinary, energetic and resilient people. But it
is also plagued with problems so serious that no
continent could tackle them on its own…" Coming
at the backdrop of the cancellation of about $ 40
billion owed by the worlds poorest countries
Britain
will be pushing for more concessions to help make
Poverty History. Blair's
proposal for the summit, based on a Commission for
Africa report, is that wealthy nations increase aid to
Africa
by 25 billion dollars each year to 2010 while
providing 100 percent debt relief and breaking down
trade barriers.
As the discussion goes on at
Gleneagles, NGOs, businesses and other interested
groups will be making their voices heard. Bob Geldof,
the architect of live aid and live8 has called for a
million people to travel to
Edinburgh
to protest.
As a prelude to the summit the
$40 billion debt cancellation agreed to by rich-nation
finance ministers about a month ago has been greatly
received by the all. In some African countries like
Zambia
, the debt relief will enable the government to hire
7,000 new teachers. Likewise,
Tanzania
will no longer spend 12 percent of its annual budget
on servicing its debts. Instead, it could build new
hospitals and roads. In all, 18 nations - 14 of them
in
Africa
- with 296 million people will be debt-free.
Eventually, a total of 38 nations with 552 million
people may get full debt relief.
For all the impressive figures,
though, the deal strikes a middle ground. For some
it's too small: At most, it cancels less than
one-sixth of Africa's $295 billion debt - and leaves
out crucial countries like
Nigeria
. Former South African president Nelson Mandela has
urged the finance chiefs to write-off African debt and
provide an extra $50bn (£26.69bn) a year in aid for
the next decade. For
others, it's too risky: By erasing bad debts - and
allowing struggling nations to apply for new loans -
it could spark a new cycle of dependency. What then
should be the way forward for
Africa
? This G8 summit will be trying to find out. |
