British
arms sales fuel Africa
's wars
British ministers'
claims that they are leading the global fight against
poverty will ring hollow unless the government changes
policies which harm rather than help developing
countries.
This message came
loud and clear this week from international
development agency ActionAid as Tony Blair's
Commission for Africa held its last meeting in
London
.
The commission -
including Ethiopian premier Meles Zenawi, South
African finance minister Trevor Manuel and Sir Bob
Geldof as members - will report next month.
Blair aims to win
support for the commission's proposals from other rich
nations' leaders when the
UK
chairs the G8 summit at Gleneagles in
Scotland
in July.
But African
campaigners for ActionAid launched their own report
which showed:
*Ten out of 14
conflict-hit countries in Africa bought arms from
Britain
in 2003.
*British banks are
holding $1.3 billion looted from
Nigeria
by the Abacha family. The
UK
government has not co-operated with Nigerian efforts
to recover this wealth.
*Over two million
Ghanaians lack access to clean, piped water. Yet the
UK
, the fourth largest shareholder in the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank, backed the Bank's
move to make water privatisation there a condition of
aid.
*
Britain
and its EU partners are pushing for free trade deals,
which could destroy African livelihoods.
Ghana
's tomato canning industry has been decimated
following EU-forced tariff cuts.
ActionAid says the
UK
- which also holds the EU presidency from July - must
reform negative
Africa
policies on issues like aid, trade, arms, corruption
and privatisation. In another published report -
Heroes and Villains - on EU member states, which
criticised
Britain
's record. It said EU countries must spend 0.7 percent
of national income on aid by 2010 to achieve the
anti-poverty UN Millennium Development Goals. Yet
among the nations that have set timetables to reach
0.7 percent,
Britain
's target, 2013, is the furthest away.
A third of
UK
aid does not go to low income countries. And the
UK
has paid under a third of its pledged money to a key
part of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
trust fund-only $29 million of $95 million.
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