West’s Foot-Dragging Over Aid To Africa called ‘Grotesque’
The west’s foot-dragging over aid pledges to Africa was described last night as “grotesque” and a threat to the lives of the world’s poor by the body set up by Tony Blair to monitor the results of Britain’s Gleneagles summit.Almost two years after the G8 group of leading industrial nations promised to boost development assistance by $50bn a year by 2010, the Africa Progress Panel headed by the former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan said rich countries were only 10% of the way to their target. 
“If the efforts to double aid by 2010 are not increased soon it will be too late,” Mr Annan said as the APP presented its findings in Berlin to the prime minister and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who will host this year’s G8 summit in early June.
Mr Annan said the commitment to doubling aid had fallen year on year since Gleneagles. “In 2005 we did well, by 2006 we were sliding, and unless we now make about $5bn available a year we will not make that target,” he said.
Bob Geldof, the musician and lobbyist who also sits on the APP, said the promises of “economic justice” made at Gleneagles, on which Mr Blair had staked his legacy as prime minister, were in danger of collapsing. This amounted to a “grotesque abrogation of responsibility”.
The former rock star added: “No one wants to see the compact of Gleneagles destroyed. Economic justice is the most sacred promise you can make, because if you break it you kill people. We cannot be the instruments of death - we need to be the instruments of life”.
Mr Geldof singled out Germany and Italy for criticism, but Mr Blair said he was confident the international community’s will to act was still there.
“If we do not take a responsible and long-term view of Africa, and its need to develop and make progress, we will end up ultimately with our own self-interest back in countries like Germany and the UK being damaged as a result of the poverty, the conflict, the mass migration, the spread of terrorism and so on,” he said.
“So I think there is a strong moral cause but I think it’s a cause closely allied to our own self-interest. We know that there is very much more that still needs to be done,” Mr Blair told a press conference.
He has successfully pressed Mrs Merkel to put Africa back at the top of the G8 agenda in Heiligendamm in June.
Britain, one of the few leading western countries on track to meet its Gleneagles commitments, believes that action so far falls significantly short of the increases pledged and is urging its partners to step up their efforts. While hailing efforts to boost HIV/Aids treatment and the increased numbers of African children in school, Mr Blair said: “We know there’s more that needs to be done in terms of aid, the world trade talks, building up Africa’s capability, for example for conflict resolution and the peacekeeping force that it will require.
“We also know there are still far too many Africans who die when their death is preventable with our help.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reported earlier this month that once one-off debt relief packages for Iraq and Nigeria were taken into account, aid flows from the west fell for the first time in a decade in 2006.
Britain called last night for action from the World Bank to prevent so-called “vulture funds” from preying on some of the world’s poorest countries, which are struggling to provide basic healthcare and education. This followed an award of $15m yesterday in the high court against Zambia brought by a US fund that had bought the African country’s debt cheaply and enforced it through the courts.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
midnight’s song mama africa is beautiful,
Makes me think of “Westwind” and Nina Simone.
The goal of Europe and America is to ’steal’ Afica’s wealth…so far they have done a pretty good job. Despite all the suffering and death, the wealth still finds itself on ships and planes bounded for Europe and America.
http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/Africa/BerlinConf.html
I’m going to get flamed for what I’m gonna say, but here goes. This is something I have wanted to say for a long time. Seeing “The Last King of Scotland” film just helped solidify this for me.
White people should get the living hell out of Africa and stay out. Africa should be given reparations, all debt should be forgiven, and every European should leave. That way Africa can help herself. Give them whatever they need and then some and go.
Africa doesn’t need another Live Aid concert where Bono and Geldhof can merely feed their messiah complex. Africa needs restitution and doesn’t need people meddling in her affairs and making things worse even when they mean well.
Oh now American Idol is doing some special on Africa too. Like Murdoch give a squirt of urine about that continent. Sure, let’s all go “awwww” while professional, old-monied jerk Simon Cowell hugs some little African kids.
If I offended anyone with my remarks I apologize.
iwarrior, for God’s sake don’t apologize.
Our representatives don’t care about us. You think they will care about a poor starving nobody in a country full of people who can’t even vote for them?
Somebody has to talk before they start breeding us a la soylent green.
I don’t want anyone to think I don’t care about Africa. I do. It’s just that seeing a few rich whites in a sea of poor Africans just irks me tremendously. What are they doing there? They’re not helping. They’re just lining their pockets with sneers on their faces. I don’t even think most of these flaky celebrities really care. They’re just promoting themselves. It’s the chic thing to do. Charity isn’t going to help. These people act like Africans are cute little endangered animals. Like they’re all just sitting there waiting for white people to come feed and adopt them. It’s disgusting. Then you have the Peace Corps which just wants to Americanize them.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Ugh. How condescending.
And yeah, I know about Dio doing Hear ‘N’ Aid years back. But at least he didn’t do it to promote himself. He actually chastised other metal musicians for being too busy boozing and drugging and boinking to care. And of course it wasn’t newsworthy since it’s metal and it was positive and everyone likes to crap on it. Plus long-haired white guys playing loud, powerful, aggressive music can’t possibly be progressive and compassionate.
Sorry for ranting.
Oh no, it’s not a rant, it’s the truth.
On the American Idol show last night, it ended with all these children looking into the screen and saying “Thank You.”
It made me sick. Thank you? Disgusting.