By Barry Coates
OneWorldJuly 2002
"The state of Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world, but if the world focused on it - we could heal it". These were the words of the British Prime Minister at the Labour Party Conference in 2001. They did not correspond with his actions, and those of his colleagues, at the G8 summit recently.
The world's richest leaders wined and dined, talked about terrorism, gave $20 billion to clean up nuclear sites in Russia, but failed to take action on any of the ways in which the G8 exploits Africa and inhibits its development. They failed to deliver anything to the 300 million people in Africa living on less than $1 a day, the 28 million who are HIV positive and the one third of Africa's children who are malnourished.
Neville Gabriel, a director of the South African Catholic Bishops summed up the African response to the conference when he said that, "The hot-air brigade returned a scandalous plan for no action on Africa. They recycled stale commitments without saying how and when they would act".
This was despite the fact that a week before the G8 Summit, a UN report described how further inaction will consign more than 100 million people in the world's poorest countries, most of them in Africa, to absolute poverty. Other reports have shown that the Millennium Development Goals for poverty reduction will be substantially missed if there is no further debt cancellation. Even the World Bank and IMF reported in March that the much vaunted Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is failing.
The G8 applied a sticking plaster on a gaping wound. They undertook to provide up to $1 billion, as a one-off top-up to the HIPC initiative. Yet Africa pays $15 billion each year to the rich nations in debt payments. Half of the African nations spend more on their foreign debts than on health care. The rich world is still draining desperately needed resources from Africa.
The $1 billion is less than the G8 have spent on staging their last five meetings; and contrasts starkly with the $40 billion allocated by the US for the 'war on terror' or the $350 billion spent annually by the rich nations on farm subsidies.
To add insult to injury, the G8 lectured African leaders, instead of recognising their own roles in perpetrating further injustice on Africa's people. Once again the leaders of the rich nations blamed the poor for their poverty. This total disregard for human life and suffering has got to stop. And the action has to start.
WHAT ACTION SHOULD CIVIL SOCIETY TAKE
Despite our anger and disappointment over the G8's failure to address their role in contributing to the crisis in Africa, it is more effective to welcome the attention paid to Africa, rather than condemning all western nations for the G8's inaction. Leaders like Tony Blair should be encouraged to keep Africa at the top of the agenda to shame the world's richest and most powerful leaders into action.
British citizens should Write to Tony Blair and congratulate him for making Africa the main agenda items at the G8 summit. Acknowledge that he must be feeling bitterly disappointed over the lack of action - so are you. Encourage him to continue the UK Government's push for multilateral action on Africa - in the EU, the World Bank and IMF, the G8 and the WTO.
Point out that the current lack of multilateral agreement on Africa does not mean that the UK should not act - to the contrary, this is the time that the UK must put their own house in order: . Set a timetable to meet the commitment to the aid target of 0.7% of GNP; . Make a policy commitment that the government will press for full cancellation of the debts of the world's poorest countries: . Call for an end to the role of the World Bank and the IMF in determining the core economic policies of the poorest countries, including imposing conditions requiring privatisation of services: . Raise the political priority of reforms to EU trade policy, not only on agricultural subsidies but also the ways in which the UK and EU are mounting pressure on the poorest countries to rapidly liberalise their economies: . Call for including full assessment and public transparency in the negotiating process of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
Remind him that the thousands of debt cards received before the G8 summit and the 345 MPs who signed the Early Day Motion on debt relief show he has the backing and mandate from the electorate to do much more for Africa. Ask to be sent the government's plans to move forward on debt cancellation at the IMF/World Bank Meetings this Autumn
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
