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Africa: Rich Nations' Worries May Sideline Continent's Needs At G8 Summit
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The East African (Nairobi)
6 July 2008
Posted to the web 7 July 2008
Kevin J. Kelley
Nairobi
Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete is expected to remind the Group of Eight summit in Japan this week of financial pledges made to Africa at a G8 meeting three years ago.
But concerns about the G8's own weakening economies may dominate this year's gathering of the leaders of rich nations, relegating Africa to secondary status.
Advocacy groups have warned in the run-up to the meeting that the G8 nations were falling far short of their promise at a 2005 summit in Scotland to double their total aid to Africa by 2010.
Rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof, who have become high-profile anti-poverty campaigners, said last month that failure to hit the $25 billion annual aid target would be a "disgrace."
Host nation Japan has already kept its pledge, and Britain and Germany are winning praise from aid monitors for moving aggressively toward the 2010 target. France is said to be lagging behind, along with Italy, Russia and Canada.
US President George W. Bush, leader of the richest nation of all, declared at a pre-summit news conference that the US remains "on track" for doubling its assistance to Africa. "In Japan," Mr Bush added, "I'll urge other leaders to fulfill their commitments as well."
Officials involved in drafting the Japan summit's concluding declaration are saying that the rich countries plan to reaffirm their commitment to reaching the 2010 goal.
Much of the projected increase in US aid would take the form of an expanded HIV/Aids treatment programme that is now extending the lives of nearly half a million East Africans diagnosed as HIV-positive.
Close to 200,000 Kenyans are receiving anti-retroviral drugs through the US programme, along with 131,000 Ugandans and 115,000 Tanzanians.
Mr Bush hopes to announce in Japan that the US Congress has approved his request for $50 billion over the next five years to combat HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis, mainly in Africa.
But a few senators belonging to Mr Bush's own Republican Party have been blocking the aid increase due to concerns about its impact on the US budget.
The American president has also indicated he will press his fellow G8 leaders to help avert famine in the Horn of Africa and to reduce hunger in other parts of Africa.
In addition to providing more food aid, fertilisers and seeds to needy nations, Mr Bush intends to promote genetically modified crops as a way for Africa to avoid having to seek food assistance.
In order for Africa to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals of halving its poverty rate by 2015, as much as $72 billion in annual aid may be required. That is the estimate recently offered by a panel of development experts.
Speaking at last week's Africa Union summit meeting in Egypt, President Kikwete said the $72 billion figure should not be regarded as an ideal but as a practical measure of what's needed to narrow the wealth gap between Africa and other parts of the world. The experts' report "offers a valuable tool against poverty," said President Kikwete.
The Tanzanian leader, currently serving as chair of the Africa Union, has been invited to the G8 Japan summit along with the Heads of State of Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal.
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President Kikwete's stand on the crisis in Zimbabwe could become a topic of discussion at the summit. He is among the African leaders who had called for the recent elections in Zimbabwe to be postponed.
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