07 June 2004 05:30
Advocacy groups ask G8 to cancel Africa`s debt
ByLine: Peter Kahler, On Special Assignment
Savannah, US (PANA) - About 20 leading African non-governmental and civil society groups have petitioned leaders of
the Group of Eight (G8), comprising the world's most industrialised nations, to announce a comprehensive debt
cancellation strategy for heavily indebted African nations during their 8-10 June summit in Sea Islands, Georgia, USA.
Canada, Germany, France, US, Britain, Russia, Japan and Italy are members of the G8, which meets annually to discuss
global economic, political and social issues and take action on them.
The European Union usually attends the summits. In a statement issued Monday on the eve of the G8 summit, the African
groups said the debt burden was a major obstacle to the continent meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as it
"strangles public expenditure and domestic economic growth". "In many African countries, significant
resources are being diverted away from basic social services into debt repayment obligations," the groups said in
their petition.
The groups include some of the largest continental organisations encompassing women's groups, labour, research
and advocacy bodies. Africa's debt servicing is twice as much as it receives in foreign direct investment ($7
billion) and enough money for the Global Fund on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis to stop the spread of the diseases
and provide treatment drugs for Africa's three million HIV/AIDS sufferers, according to statistics issued here by
one advocacy group. The statement noted that the cost of servicing debts "continues to be the source of state
failure" in Africa, and suggested that the G8 ensures that future calculations of debt sustainability be tied to
the MDGs. The African groups also lamented that two years after the Africa Action Plan announced in Kananaskis, Canada,
the G8 commitments to Africa "appeared buried beneath an avalanche of inaction on core issues such as HIV/AIDS,
poverty eradication and debt". "Africa's cheque remains unsigned and un-cashable in spite of obvious need
and progress by the African Union and member states to meet their obligations to Africa's poor and
marginalised," they said.
They called for "greater" market access for African commodities, an end to stringent World Bank/IMF
conditionality and delivery on the Africa Action Plan. "Should these action be taken at the upcoming G8 summit on
the Sea Islands, it would dramatically change current trends and create conditions for the determined pursuit of the
Millennium Development Goals," the groups argued in the statement. It said despite the failure of the G8 to honour
its promises to support important African initiatives, African States have carried out institutional renewal with the
formation of the AU Peace and Security Council, Pan-African Parliament, African Court of Justice and the African Peer
Review Mechanism between 2001 and 2004. Affiliate groups in Kenya and Zimbabwe plan to issue a position statement Monday
on the G8 summit.
[Panafrican News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire] |
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