[DEBATE] : Leaked G8 Communique reported in FT - Back track Aid to Africa

[Azwell Banda]

Could this have anything to do with African leaders inability to deliver
Mugabe to the West for roasting? I wonder.....

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From: debate-bounces at debate.kabissa.org
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Subject: [DEBATE] : Leaked G8 Communique reported in FT - Back track Aid to
Africa

Financial Times

G8 leaders ready to backtrack on Africa aid By Hugh Williamson in Berlin

Published: June 29 2008 23:33 | Last updated: June 29 2008 23:33

Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations are set to backtrack on their
landmark pledge at the Gleneagles summit in 2005 to increase development aid
to Africa to $25bn a year.

A draft communiqué obtained by the Financial Times, due to be issued at the
group’s July summit in Hokkaido, Japan, shows leaders will commit to
fulfilling "our commitments on [development aid] made at Gleneagles" – but
fails to cite the target of $25bn annually by 2010.

This goal – which was repeated at last year’s G8 summit in Germany – was
seen as an important boost for Africa. The ambitious plan was a cornerstone
of former UK prime minister Tony Blair’s G8 presidency and championed by his
successor, Gordon Brown.

The dropping of the explicit target marks a further stage in the G8’s
failure to honour the commitments they made in Scotland at Gleneagles.  
Most of the G8 countries’ aid budgets have already fallen well behind their
promises to increase overseas assistance.

The step could be awkward for Japan, which has made support for Africa a
summit theme, along with climate change. Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese prime
minister, used a meeting last month in Japan with 40 African leaders to
announce a doubling of aid to Africa by 2013. Eight African leaders are due
to attend the G8 summit on July 7.

The draft communiqué, dated June 25, might still change, diplomats insisted,
especially if pressure from African countries or from the public grew next
week.

In a further retreat, the G8 is set to abandon its Gleneagles promise to
provide universal access to Aids treatment and prevention by 2010.  
The pledge has been a benchmark around which health campaigners and others
have been organising their work, especially in Africa.

The draft says the G8 will continue "working towards the goal of universal
access to HIV/Aids prevention, treatment care" but it does not mention the
2010 deadline.

In addition, G8 leaders are divided on how to fulfil one of the headline
commitments at last year’s Heiligendamm summit in Germany to provide $60bn
"over the coming years" for tackling malaria, tuberculosis and Aids, and for
strengthening healthcare systems in developing countries.

This promise remains in brackets in the draft, indicating that no agreement
has been reached. Countries are divided on the time period for achieving the
target, with proposals ranging from three to eight years, according to one
person familiar with the issue.