DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Laying Out the Pros and Cons of the G8 Summit

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

JOHANNESBURG, Jul 14 2005 (IPS) - Two years ago, Caroline Sande-Mukulira joined civil society activists in the French resort of Evian to plead Africa’s cause.

Her experiences at the Group of Eight (G8) summit, where leaders of the most industrialized nations dragged their feet on global issues – including the problems facing Africa – left her disappointed. “I told myself that I’d not attend a G8 summit again,” she recalls.

Nonetheless, the head of ActionAid International’s Southern Africa programme did find herself at another G8 gathering: the latest summit of the group, which took place last week (Jul. 6 to 8) in Gleneagles, Scotland. ActionAid is a Johannesburg-based non-governmental organisation.

“Gleneagles was different. Africa was a focus of the summit,” she says. However, not everything turned out as she would have liked.

“What Africa needed from the G8 was a giant leap forward. All it got was tiny steps. The deal that has been announced falls way short of our demands,” Sande-Mukulira told a news conference in South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg, Thursday. The briefing reviewed the achievements of the Gleneagles meeting.

“G8 leaders have promised 50 billion dollars more in aid by 2010, 25 billion dollars for Africa,” said Sande-Mukulira. “While any aid increase is welcome…it comes too late for the 50 million children who will die between now and 2010. Less than half of this funding – between 15 to 20 billion dollars – is genuinely new money.”

She said ActionAid was also disappointed at the level of debt relief announced by G8 leaders.

In June, finance ministers from the group’s member states announced debt cancellation for 18 countries, 14 of them in Africa. “The debt cancellation addressed only 10 percent of the problem and fell far short of the full debt cancellation desperately needed by more than 60 countries,” said Sande-Mukulira.

However, the biggest disappointment of the summit concerned trade.

“Increased aid alone will not end poverty. We need fair trade to promote growth,” Sue Mbaya, director of the Southern African Regional Poverty Network, told reporters Thursday. “Most African countries are doing badly in poverty reduction.”

Mbaya further criticised the G8 for not spelling out steps to ensure food security – pointing to widespread food shortages in Southern Africa.

In a statement released to coincide with the G8 summit in Gleneagles, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) also warned of a crisis in the region.

“In Southern Africa, the triple threat of HIV/AIDS, drought conditions and weak government capacity is threatening the lives of at least eight million people. WFP’s operation to feed them is less than 20 percent funded,” noted the UN agency.

The WFP says it will be obliged to reduce its activities in Zambia this month unless donors provide the additional 12 million dollars required to feed over 400,000 people. Women, children, the elderly and people affected by HIV/AIDS would be among those to suffer most from the reduction, according to the agency. The WFP needs 25 million dollars to feed 820,000 Zambians in the course of 2005.

ActionAid has also expressed concern about the effect that the recent G8 deliberations will have on efforts to contain the AIDS pandemic in Africa.

“The G8 has responded to the global movement for AIDS treatment by supporting universal access by 2010. But a funding gap for HIV and AIDS of 18 billion dollars over the next three years still remains,” said Sande-Mukulira.

Southern Africa is the region most affected by HIV/AIDS. Although it contains just two percent of the global population, it is home to 70 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS – this according to the ‘2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic’, published by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Despite these setbacks, civil society groups have called on campaigners not to give up. “We have to get back to the drawing board,” Mbaya said. “It’s all up to Africa.”

During the news conference, Sande-Mukulira rejected claims that African leaders were doing little to combat corruption – often said to be at the root of Western reluctance to increase debt forgiveness, or provide more aid to the continent.

“It’s a tired old excuse for Africa. Things are changing in Africa. Civil societies are putting pressure on governments to fight corruption,” she argued.

She also questioned the extensive coverage given to a campaign launched by the Zimbabwean government that has resulted in the destruction of informal homes and businesses in urban areas.

The Harare administration says the campaign is aimed at eliminating illegal trade in essential goods, and doing away with unauthorized buildings. However, the opposition sees the initiative as a vendetta against its supporters, who are mostly located in Zimbabwe’s cities. The campaign, called ‘Operation Restore Order’, is said to have affected more than 300,000 people.

“The human rights abuses in other African countries could probably be more serious than what’s happening in Zimbabwe now,” said Sande-Mukulira. “There are other crises happening in Africa, but the international community is just obsessed with Zimbabwe.”