Africa Needs More Aid to Meet U.N. Goals

from The Associated press

By CARLEY PETESCH

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — World leaders repeatedly warned the U.N. General Assembly that rich countries' failures to fulfill their pledges of aid are keeping poor nations from meeting U.N. goals of reducing poverty and achieving environmental stability.

At Wednesday's closing session, General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim said there was "overwhelming support" from leaders from all regions to make quicker progress to meet the U.N. goals, which include cutting extreme poverty by half, ensuring universal primary education and halting the HIV/AIDS pandemic, all by 2015.

"Many of the goals are off-track, but in sub-Saharan Africa we may not achieve a single goal by 2015. This is indeed an emergency situation," he said.

Eight industrialized nations make up the group of major donor countries. Despite promises made by these nations to increase assistance to Africa to $50 billion annually by 2010, a September U.N. report said targets were not met and will continue to decline through 2007.

The financial pledges were aimed at ensuring that the ambitious goals set for 2015 can be met.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said his country has made steady progress in meeting the targets adopted by world leaders in September 2000 to promote development and health care in the world's poorest countries, known as the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs. But, he said, much of the economic support promised by rich countries has not materialized.

"Africa requires massive, focused foreign investment in the infrastructural development across the continent," Nigerian President Umaru Yar'adua said at the beginning of the U.N.'s annual ministerial session.

Mwanawasa said Zambia has reduced maternal mortality and integrated principles of sustainable development but 68 percent of the country's people still live in poverty.

Other countries, such as Ethiopia, also said they are on their way to achieving the goals set for reducing child and maternal mortality, improving education and combatting HIV/AIDS.

But, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said Wednesday that speedier economic development is needed in his country, especially given the consequences of climate change, the main topic of debate at this year's General Assembly.

"So many of us live on the margins that the smallest difference in climate can mean the difference between sufficiency and famine, survival and death," he said of Africa.

And South African President Thabo Mbeki warned that the consequences of climate change, "undermine our common efforts to achieve the MDGs."

He argued that the dominance of wealthy countries in multilateral institutions affects their decisions, and that consequently "little progress has been made in terms of (reducing) poverty."

Sierra Leone's U.N. Ambassador Joe Pemagbi — the final speaker at the ministerial session — said Wednesday that "the developed countries should fulfill their commitments as partners in an interdependent world, with special support preference for countries emerging from conflict, to accelerate their movement toward meeting the goals."