A Warning to G8 from Commission for Africa

from the Turkish Weekly

“With 100 million people on the brink of abject poverty, the cost of food will not be measured in the price of wheat and rice, but in the rising number of infant and child deaths across Africa,” said former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the launch of a new report by the African Commission. Mr. Annan delivered his speech exclusively on the topic of international aid coming from the G8 countries to Africa, and criticized the developed countries for not fulfilling their promises on the issue.

“An Extra $40bn Aid” is needed for Africa

The report of the Commission for Africa was prepared by a panel of prominent figures led by Annan. The report draws a mixed picture of the progress of the G8 countries for the fulfillment of development aid targets set in 2005. The idea in 2005 was that African countries would improve their democratic credentials while the developed nations would double aid by 2010. The collective target was set in 2005 as $130 billion to be reached by 2010.

Accordingly, the report stated: “We are in a situation where it is increasingly clear that traditional budgetary resources are too overstretched to meet the pledges, unless innovative financing mechanisms are promptly put in place.”

On the other hand, in this first report, the panelists concentrated on the problem of food prices in the contemporary context, and it devastating impacts on African continent. On the issue, the report said: “Unless some way can be found to halt and reserve the current trend in food prices, there will be a significance increase in hunger, malnutrition and infant and child mortality. Many countries are already experiencing the reversal of decades of economic progress and 100 million people are being pushed back into absolute poverty.”

In the report, the panelists strongly underlined the point that there has been enough rhetoric, and it is the time for the developed nations to help Africa to recover itself from the crisis of poverty and underdevelopment. Mr. Annan, within this context, said: “What we really ask for the G8 countries is not to make new promises but to meet the promises that have already been made.” Therefore, Annan called for an extra $40 billion aid to be delivered to the African peoples.

Advocating this rationale, the panelists in the report made some practical recommendations which address the most immediate problems of the continent. Among the others, the report called for increasing emergency aid to the UN World Food Program, lifting agricultural tariffs and making new investments to raise agricultural productivity.

The Commission for Africa

The Commission for Africa was launched by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in February 2004. In addition to Annan, the panel includes the former US Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, rock singer and activist Bob Geldof, Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.

The aim of the Commission was to take a fresh look at Africa’s past and present and the international community’s role in its development path. The work set out to be comprehensive and challenging, addressing difficult questions where necessary. Five formal objectives were established to guide the Commission’s work Below are those five objectives:

1. To generate new ideas and action for a strong and prosperous Africa, using the 2005 British presidencies of the G8 and the European Union as a platform;

2. To support the best of existing work on Africa, in particular the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the African Union, and help ensure this work achieves its goals;

3. To help deliver implementation of existing international commitments towards Africa;
4. To offer a fresh and positive perspective for Africa and its diverse culture in the 21st century, which challenges unfair perceptions and helps deliver changes; and

5. To understand and help fulfil African aspirations for the future by listening to Africans