U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that his Africa commission would be “brutally frank” about the problems facing the poverty-stricken continent when it publishes its report on Friday March 11.
– It is an ambitious project we have set ourselves and you will have to judge on its outcome when we publish it, said Blair at the close of the 17-member commissions final meeting in London adding: – It will be a report that is brutally frank about the reality, but I hope idealistic about what can be done if the will is there.
Blair created the commission last February to work out what Africa needs to develop and explain what has held it back. He plans to use Britains 2005 presidencies of both the G-8 group of wealthy nations and the European Union as platforms to muster international efforts to solve the continents crippling problems of health, poverty and conflict.
– What we have tried to do is to come together, commissioners from different parts of the world, different walks of life, to see if it is possible to reach a consensus of agreement on what can be done, he said.
The challenges facing Africa are numerous and enormous.
In the past 50 years, 186 coups and 26 major wars have killed more than 7 million people and cost Africa 250 billion US dollar. Half a dozen African nations still are troubled by serious conflicts, the U.N. says.
African countries are also saddled with 305 billion dollar in debts, and their products account for barely 2 per cent of world trade. Investment in the continent has shrunk to 11 billion dollar a year.
HIV complicates efforts to spur economic growth and development in Africa. More than 26 million Africans are infected with HIV and an estimated 15 million have died from AIDS , including many people from the continents relatively small educated and business class.
– What will be different is, that this is a partnership between Africa and the developed world, not simply a donor-recipient relationship.It is a partnership in which there are obligations on both sides, said Blair.
In return for debt relief, increased aid and free trade – Britains key aims for the developing world – countries would have to show transparent governance and fight corruption.
Nine of the 17 commissioners are African, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi; Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa; Anna Tibaijuka, a Tanzanian who heads the U.N. agency for human settlements; Kingsley Amoako, a Ghanaian who heads the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, and South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
Other members include former International Monetary Fund Managing Director Michel Camdessus and the British Treasury chief Gordon Brown. Blair chairs the commission, and all members serve in their private capacities.
Kilde: The Push Journal
