UN wants G8 to stand by African pledge

Ban Ki-Moon, who is the general secretary of the United Nations (UN), has urged the leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) to take concrete actions to fulfil its promises made three years ago to double aid to Africa over the next two years.

Moon stated that the planet now has three serious threats, an impending food crisis, a global climate change crisis and a development crisis.

He went on to say that these three problems are completely interconnected and need to be dealt with as a combined threat not individual crises.

He urged Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and Russia to fulfil what was promised in their 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland - to double aid to Africa from $25Bn (£12.5 billion) to $50Bn (£25 billion) over the next two years in order to reduce world poverty.

However, until now only three billion dollars have been disbursed, said Oxfam policy advisor Max Lawson, in Hokkaido, on the first day of the three-day summit of the G-8, according to the Kyodo news agency.

A draft final communiqué of the summit of the G-8 obtained last week, kept the promise but eliminated the date 2010.

Shortly before, the British non-governmental organization, Oxfam, stressed that the G-8 has sent only 14% of the aid promised to Africa.

Bob Geldof called the G8 a “contemptuous joke”, when it was discovered that such a small percentage of the pledged target had actually been realised.

The G-8 meeting held an expanded dialogue with seven African leaders to listen to the needs of their continent, where there have been disturbances and instability caused by the global food crisis.

The presidents from Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania and Ethiopia asked the G-8 to comply “fully” with their promises of aid for Africa.

During their meeting, African countries and nations of the G-8 discussed several topics, including aid for Africa, high oil prices and food, agricultural development on the African continent, trade and investment.

Meanwhile, the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, on Monday urged the countries that make up the G-8 to act immediately against global food crisis and suggested creating an internationally coordinated system of food reserves.

This summit of the G-8 should give hope to those who have no hope and food to those who have no food, he said

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