G-8 Pledges
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This week’s launch by British Prime Minister Tony Blair of an Africa Progress Panel to oversee the Group of Eight’s (G-8’s) pledges to Africa is a welcome move, but it is certain to raise more than a few eyebrows.
The G-8 industrialised nations’ earlier reputation for being less than committed to assisting African countries started to shift last year. This came after pledges made at the summit of the G-8 in Gleneagles, Scotland, around trade, aid and debt relief were followed by positive steps. In his speech, Blair pointed to some of these, including the doubling of aid funds by G-8 countries, writing off more debts in favour of several African countries, and supporting an AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria fund. By next month, a G-8 plan for debt cancellation worth $50bn for 18 of the poorest African countries is due to be implemented.
These moves are critical, but far more needs to be done. Dealing with trade imbalances is perhaps the biggest issue on the agenda at the moment, and needs a big push.
So the establishment of a monitoring mechanism to oversee the G-8 pledges seems timely.
The real question, however, is why the task was not given to the Commission for Africa, another of Blair’s creations, but allocated instead to the United Nations’ Kofi Annan. The Commission for Africa was instrumental in advancing the debt relief agenda — a key demand of African countries at the last G-8 summit. It would have made far more sense to empower the commission to oversee progress made in meeting some of its demands.
Overlooking the Commission for Africa for this task could give the impression that the body was created purely as a public relations exercise to deflect criticism of the G-8’s commitment to address African issues. This may be overly critical — the commission was established with high-profile support to mobilise the global community to implement existing commitments towards Africa. It had other objectives, such as boosting support for initiatives such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the African Union. But at its very heart, the commission was given the task that the UN-led panel has now been allocated.
What is needed is not another consultative forum, whose report will end up being forgotten on some donors’ desks. Rather, the commission should be strengthened and placed at the heart of policy-making by G-8 countries on Africa in order help shape reform programmes and adapt them to African realities.
Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Development