G8’s $60bn pledge ‘hot air’ – Ndungane

 12 June 2007

 Pledges made by Group of eight leaders were just ‘hot air’ when it came to giving substantial aid to Africa, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane has said in Cape Town. Ndungane was speaking at a media briefing of the African Monitor, an advocacy organisation of which he is the founder and president.

Ndungane said yesterday the G8 summit held in Heiligendamm, Germany, last week has disappointing outcomes for Africa.

He said G8 summit leaders had promised to increase to $60 billion the spending to combat HIV, TB and malaria, but except for the US-the amount was no different to that which they had committed themselves before. Ndungane said the absence of a time for the disbursement of these funds hampered the fight against these diseases. “Without any concrete plan of action, this promise (of aid) is simply hot air” he said.

Ndungane said he was “puzzled” by the way the G8 handled some climate change issues, such as how a commitment to ensuring temperatures did not rise by more than 2 degrees Celsius had not been adopted because the US objected.

“On the one hand the US is prepared to spend billions…on HIV in Africa and on the other hand it refuses to deal responsible with climate change which will also kill hundreds of African men, women and children through droughts, floods and accelerated poverty.”

The developed world should deal with Africa with more consistency, Ndungane said.

He said the G8’s failure to commit to fair trade and open market arrangements raised “doubts…about the seriousness of the G8 about contributing effectively to the development agenda in Africa”

He suggested “ G8 leaders need to start subjecting themselves to peer review where they account for why they are lagging behind in meeting the commitments they have made”

Meanwhile, the civil society network, Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), has accused the G8 of having a “lame” stance on Africa. “ The GCAP is deeply angered  at the failure of the G8 to respond to the growing passive genocide occurring in Africa and across the developing world,” the group said in a statement yesterday. It critiscised the G8 leaders’ announcement of aid for disease prevention as “a deliberate numbers trick, which detracts from their failure to honour previous commitments”.