EU urged to honour MDG commitment

20th August 2007

THE PRIMATE of Southern Africa has called upon the European Union to live up to its promises of support for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane also urged Africa to honour its commitment to tackle poverty and called upon the continent’s political leaders to make good their pledges of support for the poorest of the poor.

Chairman of the African Monitor, an NGO that monitors relief and development work across Africa, Archbishop Ndungane told SABC, “African countries have said they want to designate 15 per cent of their budgets to health and 10 per cent for agriculture and they are falling short of these targets.”

Development aid to the continent was also decreasing the NGO reported, while the EU’s promises of assistance to achieve the 2015 MDGs had so far been hollow. However, the EU alone was not to blame, as many African nations had not honoured their internal commitments to meet the MDGs, it noted.

The NGO reported that Western aid to Africa was being spread unevenly, with resources deployed more often out of political calculation than need. More than half of development aid flowing into Africa was being channeled to 10 countries, it claimed.

African Monitor said that South Africa, Sierra Leone and Liberia were being shortchanged by donor nations in favour of Nigeria, the Congo and the Sudan. These three were “donor favourites” due to their oil and mineral resources, it said.

By George Conger Source: Religious Intelligence