Blair's parting drive to aid Africa
The British prime minister wraps up his farewell tour to Africa this week, ahead of next week's G-8 summit in Germany.
from the June 1, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Pushing G-8 to honor aid pledges
Many aid experts expect Blair to repeat his calls for fellow leaders – most pointedly, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who next week is hosting the annual G-8 summit – to step up their assistance to Africa.
Antipoverty advocates have criticized the G-8 countries for lagging far behind the promises they made when Blair hosted the Gleneagles G-8 summit in 2005. Among other pledges, the rich nations promised wide-scale debt relief and a doubling of aid to Africa by 2010, to $50 billion from about $25 billion.
Although there have been improvements – 22 countries have had their debt canceled and some 20 million more children have entered school, according to the aid group Oxfam – actual aid from G-8 nations decreased last year, and estimates show the G-8 missing their 2010 target by almost $30 billion.
Blair's successor, finance minister Gordon Brown, has worked closely with the prime minister on poverty alleviation and will probably continue Britain's leadership on African issues, aid experts say. But many advocates believe it is Blair, scheduled to step down this month, who can best pressure other G-8 nations.
"[Britain] has performed well ahead of other G-8 countries, delivering large increases in aid," Oxfam director Barbara Stocking said in a statement. "But despite a significant increase in aid last year, even the UK is still not definitively on target to meet its promises from two years ago. Other countries are way off track, and if Blair does not push them at the G-8 meeting in Germany, then his legacy in Africa will be at risk. Before Blair leaves office he must persuade the other G-8 countries to fulfill the promises they made in 2005."
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