A historic deal to free more than 30 poor countries from the crippling shackles of debt to the West was hailed by Bob Geldof on Saturday as a ”victory for millions”.
The $55-billion settlement, which will immediately benefit countries from Ethiopia and Uganda to Rwanda and Mozambique, was the beginning rather than the end, the campaigning rock star said.
He paid tribute to campaigners around the world for the deal announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in London on Saturday, adding: ”Tomorrow 280 million Africans will wake up for the first time in their lives without owing you or me a penny from the burden of debt that has crippled them and their countries for so long. Money we didn’t even know we were owed, and never wanted in the first place, and money they could never pay.”
The package agreed at a meeting of G7 finance ministers on Saturday, described by Gordon Brown as ”a new deal between the rich and poor of the world”, was welcomed by aid agencies as a ”significant step forward” in the run-up to next month’s G8 summit at Gleneagles in Perthshire.
Brown will also signal today that a deal is almost done on climate change, the other priority for the summit, which is expected to see the West investing heavily in clean technology to reduce greenhouse gases.
Asked whether he feared corrupt African governments would squander the funds, the Chancellor said: ”When there are 30 000 children dying every day, when there are 100 000 children not going to school every day, I think most parents in every country of the world would support what we’re doing.”
The deal is another example of the new working relationship between Brown and British Prime Minister Tony Blair which first emerged when Labour’s election campaign faltered. Downing Street was quick to claim some of the credit for Blair, who went to Washington last week for talks with United States President George Bush.
”Tony goes to Washington and essentially ensures the door is open for the deal we wanted to make this weekend,” said a source. ”It may be possible that Gordon then picks up the ball and runs with it hard, but it’s a good one-two: Tony goes to Washington essentially to make all this possible.”
Whoever takes the credit, the deal will be seen as a springboard for the summit, along with the $674-million promised by the US last week, in direct aid rather than debt relief, for stricken African countries. Washington has made clear it will have more aid to offer by the summit, although negotiations continue over how much.
In an interview to be broadcast on Saturday, Brown hinted at a deal on climate change centred on alternative sources of clean energy. He said a ”huge amount of private work” was being done by Blair and others and there would be ”important results”.
Saturday’s agreement will see 18 countries offered immediate debt forgiveness, with another nine expected to qualify over 18 months once they meet targets for good governance. Others, including Eritrea and Haiti, could qualify in the future. Debt relief allows countries to invest in their own health and education by freeing them from repayments to the West.
However, aid agencies said that many more countries needed help. It was ”great news for countries that will immediately benefit, but will do little to help millions in at least 40 other countries that also need 100% debt relief,” said Romilly Greenhill of Action Aid.
Ministers pledged to scrap lavish export subsidies for farm products in this year’s round of World Trade Organisation talks. These handouts stop countries trading their way out of poverty.
”These countries have to make a living”, said Jonathan Glennie of Christian Aid, ”or we’ll be having Live Aid Three in 20 years’ time.”
The meeting also discussed commitments to ensure that all the world’s Aids sufferers receive treatment within five years. The Italian Finance Minister, Dominico Siniscalso, will consult drugs firms on ”advance purchase commitments”, under which governments could encourage research by promising to pay for future treatments.
John Snow, the US Treasury Secretary, called Saturday’s deal a ”milestone”. Britain has agreed to write off the whole of poor countries’ debts, as Bush proposed, instead of simply meeting repayments for them; and the US agreed to find $1,75-billion of new cash over the next decade to help fund the plan.
But Geldof said that campaigners should not stop until they had the ”complete package demanded by the Commission on Africa”, of which he was a member, including debt cancellation, a doubling of aid and trade justice. – Guardian Unlimited Â