ANNIE THOMAS, Bamako, Mali | Tuesday
THE chiefs of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have held talks with African presidents on development issues, after earlier facing down demonstrators who accused them of fuelling poverty on the continent.
During the closed-door meeting both sides exchanged ideas and opinions on how best to eradicate poverty in the impoverished continent in what Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade described as “very fruitful discussions.”
During the talks, the African heads of state expressed their visions of development and informed the IMF/World Bank officials of their various efforts, said Wade.
“There are countries which are fighting corruption,” embracing good governance and combating the AIDS epidemic, added Wade.
Earlier in the day, IMF managing director Horst Kohler said after meeting members of civil society that “if armed conflicts are not stopped, there is no future, no development.”
“We have to fight corruption… to create a good environment for investment.”
On their arrival at the auditorium, Kohler and World Bank president James Wolfensohn were met by a band of noisy protestors carrying banners reading: “Cancel debt for a better education”, “IMF, World Bank = poverty = AIDS = catastrophe”, and “World Bank/IMF assassinate our people”.
The two officials tried to reassure the demonstrators.
“I know it is difficult, but we are here to help you,” said Wolfensohn, dressed in a pale yellow boubou, a traditional African robe.
Kohler, speaking through an interpreter, said he disagreed with the protesters’ assessment of the debt crisis.
“Debt is surely a problem, but you cannot say that it is a crime against humanity,” Kohler said.
Aminata Toure Barry, who heads the Malian branch of Jubilee 2000, a global movement calling for the cancellation of the debt of the world’s poorest nations, disagreed.
“We are here to protest against the economic policies of international financial institutions because, as we see it, the IMF and World Bank are the source of poverty in our countries,” Barry said.
Jubilee 2000 maintains that seven million children die each year as a result of the debt crisis, interest payments for which absorb vast amounts of money that could be spent on education, medicine and social programmes.
Official aid to sub-Saharan Africa has dropped from $32 per person in 1990 to $19 per person in 1998, despite what the Bank said was “evidence of its effective development results in those countries with sound social and economic policies.” – AFP
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