JACKSON MOOTS AFRICAN MARSHALL PLAN

US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson called on Friday for a Marshall Plan for Africa on his return from a world conference on racism in Durban. “Africa needs an infrastructure built just as Europe needed an infrastructure built after the war,” said the Reverend Jackson in reference to the post-World War II US-sponsored plan to rebuild Europe. African nations attending the Durban conference have demanded an apology and possible reparations from western nations for the slave trade. Jackson was also critical of the US delegation which withdrew from the Durban conference in a dispute over language equating Zionism with racism. – AFP

Friday September 7, 2001