A grieving Nelson Mandela threw his weight behind Gordon Brown’s ”Marshall plan” for tackling poverty and debt in Africa on Sunday, saying he would travel to London in February to lobby a meeting of the G7 finance ministers.
Mandela formally retired from public life last summer, but held a press conference last week to reveal that his son had died of HIV/Aids.
Mandela’s backing came as Brown launched an attack on the protectionist trade policies of the EU, saying they were contributing directly to poverty in Africa. He also called on the IMF and World Bank to do more to demand that African governments open their books in return for extra aid.
Brown said other industries should follow the lead of oil producers and agree codes to disclose what they were paying to African leaders in return for exploration rights. It has been suggested there are more than 30 tax havens around the world used by corrupt African leaders, and Brown wants them investigated as a quid pro quo for an extra $55-billion a year aid to Africa.
The attack on the EU is directed specifically at the common agricultural policy. In theory the EU is committed to ending all subsidies, but in practice no real end date has been agreed. In a visit to Mozambique at the weekend Brown was struck by the extent to which protectionism was shutting the country’s sugar producers out of world markets.
There is a lively debate inside the Commission for Africa — the organisation launched by Tony Blair last year to report on ways to help the continent — on whether it should call for an end to subsidies and trade barriers in the rich north butallow some temporary protectionism for the developing south.
British officials pointed out on Sunday that the total support for agriculture within OECD countries was $318-billion, roughly five times more than all the aid the world now gives. It is estimated that in shutting off EU markets alone, such subsidies cost developing countries $20-billion a year.
This is an issue likely to be discussed today when Brown attends a meeting of the economic subcommittee of the commission, in South Africa.
The meeting with Mandela was only finalised on Friday in a phone call from Mandela. Speaking from his home, he said: ”My first impression is that it is a good scheme, and I wish more people would have a Marshall plan for Africa.”
The visit by Mandela will help Britain’s efforts to make Africa a priority as it takes over presidency of the G8. Finance ministers, who are reluctant to back Brown’s plan to raise an extra $55-billion in aid, have a crucial set of meetings on the subject in London on February 4 and 5.
Brown is also encouraging G7 countries to follow the British example and lift some of the multilateral debt owed by poor countries to the World Bank and IMF. Africa accounted for 6% of world trade in 1990, but just 2% in 2000.
Mandela (86) and his wife, Graca Machel, met Brown shortly after the funeral of Mandela’s son on Saturday.
Brown said Mandela had huge influence on leaders in Africa and the developed world. ”Mandela has supported our funding proposals for development, he supports the ‘Marshall plan’. He was very helpful in his suggestions,” Brown said. – Guardian Unlimited Â