Irish rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof on Tuesday accused the group of eight (G8) nations of falling far behind on pledges of aid to Africa and put pressure on Germany as current head of the club to donate nearly $1-billion.
Geldof said German Chancellor Angela Merkel needed to channel a minimum of $947-million in aid to Africa this year in order to meet a commitment signed by her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005.
”We are only asking what the politicians promised, not one dollar more,” the founder of Live Aid said at a press conference in Berlin.
The call comes just weeks before Merkel hosts fellow leaders from the group of eight most industrialised nations at a summit in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm from June 6 to 8.
Bono said: ”It is important that the G8 is taking place in Germany because people expect Germans to keep their promises.
”If you break your promise then everybody else will abandon ship.”
Geldof and the U2 frontman unveiled a report by Data, a watchdog monitoring First-World help to Africa, which they co-founded in 2002, on the progress of G8 nations towards fulfilling a pledge they made at Gleneagles to collectively increase aid to Africa by $25-billion by 2010.
The Data report found that only Britain and Japan were doing their share to meet that target.
Together, the G8 nations stepped up development aid by $2,3-billion between 2004 and 2006, but this is less than half of what they needed to give to be on track to meeting their 2010 deadline.
”It is less than half of what should have been done,” said Jamie Drummond of Data.
”To get back on track in 2007 they would have to increase aid by $6,4-billion, but so far there is at best a third of this in the pipeline.”
German authorities fear that up to 100 000 anti-globalisation protestors could target the G8 summit, and Bono warned that failing to honour the group’s promises to Africa could enrage activists.
He said that although he was ”opposed” to protestors resorting to violence, his own visits to poor countries had made him angry at the way the world neglected Africa.
”I want to say that I relate to their rage, I feel it myself when I walk into a hospital and see people queuing up to die.”
Merkel has promised to use the summit to build on efforts to help Africa undertaken at Gleneagles in 2005.
Germany holds the G8 presidency until the end of the year. — Sapa-AFP