BBC: UN boss calls Africa crisis talks re MDGs

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6994789.stm

UN boss calls Africa crisis talks

By Mark Doyle

BBC News

UN chief Ban

Ki-moon has called an emergency meeting to try to address Africa's

failure to make progress on the Millennium Development Goals.

The eight internationally-declared

goals, on reducing poverty and improving life chances, were set in 2000 for

achievement by 2015.

But the UN says that halfway to the

deadline, sub-Saharan Africa is unlikely to

meet a single goal.

UN officials say this meeting on a

single focused topic is unprecedented.

Mr Ban has invited the heads of

some of the world's top development finance agencies.

The president of the World Bank,

leaders from the IMF, the European Union and the African Union are being

invited, as well as the heads of the African and Islamic Development Banks.

On current form, the UN says,

sub-Saharan Africa as a region will not meet

any of the poverty-busting goals set to be achieved by the year 2015 - nor the

benchmarks on education, health, and women's empowerment.

The latest UN assessments say there

have been some successes, for example a big increase in primary school

enrolment in east Africa, and cuts in malaria rates in Niger and Zambia.

Unfulfilled

promises

However as a whole, the UN says,

development agencies have to co-ordinate better and, crucially, the rich world,

will have to keep promises it made in 2005 to double aid to Africa.

These promises were made with much

fanfare during a summit of rich countries hosted by the then British Prime Minister

Tony Blair. But according to the UN, development assistance from rich countries

actually fell between 2005 and 2006.

THE EIGHT GOALS

1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2 Achieve universal primary education

3 Promote gender equality and empower women

4 Reduce child mortality

5 Improve maternal health

6 Combat HIV/Aids, malaria, and other diseases

7 Ensure environmental sustainability

8 Develop a global partnership for development

The development agency bosses

meeting in New York

may be able to give a boost to aid programmes, or at least co-ordinate them

better. But their influence is still limited.

Some economists say changes in the

trade policies of rich countries may be more important than aid.

The subsidising of farmers in rich

countries, for example, is particularly damaging to developing countries

because it stops farmers in those poor nations from competing on equal terms.

And many Africans say poverty will

not be reduced by outside actors but by more transparency and honesty from

their own leaders.

Story

from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6994789.stm

Published:

2007/09/14 13:57:34 GMT

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