Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

A chance for Africa

The G-8 nations this week doubled aid to Africa to $50-billion by 2010. Now it's up to African leaders to show they can spend it wisely.

Thursday's terrorist attack in London overshadowed the moment, but the Group of Eight industrial nations took a promising step this week toward alleviating global poverty. The accord reached Friday by the G-8 nations in Scotland was not all British Prime Minister Tony Blair had sought, but by doubling aid to Africa and committing billions more to the world's poorest states, they improved the prospects for fostering peace and prosperity.

It was unreasonable to expect the G-8 nations to embrace all of Blair's wide-ranging agenda. President Bush quashed Blair's attempt to impose a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and to fix foreign aid to Africa at 0.7 percent of each member nation's gross domestic product. Still, doubling aid to Africa, to $50-billion by 2010, is significant for a continent lacking food, clean water and other basics. Leaders agreed to cancel the debts of 18 of the world's poorest nations, spend more on food, medicines and AIDS prevention, and support peacekeeping missions in Africa. Up to $9-billion over three years was committed to help establish a Palestinian state.

The G-8 was right to focus spending on fundamental projects, from nutrition and health services to basic infrastructure. Improving the daily lives of people in the Mideast and Africa is essential for sparking growth and dampening the climate for anti-Western extremism. While critics say the debt relief did not go far enough, a broader cancellation of debt would have sent the wrong signal, discouraged lenders and instilled a sense that debtors could dodge all obligations. None of that would have helped attract more capital to developing countries.

The G-8 needs to tie the cash to tough love. African nations have a shameful record of squandering and stealing foreign aid, and the region's principal political alliance, the African Union, has betrayed Africans by tolerating human rights abuses, corruption and regional war. Indeed, Africa's own track record in misappropriating aid helped undermine the argument for a larger G-8 package. As the United Nations chief, Kofi Annan, warned this week, the refusal by African leaders to criticize "wrong policies in a neighboring country" hurt the entire continent's credibility. In that sense, the Scotland summit went far enough: Let Africa demonstrate within five years it can handle a doubling of aid. The rich nations met their obligation to step forward and do what's right. Now it's Africa's turn.

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 01:01:15]