Keep Africa aid promises and act now to stem hunger, G8 told, or risk global irrelevance

L’Aquila, Italy — Leaders of the world’s eight biggest economies must act this week to rescue their aid promises to Africa, advocacy group ONE said today, including agreeing a special deal for the continent’s farmers.

Against a background of global economic crisis, with a billion people going hungry globally, ONE is pushing G8 leaders to invest an extra US$5bn in African agriculture in 2010, scaling up to a total of US$10bn annually by 2012, with a goal of delivering a total of US$25bn over the next three years.

“African farmers are being buffeted by the twin perils of recession and climate change and yet agriculture has been chronically underfunded over the past two decades,” said ONE’s Europe Director Oliver Buston.

“There’s clear evidence that growth in agriculture is twice as effective at reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. It’s positive that the G8 are now focused on this issue but their commitments must be bold and additional to what’s being done now.”

Providing new funding for agriculture would help G8 countries make progress towards keeping the promise they made at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit – to double aid to Africa by 2010 and improve its quality. ONE’s 2009 DATA Report released last month (www.one.org/Report) shows the G8 have collectively so far delivered only a third of the additional aid they promised. Italy has delivered three per cent, cutting her aid to Africa by US$580million in the past year.

“How can you lead the G8? Where is your credibility?” ONE advisor Bob Geldof asked Prime Minister Berlusconi in an exclusive interview for Italy’s La Stampa newspaper published on Sunday.

The Prime Minister responded that he was committed to reversing the cuts: “I’m sorry, we made a mistake…” he said. “You are right, when one commits to something, it has to be maintained. We are behind and we have to put this right.”

In the interview, Mr Berlusconi proposed a new timetable for Italy to increase overseas aid to 0.51 per cent of national income by 2015 (as opposed to the agreed targets of 0.51 per cent by 2010 and 0.7 per cent by 2015).

“Apologies and timetables don’t deliver food to the hungry or medicines to the sick,” said Oliver Buston. “In the next three days Mr Berlusconi needs to take concrete action such as passing a decree to adjust his government’s spending plans. This could be a signal that he is a serious leader after all.”

The Berlusconi interview was part of a special Bob Geldof-edited Africa edition of La Stampa (www.lastampa.it/Africa). It includes contributions from 30 prominent Italian, African and global figures including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Bono and Sophia Loren, all urging Italy to take a global leadership role and see the opportunities presented by the vibrant continent on its doorstep.
The message will be reinforced at U2 concerts on Tuesday and Wednesday in Milan where Archbishop Tutu will deliver a unique video address urging fans to join ONE and campaign against extreme poverty.