Bob Geldof told us not to sneer at the prime minister's Commission for Africa which held its first session in Downing Street today, so let's take its aims totally at face value. It is indeed high time to have a "fundamental" look at the continent's persistent condition of poverty, conflict, lack of education and HIV/Aids. The commission's aim to report to the G8 summit which Britain will host, is a sensible one. Who better to take action than the world's economic power club?
Africa is "the only continent that has grown poorer over the last 25 years", so Hilary Benn, minister for international development, reminded us yesterday. This might suggest an intractable problem, but the remedies have been aired by a long list of worthy bodies, starting with the 1980 Brandt commission.
Further back still, the 1970 UN general assembly established the famous target of 0.7% of GDP of donor governments to be spent on overseas aid. The commission should consider why, 34 years later, just five countries currently pass that target (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Nether lands and Luxembourg). Britain, in spite of its 2001 manifesto pledge, has only promised to reach 0.4% by 2005-06 - in contrast to Ireland, which promises the full 0.7% a year later. Instead they should ask the G8 to reaffirm the 0.7% goal immediately and deliver it within two or three years - though less affluent Russia could be excused. Africa, as the world's poorest region, will benefit most from this long overdue step.
Then there is the Brandt report's call for a global tax on arms to be applied to poverty relief, the UN development programme's demand that a timetable be set for the elimination of rich country agricultural subsidies, and many Unctad proposals addressed to the least developed countries - 34 of them in sub-Saharan Africa. These and many other good ideas are easy enough to grasp. The commissioners should avoid the "deadening jargon and acronyms behind which we hide the reality of failure" (Mr Geldof's apt phrase). The most "fundamental" recommendation they can make to the G8 is this: Just Do It.The Guardian:
