World leaders mandated to evaluate progress on Africa

Accra, June 16, GNA - Mr. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General on Monday called for stringent action to deal with the threat of world food crisis, particularly in Africa. He said though Africa had made substantial progress in recent years, the current food crisis threatened to reverse many of the hard-fought gains that had been made.

This was contained in an official report from the eleven-member Africa Progress Panel meeting in London on global food crisis; "reversing decades of economic progress". Mr. Annan said, "with 100 million people on the brink of abject poverty, the cost of food would not be measured in the price of wheat and rice, but in the rising number of infant and child deaths across Africa."

The Africa Progress Panel's report revealed that the world food crisis "threatens to destroy years, if not decades, of economic progress" as "100 million people are being pushed back into absolute poverty".

The report said; unless some way can be found to halt and reverse the current trend in food prices there will be a significant increase in hunger, malnutrition, and infant and child mortality". Focusing on the emergence of new trading partners with Africa, the report stated that, China and other new entrants had brought the continent "new dynamism and significant new resources", creating "greater opportunities for Africa's development".

It counselled that, "if Africa's development is to stay on track, it is crucial for both old and new actors to comply with agreed-upon principles of co-operation in the areas of aid, trade, development finance, and debt sustainability". The report said, despite progress on debt relief and significant increased in assistance by individual countries, the G8's commitment to double assistance to Africa by 2010 was not likely to be fulfilled. The report identified a shortfall of US$ 40 billion in aid that needed to be filled if the G8 was to meet the targets set at Gleneagles.

The report, which assessed the state of the continent in 2008, highlighted six policy areas requiring immediate attention at the forthcoming G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan. They were food crisis, Aid levels and aid quality, Trade, climate change, infrastructure and good governance.

Mr. Annan noted that, the G8 was also off-track, saying European leaders at the forthcoming European Council Summit must move decisively to fund shortfalls in aid, while Japan must demonstrate clear leadership during its Presidency of the G8, not least by addressing the stockpiling of food. "Every G8 country has a critical role to play, by working together to deal with immediate threats and by honouring the longer-term commitments they have already made".

"The whole international community has a stake in seeing Africa become a secure, stable and prosperous continent. I firmly believe that what is achieved in the months ahead will be more than a test of leadership; it will also determine the very future of the continent", he added.