As stated on the previous post, aid commitments from wealthy countries are falling far short from being payed out. The nations pledged $12.3 million dollars, but only $1 billion has been disbursed so far. The pledges came from an emergency meeting earlier this year that was called to deal with the jump in food prices. The wealthy nations blame the credit crisis for not fulfilling their pledge. But two people we respect a lot say that it is wrong to. From this Associated Press article found in the the Santa Cruz Sentinel, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says poverty should not be ignored. "The financial crisis deserves urgent attention and focus. But so does the question of hunger. Millions (this year) are liable to die. Is that any less urgent?" Annan told journalists at the...
from Reuters Alert Net By Jeremy LovellLONDON - Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations who met in Japan this week did the bare minimum for Africa and must not be allowed to backslide from even that, as they have in the past, former UN head Kofi Annan said.On climate change, aid, food prices and trade the G8 had warm words but made scant real progress, reaffirming a 2005 pledge to give the continent $50 billion by 2010 -- of which only $10 billion has so far been given -- and calling for completion of the long-stalled Doha world trade negotiations."We are ... putting pressure on them to honour what they have committed to including coming out with a timetable that would indicate how they are going to implement what they have promised," Annan told Reuters by telephone."What is the point...
from News 24 Johannesburg - The Africa Progress Panel, chaired by Kofi Annan, on Monday demanded international action to deal with the urgent threat of world food prices, while also calling for G8 leaders to take immediate steps to get their commitments to Africa back on target.The Africa Progress Panel's report states 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"."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 in infant and child mortality".The Africa Progress Panel's report also warns that, despite progress on debt relief and significant increases in assistance by...
from All AfricaEast African Standard (Nairobi)NEWSNairobiAfrica needs a Marshall Plan anchored on a rejuvenated agricultural sector to rescue the continent from poverty and steer it to economic prosperity.Former United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, urged European Union leaders to shift aid policy towards supplementing efforts by the African Union to spur agricultural development to end the cycle of poverty."Sustainably improving agriculture for Africa's small scale farmers and entrepreneurs is essential for short and long term economic progress," Annan said yesterday during the opening of the 29th Assilah International Cultural Festival in Morocco. Foreign Affairs minister, Mr Raphael Tuju, was among high ranking Government officials representing Africa and Europe.Presenting...
from All AfricaThe Nation (Nairobi)ANALYSISAlfayo OtienoNairobiFORMER UN SECRETARY-GENERAL Kofi Annan this week toured western Kenya with the same campaign he anchored last week at the World Economic Forum for Africa in Ghana - the Green Revolution as the continent's panacea against hunger and poverty.In his keynote address on appointment by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa as its first chairman, Mr Annan pledged to work with fellow Africans in a new effort to comprehensively tackle the challenges holding back millions of small-scale farmers in Africa.Last Sunday at a Bungoma village, he said: "Africa is the only region where overall food security and livelihoods are deteriorating. We will reverse this trend by working to create an environmentally sustainable, uniquely...
from New KeralaMarking United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on developing countries to work together to tackle some of their greatest common threats and challenges, from extreme poverty to HIV/AIDS."Amid the perils and promise of globalization, South-South cooperation enables developing countries to share their experiences and successes with others," Annan said in a message for the Day.He noted that expanding trade within the South and the emergence of multinational corporations from that region, generating jobs and wealth, is helping to increase the strength and scope of developing country partnerships. The faster-growing nations in the South are also serving as a key source of investment, remittances and development.Recent gatherings...
from All AfricaAccra Mail (Accra)UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights rings hollow to the millions of people around the world who have to struggle in extreme poverty. He has called for progress on human development to go hand in hand with advances in security and human rights.In a message marking International Human Rights Day, whose theme this year is that fighting poverty should be a matter of obligation and not charity, Mr. Annan said that "if we are to be serious about human rights, we must demonstrate that we are serious about deprivation." Mr. Annan said the world's poorest are the people least capable of achieving or defending rights -- such as to a decent standard of living or to food and essential health care -- that others take...