Archive for June, 2008
The Jubilee Act passed the Senate Foreign Relations committee yesterday. Next it would have to be considered and passed by the full Senate before it could go to the President and be signed into law.
Last week, ONE launched the DATA Report in France. I posted a few blogs entries covering the overall findings, the launch itself and a more detailed look at the United States’ performance.
But, we launched the report in France for a few reasons. First, the 4 EU G8 (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) make up more than 75% of the promised increases in aid from the G8. France takes over the presidency of the EU on July 1 and alone makes up 23% of the promised increases. And, though France has been a strong supporter of the Global Fund, they have only delivered 6.7% of their promised increases so far. In short, France made a huge promise, but delivery has been weak. This story is true across the EU G8.
France cut aid to Africa in 2007. Wrong direction. France has committed to increase aid to Africa by $4.986 billion by 2010. Of that promised increase, they have only delivered $334 million. In order to get back on a linear track towards their 2010 target, France would have to increase aid to Africa by over $1.5 billion dollars next year. Though a sizeable amount, this number is so big because France has been so slow in increasing aid so far. France is really important for Africa, both historically and now. As France becomes the President of the EU and decides its internal budget, President Sarkozy and the French people need to demonstrate that they are going to meet their commitment Africa.
Germany was last year’s host of the G8 and promised to get on track to meet their commitments after a very slow start. Chancellor Merkel and Germany increased aid to Africa by $311 million last year. Though not enough to get back on track, it was a big step in the right direction. Next year, we expect Germany to increase aid by $634 million – again moving closer to being on track. Germany hosted a strong Global Fund replenishment conference in Berlin late last year and has made strong progress, but there is still a long way to go towards accomplishing Germany’s promised increases of $3.969 billion by 2010.
Italy is a tricky story. Italy’s aid to Africa has actually decreased below the level it was at in 2004. But, Italy posted the largest increase in 2007: $417 million. As Prime Minister Berlusconi returns to office this year, it is our hope that he will push Italy to make this large increase the start of sustained progress rather than just a one year anomaly.
All of these commitments were started in 2005 at the Gleneagles Summit hosted by the United Kingdom. Though Tony Blair was then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has always been a strong supporter of Africa and global development generally. We were surprised to see that UK aid to Africa this year only increased by $48 million. Despite this small increase, the UK has accomplished more of its promised increases than any other country – 26%, and looking at the UK’s three year budget, called the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), ONE is fairly sure that the UK will meet their commitment to increase aid to Africa by $3.908 billion over 2004 levels. Our colleagues and fellow advocates in the UK will hold the government accountable to these commitments until they are met.
Following through on the G8 promises to Africa will be a test of the EU G8′s ability to keep to their word as we continue this transition to a globalized business and political world. It is essential both for Africa’s development and for the G8′s ability to act as global leaders that they keep these commitments.
The next two blog posts on the DATA Report will be about Japan, this year’s G8 host, and Canada.
-Josh Lozman
Zimbabwe has been capturing international headlines this week after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew only days before the July 27th run-off election. In an open letter delivered to the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission on Monday, Tsvangirai stated that “What has been going on … after the elections held on the 29th March 2008 is a clear testimony that the elections scheduled for the 27th June 2008 cannot be held efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and in accordance with the law.” He cited numerous acts of intimidation, violence and vote-rigging undertaken by incumbent President Robert Mugabe’s forces in the past month.
Pressure is now mounting on Mugabe to cancel the election. Tsvangirai has called for the African Union to lead a peaceful transition in Zimbabwe with support from the UN and the Southern African Development Community. At an emergency meeting in Swaziland today, SADC called for the election to be postponed because of violence and yesterday, UN Security Council unanimously adopted a statement condemning the violence and saying that free and fair elections would be impossible to hold on 27 June. While the non-binding statement was significantly watered down from a draft version circulated by Western countries on the council, it represents the first time Zimbabwe has been criticized at the UN by South Africa, Russia and China.
Editorials in both The New York Times and the The Washington Postare demanding more decisive action by Zimbabwe’s African neighbors, particularly South Africa, as well as the UN Security Council.
Edith Jibunoh, ONE policy staffer stationed in Abuja Nigeria, wrote to share more about the background of the elections. You can read it all after the jump.
Stay tuned here for more updates and a closer look at how the crisis is impacting regular Zimbabweans.
-Nora Coghlan
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I recently returned from Tete Province, Mozambique, where I helped to distribute bed nets and malaria medications to remote communities on the Zambezi River. I joined the adventurous and ambitious Roll Back Malaria Zambezi Expedition, a two-month voyage tracing Dr. David Livingstone’s trip down the river 150 years ago. The Zambezi Expedition aims to track successes and challenges of controlling malaria in six countries in malaria-endemic southern Africa: Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. I joined toward the end of the Expedition, during which crew members and medical teams have traveled more than 1,550 miles to deliver bed nets and medications to remote areas along the river, many of which are accessible only by boat.
We visited one village near the old colonial Boroma Mission, a few miles upstream from the city of Tete. Though we arrived only the evening before to tell the villagers that we would be coming to deliver bed nets, we found the entire village gathered, health cards in hand, early the next morning when we crossed the river from our campsite. They greeted us with impromptu singing and dancing, incorporating the sting of a mosquito’s bite and malaria’s fever and chills in their movements. One of the village women kept the crowd in gales of laughter as she mimed the mosquito’s treacherous path through the night to the sleeping victim. When we hung a bed net from a nearby tree to demonstrate how to use it, she crawled under it and pretended to sleep soundly and safely to illustrate the point.
The Zambezi Expedition’s goal is to show that coordinated action can force back the spread of malaria and help save millions of lives. As this visit showed, Africans along the Zambezi’s banks are eager to join in the fight against malaria—they have the energy, the drive and the dedication—all they need are the tools. The Expedition has drawn to a close, but the lessons of how international support and local implementation can and must go hand in hand are clear.
To learn more about the Roll Back Malaria Zambezi Expedition, go to
www.zambezi-expedition.org
-Emily Bergantino, Malaria No More
Sometimes it is hard to see how US policy impacts the world. I just got back from a trip to Kenya that helped me to realize just how important US policy can be to the world’s poor. In Ukwala, Kenya, a rural village in Western Kenya, I worked with a clinic that is set to receive a $1.4 million grant from USAID that comes from PEPFAR (The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).
I got home and had an email in my inbox about the PEPFAR funding being in jeopardy and my heart broke. I just met people that will be benefiting tremendously from this legislation. Among them was one of the most inspiring people I have met: Collins is disabled from the waist down. He gets around by a hand-pedaled bike. He doesn’t have HIV/AIDS, but 1 out of 10 people in his area do. He is a member of an AIDS Support Group, because he wants the message of prevention to reach the disabled population, a group that is normally ignored. He is one of the smartest people I have met.
Because of a possible decision by some powerful Congresspeople in DC, millions of lives are at risk. We can’t let that happen. We can join Collins and stand up for our brothers in sisters living with AIDS. Keep updated on PEPFAR funding by checking this blog. You can also learn more on the ONE and DATA sites and take action here.
-Stephen Donahoe, Outreach International
Based on a comment made by Reid a couple hours ago, we hope to see an agreement in the next 24 hours. (Once some key senators are able to craft this agreement, the Senate should be able to move passed the current obstructions and onto the next step in the reauthorization process.) We expect to know more tomorrow, and will let you know when we do.
Reid’s comments from a 2pm press conference today:
“The global AIDS bill, the PEPFAR — I spoke to Senator Biden before lunch today. He asked me if I could wait for another 24 hours before I brought a unanimous consent request to pass this. He said almost all the problems are worked out.
I hope that’s the case. It’s something we need to do. It is important.
The president said he wants it. Now we’ve got to get folks on the other side of the aisle, the Republicans, to join with the president on this.”
On Thursday, bishops from all of the G8 countries released a letter urging the G8 country leaders to honor their commitments to reduce global poverty and address climate change at their July summit in Toyako, Japan.
From the CNS:
“Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was joined by the presidents of bishops’ conferences in other G-8 countries in reminding the leaders of their promise to spend $50 billion annually on development assistance — with half going to Africa — by 2010. “This commitment must be met and additional commitments should be made in the areas of health care, education and humanitarian aid,” the bishops wrote.
