31 May 2005
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, friends, and very many thanks for inviting me to join you here on Africa Day. It's an important holiday, and an important anniversary, in many of your countries. And it's a day on which we in the UK can reflect on the continent of Africa - yes, its problems; but also its achievements, its diversity, and above all, its enormous potential. I'm reminded that some of my earliest political memories came from the times when my mother and father took me to watch rallies of the Movement for Colonial Freedom in Trafalgar Square.
Today is a day on which we can all celebrate and look forward. And I am delighted that the BBC is devoting 24 hours of radio broadcasting to Africa. So we woke up to the Today Programme from Nigeria. (And while we're at it, I couldn't help noticing that they were considerably nicer to the Nigerians than they are here….) Tonight at 8pm Any Questions will be hosted by the Royal African Society at the School of Oriental & African Studies, in a programme devoted entirely to the future of the continent. And just to show how powerful Africa Day is, even that great British radio institution, The Archers, our half-a-century-old soap opera is being replaced for a day by its Rwandan equivalent Urunana. In a country where one in ten of the population is HIV positive, Urunana tackles previously taboo issues like sexual health, and is supporting Rwanda's gradual process of reconciliation since the terrible genocide of 1994. Then, radio was used to stir up ethnic hatred: now, it is trying to find shared ways of dealing with common problems.
There is, in fact a great deal of good news to share today.
You have already heard from the ambassadors of Angola and Nigeria, both of which are countries beginning to see change happen. And yesterday in Brussels we had an historic breakthrough at the General Affairs Council. I was fortunate to have taken part in the discussion, and the decision… European member states have agreed to a deal which will almost double EU development assistance between 2004 and 2010 - an extra $38 billion a year by that year, at least half of which will go to Africa. They have done this by agreeing a new collective target of 0.56% of GNI to be spent on aid, and - most important of all - by undertaking to achieve, for member states which joined before 2002, the long-held UN 0.7% target by 2015.
That extra 38 billion dollars a year by 2010 is a global figure. We estimate that the Sub-Saharan Africa share will be an extra 17 billion. That adds up to about two-thirds of the extra amount required to meet the Commission recommendation that we need to double the amount of aid going to Sub-Saharan Africa by 2010. So in one fell swoop the EU has done two-thirds of the work - will other countries complete the task?
In an age when it has become fashionable to decry the ability of politics to change things for the better, here is clear proof that politics works. It's the best answer to that cynicism.
Who would have thought just 12 months ago, let alone 5 years ago, that this would have been possible?
And why has it happened?
Because it is our moral duty to help change the condition of humankind.
Because our self interest - our common interest - in an increasingly inter-dependent world, teaches us that success or failure in one country is a success or failure for us all.
Because the condition of Africa demands that we should do something to wipe out the poverty of every day existence.
And since we cannot say that we did not know, the simple choice we face is what are we going to do about this? How are we going to help?
But there is another reason why now is the time to act. And that is because Africa is changing, and there are reasons to be cheerful as well as to despair.
Much of the change comes from the organisation that is piloting much of Africa's progress at the moment. The successor of the Organisation for African Unity which was born 42 years ago today, and which brought us together for today's celebration. The organisation which in Sudan last year and in Togo this year has shown itself ready to take a stand to uphold democratic and humanitarian principles. I'm talking about the African Union.
And within the AU, we celebrate NEPAD, and its Peer Review Mechanism in which 23 countries have pledged to look critically at each other, sharing the best methods of good government and economic development. Now I remember that when Tony Blair announced the Africa Commission, some people thought that it would just replicate NEPAD, or - worse - cut across it. I hope we have well and truly seen that this was not and is not the case. It is all about supporting African initiative.
Beyond the AU, there are other changes to acknowledge.
Last week, an OECD/ADB report confirmed that African economies grew by more than 5% in 2004, their highest growth in 8 years.
A generation ago, there were 20 conflicts on the continent; now we see peace processes in places like the DRC, Sierra Leone, Angola and Burundi.
Mozambique has cut poverty by a third over 15 years, and doubled the number of children in school. In the same period, Uganda has cut poverty by half, and the levels of AIDS in expectant mothers by three quarters.
Last week we saw a keenly contested election in Ethiopia.
And a few months ago I read that the introduction of free primary schooling in Kenya had allowed an 84 year old to enroll and learn to read and write. He was photographed in his school uniform. The story has a sequel: a few weeks ago we were told that the other pupils in the class resented the fact that he was always the quickest to answer the teacher's questions… They called him 'Know-all'. But the great news is that 1.2 million additional Kenyan children are now going to school since fees were abolished. Another example of politics making a difference.
But progress is not easy. There are failures as well as successes. Change requires money. Economic growth. Capacity. Peace. Good governance. And above all, political will.
So what can each of us do to make this happen?
First, the international community. Our job is to deliver more and better aid, more debt relief and a fairer trade deal.
On aid, donor funding for Africa needs to double from $25 to $50 billion a year by 2010 - and to triple to $75 billion a year by 2015 - if the continent is to have any chance of meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
Yesterday's EU breakthrough will make a big difference.
For our part, UK aid to Africa has risen by more than 50% in just the last 3 years, to just over £1 billion in 2005.
Many will look to the G8 summit - to all the countries represented there - to do more.
And then there is the contribution that can come from innovative financing - the International Finance Facility proposed by the UK, or the new international taxes proposed by France and Germany?
But finance also needs to be predictable. If you're a finance minister trying to fund training teachers and doctors and buying drugs, you need to know exactly how much money is coming in. And that's why debt relief matters so much. Over the last 5 years, HIPC debt relief has given over $55 billion to 23 African countries. But we need to go much further because it is simply unacceptable that poor countries are being forced to choose between servicing unsustainable levels of debt and buying the drugs they need to treat AIDS or malaria, or taking on the teachers they need to get all their children into school.
That's why, as well as cancelling debts owed to it, the UK is now paying its own share (10%) of the debt service owed by the poorest countries African countries to the World Bank and the African Development Bank, as we argue the case for 100% multilateral debt relief.
So the question is: will others support the lead we are seeking to give?
And in December, we must seize the opportunity we have to secure a fairer trade deal when the WTO meets in Hong Kong. The UK's view is clear. We should stop penalising African exports by protecting our own markets; while we export our own goods to Africa at knock-down prices which put local producers out of business. We can change this by changing the rules, reducing internal trade barriers, reforming customs, and ending all export subsidies to agriculture by 2010.
That's our task - but this is a partnership - in which each partner does their bit. And that means that Africa must show that it can make best use of that money, and that it can make best use of a fairer world trading system. It is for you in the AU and NEPAD to demonstrate that you have the strategies in place, and the plans to implement them.
Your AU Summit just before Gleneagles on 4-5 July, is well timed. There - and beforehand, and at Gleneagles itself - you need to put serious pressure on G8 members, all of us, to get the right result.
They need to hear from you about the commitment of African Governments to promoting growth and to ending poverty. They need to hear from you about the action you are taking:
You may think that you have said and shown these things already - and that they are there for all to see in NEPAD's plans. My advice is this: take nothing for granted. Some G8 countries still need convincing. You need to leave all of us in absolutely no doubt that Africa is changing because African governments want it to change, and because they are making that change happen. I've said that ours is a relationship between partners - in which each must know exactly what the other is bringing to the table; and see that it is delivered.
So tell the G8 that aid works, and that you use it wisely.
I mentioned before that 1.2 million Kenyan children newly enrolled in school - tell them that one of the things that helped make this happen was aid from the UK and other donors, which meant that the Government could abolish primary school fees. It doesn't actually matter where the aid came from: it was aid well used and making a difference.
I mentioned before Mozambique's extraordinary turnaround in cutting poverty by a third over the last 15 years. Tell them that one of the things that allowed that was an average annual aid package worth 12% of GDP. Within that global support, the UK's programme has more than doubled in size since the late 90s, and 70% of it goes straight into government programmes in the form of 'budget support'. Again: aid that is owned, planned, managed, implemented, evaluated - aid that is well used.
Tell the G8 that you are absolutely serious about establishing good governance and rooting out corruption.
I mentioned last week's Ethiopian elections - tell us about how a National Elections Board was set up to deal with complaints; and how opposition parties report far less harassment and intimidation than in 2000. It's part of a process of democratisation happening all over Africa.
I mentioned my trip to Nigeria last week - tell them about people like the Anti-Corruption Commissioner, whom I in fact met. I was very struck by the achievements of his Nigerian Economic & Financial Crimes Commission. Imagine that a few years ago almost all goods coming in to Port Harcourt in Lagos went without any documentation: there was huge fraud. Now, most of the previous customs leadership have been removed; all goods are properly logged; and there is a 3-fold increase in customs collection. That means more revenue for schools and healthcare.
So these are just a very few of the stories you - we - must tell.
It's up to the UK and its international partners to leave Africa in no doubt that it is serious about getting behind your efforts. In turn, you must leave the G8 in no doubt that the money which we believe we can deliver on July 7th is going to be well managed and effective. We all stand to benefit.
So it's a deal, then. The principles are agreed - let's make it happen. With Gleneagles just over a month away, this really is a unique opportunity. There is real momentum gathering, behind your plans and dreams for your own continent. We cannot afford to let the moment pass. This is Africa Day - let's make it Africa's Year as well.
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