---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 14:17:33 -0700
From: David Mozer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: wa-afr <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [wa-afr] FW: ACTION: Fund debt relief in FY2001 budget
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 9:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ACTION: Fund debt relielf in FY2001 budget
Dear ADNA members,
Following find an action alert from the Washington Office on Africa
regarding the current funding shortfall for substantive debt relief for
Africa in the FY2001 budget before Congress. Please feel free to
share this widely with your networks and contacts.
Regards,
Vicki Ferguson
ADNA Communications Facilitator
Date sent: Wed, 24 May 2000 10:25:19 -0400
From: Leon Spencer <[log in to unmask]>
Send reply to: [log in to unmask]
Organization: Washington Office on Africa
Subject: Action alert on debt
The Washington Office on Africa:
An Action Alert
May 2000
The Washington Office on Africa recognizes that it works in
partnership with sponsoring organizations and with others committed
to a just American policy toward Africa. Toward that end, our action
alerts are designed not only to share with you information about a
given situation and the action we believe may be wise, but also to
encourage your own process of study and reflection so that you
may enter more fully into actions that honor your own integrity and
priorities.
"Money, money, money!":
The only consistent and significant thing to push for
What the U.S. Congress needs to do is appropriate money! That is
the essence of where we are at this stage in our campaign for
international debt cancellation for the poorest nations in Africa and
elsewhere in the Global South. We have heard political leaders give
broad support for debt relief, but we have also seen a reluctance to
put money behind those words of support. Appropriations is, in
short, the focus of our energies. We simply must raise the current
level of funding in the foreign operations bill from a paltry $75 million
to the needed $435 million for this year.
We have provided action alerts before on the issue of international
debt cancellation, so we will not deal at length here with background.
(Go to our website and to our link with Jubilee 2000 for further
information.) But as a reminder, Africa's debt burden - funds owed
by its governments to multilateral, bilateral and commercial donors -
is estimated to be some $350 billion. For poorer nations, the
continent clearly dominates the debt scene. Of the 41 nations
identified by the World Bank as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC), 33 are in Africa. The Cologne meeting of the G-7 promised
relief, and in 1999 the U.S. took first steps to meet our obligations.
But adequate funds for our commitments for the year 2000 and
beyond simply have not been forthcoming.
Discerning our actions: What we at WOA think
Debt cancellation needs political will and a serious commitment to
find the funds to make deep debt relief a reality. Properly funded,
appropriate debt relief envisions a "fresh start" for impoverished
countries. And the United States is in a position to do it.
We have yet to contribute our fair share to the international debt
plan. Congress needs to approve $810 million over the next 3 years.
If all creditors do their part, $90 billion in debt will be written off for
33 of the world's poorest countries. Every dollar the U.S.
contributes to the HIPC trust fund will leverage more than $20 dollars
from other international creditors. Contributions to the HIPC trust
fund are needed to help the regional development banks do their
part in the international debt plan. More than 17 countries have
already made a contribution and several others have made pledges
to the trust fund contingent on the U.S. contribution.
Action
The message is simple: Please write to your members of Congress
saying that the US should fund international debt relief at least at the
level of our commitments made at Cologne. Write to Senators at the
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510, or call 202/224-3121; write to
Members of Congress at the U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, DC 20515, or call 202/225-3121.
We also encourage you to call on your Members staff in their local
district offices and request a meeting with the Member while she/he
is home for the Memorial Day Recess. If you are part of a local
debt cancellation network or coalition you may want to have
representatives from several of your groups handle the visit as a
team representing broad support in the constituency/district.
***
This message is distributed from the Washington Office on Africa
for the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA).
Vicki Lynn Ferguson
Advocacy Network for Africa
Communications Facilitator
c/o Africa Policy Information Center
110 Maryland Ave, NE #509
Washington, DC 20002
Ph: 202-546-7961
Fax: 202-546-1545
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.africapolicy.org
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