Greetings Everyone
I think its about time, Africa refused to pay poverty tax to the West. After
all Africa has contributed freely or at a subsistance level to western
development for 500 years.
These post independent loans and structural adjustment policies innovated by
the Brentwoods Group are another charade to keep spinning illusions of
Africa's dependent on the West. Check it out what would happen if there was
more trading amongst Africa and other economic blocks? If Africa started to
concentrate on diversifying its export base. Thus setting a market price for
its primary mineral resources.Hence stopping the leakage of resources
finding themselves illegally in someone elses coffers.
Let's face it is only Africa that will break its neck paying extortionate
high interest rates to please the master. For what exactly, If we look at
the US with its trillions of dollar deficit, we are aesthetically aware why
America is in debt. But when we look at the delapidated infrastructure of
Africa, we see its in need.
I think its about time the African Union starts to get its own house in
order, instead of following the Western formula of frugality, to keep
African economics in the niche of primary resource sector- diversification
is i dire need.
Its about time Africa formulated a proper argument for reparations based on
sweat tax not, to mention blood over the period of force migration
(slavery), colonialism, neo-colonialism. I am sure that any so-called debt
which Africa owes can be wiped out and still leave Africa in the black.
Whilst those in power have the wool pulled over their eyes worrying about
how to pay the Master, wouldn't it better for them to concentrate on how to
win the case for reparations of the debt owed to Africa and its people. Thus
pushing on to the international agenda fair trade and an end to economic
slavery, and the untimely death of many of our brothers and sisters?
The challenges which Africa faces are immense and within each challenge
their is an opportunity which calls for greater unity and pragmatism in
order to implement the progress Africa needs
Peace & Unity
Sophia Ba.
----- Original Message -----
From: "uga749d" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 12:39 PM
Subject: ***Fw: [unioNews] Dakar meeting to set African position on external
debt
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andy Mensah" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 9:18 PM
> Subject: [unioNews] Dakar meeting to set African position on external debt
>
>
> Monday, Nonember 10, 2003
> <H3>Dakar meeting to set African position on external debt</H3>
> By Anaclet Rwegayura
> PANA Correspondent
>
> Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - A common African position on the
> region's growing external debt burden is expected to be forged at
> a two-day expert group meeting opening next Monday in Dakar,
> under the auspices of the Senegalese government and the Economic
> Commission for Africa (ECA).
>
> The ECA announced here Monday that African Ministers of Finance,
> Planning and Economic Development would endorse the same stance
> at their next meeting in May 2004 and put it forward to
> development partners.
>
> At their annual conference in Addis Ababa in June 2003, the
> ministers issued a statement calling on the ECA to convene an
> expert group meeting on Africa's external debt, apparently in
> support of a suggestion made by Senegalese President Abdoulaye
> Wade.
>
> The ministers expressed concern that since the G8 summit in
> Cologne in 1999, at which the Jubilee 2000 Campaign won a
> commitment from rich nations to cancel $100 billion of debt for
> 42 of the world's poorest nations, only eight African countries
> had reached their completion points under the enhanced Heavily
> Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
>
> In the meantime, the economic assumptions on which debt relief
> was based have considerably worsened and many countries,
> including those few that received debt relief from the HIPC
> initiative, "are sinking back into unsustainable debt," the ECA
> noted.
>
> Shortcomings in debt sustainability analysis, inadequacies of
> financial resources made available for debt relief and
> development, and the recurrent commodity price shocks that push
> African countries deeper into debt were largely responsible for
> this outcome.
>
> ECA Executive Secretary K.Y. Amoako, NEPAD Steering Committee
> chairman Wiseman Nkhulu, African Union Commission Chairperson
> Alpha Omar Konare, and President Wade will address the opening
> session of the expert group meeting at Le Méridien Président
> Hotel in Dakar.
>
> The experts will discuss legal aspects of external debt
> management, a potentially important factor in reducing the debt
> burden of African countries.
>
> Many African countries, for instance, are servicing debts
> incurred by rulers who borrowed without the people's consent and
> used the funds either to repress the people or for personal gain.
>
> <B>The legal doctrine of odious debt holds that successor
> governments should not be liable for debts. This doctrine
> originated in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, when the
> United States argued that neither it nor Cuba should be held
> responsible for the debt the colonial rulers incurred without the
> consent of the Cuban people.</B>
>
> But, how relevant is the legal doctrine of odious debt today?
> What mechanisms can be put in place to prevent odious debt from
> being incurred in the future?
>
> Proper attention to the legal details involved in entering into
> debt contract, such as the appropriate contracting party for
> government debt, the equitable division of losses from state-
> guaranteed private commercial debt, and the invalidation of
> contracts following corrupt practices, among others, can play an
> important role in encouraging greater transparency and
> accountability by contracting parties and ultimately a lower debt
> burden for African countries.
>
> The way in which debt sustainability is defined and how the
> definition is applied in practice is at the heart of all the
> proposals that have been put forward to deal with the external
> debt of low-income countries, the ECA explained.
>
> The International Monetary Fund defines sustainable debt as "a
> situation in which a country has the capacity to meet its present
> and future debt-service obligations without requiring a major
> correction in its balance of income and expenditure."
>
> However, the HIPC initiative incorporates a definition of debt
> sustainability based on the Net Present Value (NPV) of external
> debt-to-exports ratio as the primary indicator and on threshold
> levels that are uniformly applied across all countries.
>
> These indicators have been questioned on several grounds. Are
> they the correct choice of indicators of sustainability? Is the
> definition of threshold values realistic? Is the design of stress
> tests and of tools to deal with the uncertainty regarding the
> timing and magnitude of economic shocks adequate?
>
> Hence, the long debate over the most appropriate criteria to use
> to judge whether the debt of developing countries is sustainable
> is still not resolved.
>
> The Dakar meeting will examine various proposals on debt
> sustainability and come up with the most appropriate criteria to
> judge whether the debt of African countries is sustainable.
>
> Any consideration of Africa's financing requirements and
> prospects for debt relief needs to be put in the wider context of
> financing for development.
>
> This is because debt relief on its own will be woefully
> insufficient to allow African countries to finance the Millennium
> Development Goals (MDGs) and achieve long-term debt
> sustainability.
>
> Overall, a working target of US$50 billion seems necessary if the
> MDGs are to be realised. This raises the issue of additional
> transfers needed, and how such extra support may be found and
> absorbed.
>
> Concerns persist about the terms on which support should be
> transferred, including the role of conditionality, quality of aid
> and the balance between grants and loans.
>
> The meeting is, therefore, expected to come up with concrete
> proposals on how to increase the quantity and quality of
> development financing, in particular on options available to
> multilateral institutions to increase financing for debt relief.
>
> Many African countries depend on a few primary commodities for
> their export earnings. These commodities, however, are subject to
> extreme price volatility.
>
> Unstable export earnings caused by export price volatility and
> deteriorated terms of trade, in turn, lead to instability of
> government revenues and debt sustainability.
>
> Such price fluctuations are considered to be at the heart of many
> African countries' failure to exit the debt trap.
>
> Over the past half century, the international community has
> introduced several stabilisation and compensatory mechanisms to
> minimise the impact of price fluctuations. But these initiatives
> have either not been able to provide adequate assistance or
> simply proved financially unsustainable.
>
> As a result, rapid and proportionate support to affected
> countries has diminished over time, and there is now little
> effective protection.
>
> Hence, the need to find ways to minimise the impact of commodity
> price shocks remains as great as ever today. The experts should
> come up with proposals for African countries to mitigate impacts
> of commodity shocks.
>
> Copyright © 2003 PANA
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
> Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
> http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/DKgolB/TM
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
>
> lllll
> QUOTATION:
>
> "All of us may not live to see the higher accomplishments of an African
> empire, so strong and powerful as to compel the respect of mankind, but we
> in our lifetime can so work and act as to make the dream a possibility
> within another generation"
> -<html><A HREF="http://members.aol.com/GhanaUnion/afrohero.html">Ancestor
> Marcus Mosiah Garvey <i>(1887 - 1940)</i></A></html>
>
> llllllllll
> * //\\//\\ unioNews Newsgroup //\\//\\ *
> * http://members.aol.com/GhanaUnion *
> * We're One People *
> * Join the Chorus *
> - African Union Shall Succeed -
> =====================================
> A luta Continua!
>
> To subscribe to this group, send an eMail to:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an eMail to:
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
> To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface
> at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
