Aid Pledge
June 8, 2007
Summit host German Chancellor Angela Merkel formally announced the agreement Friday morning.
"We are aware of our responsibilities and we will rise to them," she said. "On the other hand, we want to stress that we also have expectations about what should happen in Africa."
In the run-up to the summit, Merkel had already emphasized the hope that African countries would be stepping up their own efforts to modernize. This would entail clamping down on corruption, consolidating democracy and strengthening civil society.
About half of the sum has already been pledged by the US. The rest will be paid by the other G8 countries, with some 4 billion euros coming from Germany.
US President George W. Bush -- who remained in his hotel suite Friday morning on account of a stomach upset -- announced the main thrust of the initiative in May.
Among the heads of the six African nations representing the needs of the poorest continent was South African President Thabo Mbeki. The other countries represented were Egypt, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Wrangling
The G8 countries wrangled late into Thursday night about the finer points of the aid program for Africa, with certain countries including Italy apparently dragging their feet.
Broadly, the eight nations have now reiterated pledges made at the 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, when they said they would double development funding by 2010.
Some campaigners for Africa, meanwhile, insist $60 billion still falls short of UN targets.
Two leading campaigners, rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof, were in town to put pressure on Merkel and her fellow leaders.
"The chancellor has asked us to trust her and we are tempted, but we cannot risk being let down by the G8 again," Bono was quoted by Reuters as saying.
On Friday, Merkel said that progress on the aid program would be monitored at the next G8 meeting in Japan set to take place in a year.