Africa's leaders must stick to their part of the deal
The Guardian - February 13th 2006
Your imaginative reports (Hear Africa, February 6) highlight the frequent failure of developed countries to live up to their promises on aid, trade and healthcare. But what about Africa's promises?
In the past month you have also highlighted the huge sums squandered on luxury cars for Kenya's ministers while much of the country starves; the human rights record of Congo's president; repression in Ethiopia; Mugabe's brutality in Zimbabwe; and alleged genocide by Sudan in Darfur.
Under the terms of the New Partnership for Africa, Africa's leaders have explicitly recognised their mutual obligations to improve governance, tackle corruption and respect human rights. We cannot keep excusing them from their part of the deal.
Dr Charles Tannock MEP
Conservative foreign affairs spokesman