在德國海利根達姆召開的八國集團會議召開之前，世界銀行方面近日做出的一項評估認為，八國集團在做出了使流入非洲的援助翻一番和為非洲的出口提供新機遇的承諾兩年之后，沒有按時實現它們的承諾。非洲問題為本屆八國峰會的一個重要議題。
Leaders
of the world's richest industrial nations wind up their three days of meetings
in northern Germany on Friday. Their last day is to be devoted mostly to Africa
- alleviation of poverty, debt relief and aid. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from
near the G-8 summit site at Heiligendamm.
"My name is Isiah, from Tanzania. I was born in Africa."
Seventeen-year old Isiah, is among a group of young people invited to address
G-8 leaders in Heiligendamm. The issues raised, including poverty and HIV-AIDS,
have been on everyone's lips.
Summit host, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel said all along Africa would be a priority.
Mrs. Merkel spoke of general agreement on the need for greater assistance to
Africa and urged a renewed commitment to make it happen.
U.S. President
George Bush highlighted his government's $30 billion pledge to provide HIV/AIDS
drugs for Africa and he called for a strong commitment from the G-8.
"I come with a deep desire to make sure that those suffering from HIV/AIDS on
the continent of Africa know that they will get help from the G-8," Mr. Bush
said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said it is time to follow-up on aid
commitments made by the G-8 in Gleneagles, Scotland two years ago.
"We have also got to focus on recommitting ourselves to the Gleneagles
process on Africa, on making major steps forward there," he said.
Aid experts and activists say, however, a simple "re-commitment" is not
enough. South African anti-poverty activist, Kumi Naidoo says the Gleneagles
promises on aid and debt relief were
modest at best and even these were not fully implemented. And he says he sees no
sense of urgency to make this summit different.
"We want to just clarify that when we come here as Africans to the G-8 we are
not coming to ask for charity, we are coming here to claim justice and the tone
of the discussions [in the G-8] is lacking in inspiration, lacking in courage
and lacking in leadership," Naidoo said.
Charles Abani, the Africa spokesman for the aid organization, Oxfam says the
daily reality in Africa is grim.
"Four-thousand children dying every day from diarrhea ... 1,400 women dying
of [child]birth-related complications in a world that technologically has really
advanced. This is really unacceptable. These are daily statistics of people
dying in Africa and yet we sit here and wonder about promises. It is almost like
moving from disbelief to anguish," said Abani.
Abani says fulfilling aid promises would cost only one additional dollar per
person in G-8 countries.
G-8 leaders have reached a compromise on tackling climate change. Some see
the agreement as substantial progress while others describe it as weak and
ineffective. Climate change, says Abani is not just an issue for wealthy nations
- it affects Africa as well.
"Who is climate change going to affect worst and hardest? Again, it is
developing countries, again it is Africa. In Mozambique, the flood is every two
or three years now and 200,000 people are displaced and rendered homeless. In
Kenya, the floods used to come in cycles of 15 years, they come every other year
now," said Abani.
Friday has been set aside to deal with African issues as G-8 leaders meet
with the so-called Africa Outreach Group, which includes a number of African
presidents, including Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade, Nigeria's Umaru Yar'Adua and
Ghana's John Kufuor.
debt
relief :免去債務
grim :unrelenting;
rigid（嚴酷的；殘酷的）
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（來源：VOA 英語點津姍姍編輯）
