Africa still lags behind: UN
2006-01-26 21:44
Dakar - Africa is far from slashing poverty levels or improving the food security of its peoples and may not reach intended goals unless radical action is taken, a senior United Nations (UN) official has warned.
Jeffrey Sachs, special advisor to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and director of the UN Millenium Project that aims to halve world poverty by 2015, said it would not be possible to reach the target on the current trajectory.
"We have not yet turned the corner in ending extreme poverty on this
continent," he told a news conference as he toured six west African countries
to review progress made on achieving the so-called UN Millenium Development
Goals (MGDs) by 2015.
"I am watching the timetable with a lot of concern. We have nine years
to 2015 and the world has promised time and again that these goals will
be achieved by 2015."
"That will not happen unless we change dramatically how we are doing
things...we don't need any more promises what we need is action," Sachs said.
He spoke of the "grim" facts of "failure of hunger, failure of crops,
locusts...and other food problems that are widespread" showing that the gap between diplomacy and reality in Africa.
"It is a reflection that while the diplomatic process goes on, the lives of the poor continue to get worse.
"So we have not yet succeeded in bridging the world of diplomacy and the reality of most of the people of this continent," added Sachs.
Donor countries last year pledged to double aid to poor countries by 50 billion dollars by 2010, much of it towards development projects in Africa, the world's poorest continent.
The objective of his trip is to establish the specific areas requiring
urgent action such a food security and the control of malaria, HIV/Aids
and water-borne diseases that kill millions of Africans each year.
He bemoaned the seemingly endless conflicts that have rocked many of
the countries on the continent saying they were impeding development, along
with dictatorial regimes.
"War and conflict are the biggest threats to achieving the MDGs.
War is the number one threat and dictatorship is number two," he said.