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Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan 202-546 7961

Africa Action Dismisses "Misdirected" G-8 Announcements on Africa

Calls AIDS and Debt Relief Plans "Inadequate and Off-Target";
Condemns weak statement on Genocide in Sudan

Thursday, June 10, 2004 (Washington, DC) - As leaders of the "Group of
Eight" met with leaders from six African countries on the final day of
the G-8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, today, Africa Action dismissed
announcements of new initiatives on debt relief and HIV/AIDS as "wholly
inadequate and off-target." It also condemned the failure of the G-8 to
call for immediate intervention to stop the unfolding genocide in
Darfur, western Sudan, and address the urgent humanitarian crisis, where
more than one million people are now at risk as a result of an ongoing
government-sponsored campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Africa Action’s Executive Salih Booker said this morning, "Africa’s AIDS
crisis and the continent’s debt burden are two urgent life-and-death
priorities for the continent, yet the G-8 today has offered nothing new
or concrete on either one. Once again, the now traditional invitation of
African leaders to participate in the tail-end of the G-8 summit has
only served to highlight the asymmetry of power between rich and poor
nations, and the growing disparity between the world’s wealthy minority
and the impoverished majority."

Africa Action notes that the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Initiative
discussed at today’s meeting does little to address the immediate
priority in the global fight against this pandemic. Almost 30 million
Africans are currently living with HIV/AIDS, and only 2% of these people
have access to life-saving treatment. The Global Fund to fight AIDS is
unable to meet the desperate funding needs of African countries because
G-8 leaders still refuse to commit sufficient resources to this crucial
vehicle. In the context of these urgent priorities, Africa Action has
described today’s announcement on AIDS as "a cynical distraction from
the real needs of Africans and the real obligations of the world’s
wealthiest countries."

On the issue of debt relief for African countries and other impoverished
nations, Africa Action has expressed its deep disappointment at the
outcome of today’s G-8 meeting. Salih Booker said today, "The refusal of
the G-8 to move beyond the failed framework of the HIPC initiative
demonstrates the insincerity of their commitments to resolve Africa’s
debt crisis. Washington continues to practice an unacceptable double
standard when it advocates for the cancellation of Iraq’s odious debts,
but refuses to apply the same terms to the illegitimate debts of African
countries. The extension of HIPC is but a shell game. Short of
cancellation, the only steps that would represent progress would be an
immediate moratorium and an inventory of odious debts."

As reports of genocide continue to emerge from Darfur, Sudan, and as a
desperate humanitarian emergency occurs in that region, Africa Action
strongly condemned the complete inadequacy of the G-8 response. Salih
Booker said, "The international community this year remembered Rwanda’s
genocide a decade ago, but it remains unwilling to take the necessary
steps to avert a similar catastrophe in Darfur. We should call this what
it is - "genocide". What is needed is an urgent military intervention to
stop the killing, enforce the cease-fire and provide security for the
delivery of humanitarian assistance. If such killings were happening on
European soil, the response would be very different."

Booker added, "Instead of talking out of their hats about training
50,000 peacekeepers, the G-8 leaders must act NOW to put boots on the
ground in Sudan to halt genocide, as is required by international
convention."