Annan calls on rich countries to fulfill their pledges of aid to sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa will need special help to emerge from the vicious circle of poverty, and rich nations must provide the necessary aid, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a summit meeting of French-speaking countries today.

“They must keep their promises by increasing development aid, through debt relief and affording fair market access for the product of poor countries,” Mr. Annan said in a message delivered to the 10th Summit of Franchophonie in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by Ibrahima Fall, his Special Representative for the Great Lakes region.

“But these measures, as necessary as they are, cannot replace the will for change on the part of governments and peoples nor substitute for national capacities,” he added, calling on the governments to adopt social policies that bring health and education to all and establish gender equality.

“In too many countries, notably on this continent, armed conflicts and human rights abuses cause terrible suffering and pose a major obstacle to development,” he declared, calling on all parties in conflict, in Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan and elsewhere, to show a high degree of responsibility towards their peoples.

“Africa cannot allow itself to be torn apart. It has too many other problems to resolve.”