Donor fatigue has set in at the G8. Support for Africa is getting short shrift as G8 leaders turn their focus to the growing economic crisis afflicting their domestic economies. There has been a return to essences – surging oil prices, jobs at home and inflation. While the shift from G8 leaders is not surprising, what is puzzling has been the silence from African leaders at the Summit. NGO lobbyists for Africa and celebrity diplomats have been much more vocal than government leaders from the continent.
Yes, the summit in Toyako kicked off with a meeting with seven African leaders. Tomorrow (July 9), South African President Thabo Mbeki will sit down with the leaders again as a member of the so-called “Outreach 5” countries. But even with this high degree of participation, the African agenda built up from Gleneagles in 2005 to Heiligendamm in 2007, is receding with the economic slowdown.
Follow-through on the G8’s commitment to African development has stalled. The promise on increasing ODA to Africa beyond 2010 has been dropped. Moreover, the G8 is facing sharp criticism among NGO groups about the delivery of aid with DATA (Bono’s organization) saying that G8 countries have only come up with $3 billion out of the $25 billion pledged at Gleneagles. What generosity remains among the G8 countries is increasingly applied in a bilateral fashion. This is particularly evident in the behaviour of the host country, as Japan has made the recommendations of its recent Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) the pivot of its G8 approach. Indeed the discussion of Africa yesterday was guided by a debriefing of the TICAD outcomes.
Just as significant, the G8 push on global health issues has slowed down. The goals of working towards universal access on health care and the full achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2010 have been watered. The G8 is now saying that it will work towards the goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care – but even on this more limited commitment, no implementation dates are mentioned. Basic health care provisions have been firmly moved onto the shoulders of African leaders, with the caveat that this care would only be free where the African countries chose to provide it.
If we are not surprised by the degree of fatigue on behalf of the G8, what is surprising has been the muted response by African leaders. In their meetings with the G8, the invited African leaders did not call for more money, while health seemed to be neglected in the discussion entirely. Even more jarring has been their acceptance of transferred responsibility on the oil and food crises. Despite the urgency, the G8 has failed to deliver any constructive measures to calm energy and grain prices. Rather, it has passed the burden onto Africa to build its own food production and onto Algeria and Nigeria to increase oil production.
There are a lot of arguments about why African leaders have acted in this restrained fashion. A dominant one relates to the pressure applied by the G8 to do more on Zimbabwe. While the G8 leaders are frustrated that Africa has not done more to criticise the Mugabe regime, African leaders are frustrated that they (and the African Union) have not been able to work out a negotiated settlement.
The G8’s lackluster performance has been matched by an uninspired showing by Africa’s leaders. As they leave Toyako, development and health issues remain unresolved. The cause has been taken up, however, by a set of well-known NGOs who have provided much of the ‘bite’ behind criticism of the pull-back of the G8. At the head of the pack have been DATA, Oxfam, ActionAid, and the Global Call for Action Against Poverty who each have a depth of technical knowledge and are sustaining these intricate debates.
With bite must come ‘buzz’. To its credit, DATA provides both with a mix of technical acumen and media skill with celebrity champions such as Sir Bob Geldof. Here at the international media centre, his presence looms large – securing key bilaterals and network interviews between casual strolls through the halls.
G8 Toyako 2008 