 Bob
Geldof's concerns about 'recycling' his twenty'year'old
event were overwhelmed by the will to eradicate the social
and political evils of Africa, and to direct G8 leader's
attention to the troubled continent.
For
decades now, hollow words and empty promises about curing
the ails of Africa have been made time and time again 'more
recently by some of today's G8 leaders themselves. Issues
of serious human rights violations, poverty, inequality
and injustice are not new and have always been on the world's
agenda. Yet thus far, no serious efforts have been truly
made to reduce the scale of imminent threat to Africa's
peoples. G8 leaders undoubtedly have the power to change
the legacy of misery in Africa, but rarely does such a goal
reach the top of their list of priorities.
 30,000
children reportedly die each day in Africa. In reality,
the number is much higher. If the mortality rate of Darfur
children was included, for instance, the figure rises dramatically.
The current mortality rate in Darfur stands at a minimum
of 10,000 per day, excluding the death rate of people in
inaccessible areas. In addition to poverty, the high death
rate in Darfur has been mainly caused by the Sudanese regime
and it's allied Janjaweed militias burning and killing the
innocent population. Nonetheless, some G8 nation institutions
still conduct business as usual with the Sudan and willingly
shake hands with the promoters of a culture of impunity
and genocide in Darfur that are guilty of committing war
crimes and crimes against humanity.
"As
long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist
in our world, none of us can truly rest."
The
words of former South African President Nelson Mandela during
his speech at Live 8 in Johannesburg resonate, and with
the exception of those protected by their own corrupt and
totalitarian regimes, these ills affect all Africans.
Indeed,
the message of the forthcoming African Union and G8 summits
this July should not only be focused upon debt cancellation
and further aid to Africa, but also upon curbing corruption
and abating conflicts in the region, and bringing those
guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice.
Without initiative from a few African Union leaders, the
fear exists that even if the G8 promises to deliver aid
and support to Africa, it will not reach those 30,000+
children dying each day, and rather end up in the pockets
of corrupt leaders and human rights abusers.
 On
the 30th of June in a speech at the Freer Gallery in Washington
D.C, President George Bush asserted, ...The violence in
the Darfur region is clearly genocide. The human cost
is beyond calculation.... Is it possible that George Bush
and other G8 leaders could show the courage and leadership
needed to put a stop to the mass atrocities being carried
out by the Khartoum regime and it's Janjaweed militias
in the Sudan?
The
following day U.N chief Kofi Annan offered that history
would probably judge that the international community
has been slow to respond to the crisis in Darfur and has
learned nothing from the genocide in Rwanda. History will
most definitely judge the leaders of the G8 even more
harshly if they refuse to stop and prevent the bloodshed
after this latest opportunity to assist via the summit
at Gleneagle.
The
fact remains that the sooner G8 leaders stop helping corrupt
African Union leaders, stop providing them with military
equipment, stop conducting business with human rights
abusers and actively hold accountable those who commit
crimes against humanity and war crimes, the sooner poverty
can be eradicated in Africa.
|
