Summit results III: Africa – Great disappointment and hypocrisy of the summit

It is really no surprise that the German government wants to sell the Heiligendamm summit as a great success. However it was a great disappointment as far as the Africa resolutions were concerned. After all the noise made about Africa, both prefatory and parallel to the topic, one might have expected more than the vague reiteration of the Gleneagles promises and the nebulous announcement that up to US$60bn might be donated for the struggle against HIV/ AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis at some as yet unspecified time.

Many NGOs – this time even the rock stars, in contrast to Gleneagles – are now outraged. However, the Heiligendamm summit merely continued an old tradition of dealing with Africa and development aid – issuing vague declarations of intent – an essential attribute of the G8 from the very beginning.

While there are some in the media who join the official chorus of summit success, the more serious people point out the damage that the G8 Africa policies cause. Whereas their Africa Declaration preaches good governance more than ever before, the G8 do not give the slightest care to fulfilling their own commitments. The so-called Africa Outreach, i.e. invitations to a side table extended to some of Africa’s leading politicians, prevailed as the apex of sanctimony and hypocrisy this year. It was in this context that the G8 received the new Nigerian president Umara Yar’Adua. He had just attained power through election fraud as confirmed by EU observers. After not one important head of state attended his inauguration, he was now able to appear in Heiligendamm as a representative of the “New Africa”. In the print edition of yesterday’s Financial Times, two great corporations praised this breakthrough: “Nigeria’s New President arrives. G8 Summit: Ready for Business“. Good business is always preferred to good governance.