Highlight positive gains of the continent - Graca Machel

Page 5: June 17, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A MEMBER of the Africa Progress Panel, Mrs Graca Machel, has called on the African media to highlight the positive gains the continent had made in recent times.
She said identifying and championing those positive traits would prevent the continent being overwhelmed by too many negative news.
She said in recent times, African countries were showing a reawakening both inwardly and regionally by working together to integrate their economies and help improve the lives of their people.
Mrs Machel was speaking to the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview from her Maputo-base to co-incide with the launch of the panel’s report in London yesterday by its chairperson, Mr Kofi Annan.
The 11-member Panel was launched in 2007 as a unique and independent authority on Africa to focus world leaders’ attention on delivering their commitments to the continent.
Other members of the Panel, which was formed under the auspices of the Commission for Africa Report, include Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, Robert E. Rubin, former Secretary of the US Treasury and Executive Chairman, Citigroup, Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria and Bob Geldof, musician, businessman, founder and chair of Band Aid, Live Aid and a former member of the Commission for Africa.
Mrs Machel explained that the focus of the panel’s report was on the Group of Eight (G8) because it was planned to co-incide with the Group’s upcoming meeting.
She said it was the G8 that made certain promises and commitments at their meeting at Gleneagles hence the focus of the panel to “hold them to their promises”.
According to her, increasing the quantity of food on the world market especially by those stockpiling them for their citizens would help avert the crisis elsewhere.
Mrs Machel said the release of the report would also remind the G8 to revisit and revise their policies on new investments to centre on agricultural productivity to increase the food basket.
She explained that the crisis could be turned into an opportunity to avoid the business as usual attitude.
“No one can be comfortable in his or her comfort zone if others are suffering,” she said.
In the report issued today in London, the panel demanded international action to deal with the urgent threat of world food prices while calling on G8 leaders to take immediate steps to get their commitments to Africa back on target.
The report said the world food crisis “threatens to destroy years, if not decades of economic progress” as “100 million people are being pushed back into absolute poverty.
The report called on countries to immediately review arrangements for stockpiling food, while a comprehensive rethinking of trade policy was needed to boost agricultural production around the world.
It urged the G8 to increase funding for renewable energy and invest in adaptation and the prevention of deforestation.
It noted that while there had been significant success in improving governance, the resolution of the current crises required greater and more consistent efforts by the African Union, individual African governments and the international community as a whole.
The report urged the G8 to develop strategies to connect farmers to markets as well as improve access to water and improve sanitation.