ADDIS ABABA - Canada is making a final appeal to Africa's 53 nations this morning, asking that they rank themselves from first to worst so the world's richest nations can reward the most-deserving with new aid and investment.
In a keynote address to the Organization for African Unity, Jean Chrétien, the Canadian Prime Minister, is expected to tell African nations they hold their fate in their own hands but must self-impose strict rules of good governance if they want to receive bonus development money from industrialized countries.
Mr. Chrétien and leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations are sending increasingly strong signals about how they think the Africans should mark their report cards.
"They will have to classify themselves. They have [to have] peer reviews. So one would be number one, and one will be 53. And that will be the criteria for us to see what we can do to help," said Mr. Chrétien, who is making the fifth stop in a six-nation tour of Africa. "And we want to encourage, somewhat, those who do better so that it will be an incentive for the others to progress."
African nations have spent the last several months preparing a set of rules to which each country must adhere if they want to receive G8 largesse at the group's summit on June 27 in Kananaskis, Alta.
The G8 will finalize an African Action Plan designed to work in partnership with African countries to implement a long-term development plan to arrest the continent's economic slide.
The G8 plan is expected to endorse two tiers of aid to Africa. Basic humanitarian assistance for the poorest countries will continue, but a "first-class" level of assistance will be funnelled into more progressive nations.
While Mr. Chrétien and Canadian officials consistently stress the plan will be a "made-in-Africa" solution, they revealed yesterday that the G8 has produced its own list of five priority sectors in which Western nations want to invest.
Canada and the G8 are willing to spend money in nations that are committed to ending decades of warfare, introducing democratic reform, improving human rights, liberalizing trade and funding health and education programs, said a Canadian official.
"Is it [Africa's] last, best chance? That is setting a pretty dramatic bar, but it is pretty damn close to that," said the official.
"It is absolutely essential that they have an adequate peer-review system that would reward success, and not reinforce failure."
The G8 countries have been reluctant to even hint at how much money is at stake for African nations, although the continent's leaders have said they need close to $64-billion in private and public funds to end their Third World status.
Canadian officials also said no decision has yet been made on whether G8 nations will produce a joint aid package, or make their decisions individually.
Canada has already committed $500-million over three years to an Africa fund, while the United States says it will spend US$50-billion over 10 years.
Robert Fowler, Mr. Chrétien's personal representative to the G8 and Africa, said yesterday any new aid package to Africa will fail unless Africans themselves are ready to embrace reform. The continent cannot be saved by another foreign-imposed development plan, Mr. Fowler said.
"This offers Africans a new partnership, a different way of doing business. It is premised in the fact that 40 years of development assistance hasn't changed the circumstances of most countries in Africa very much," Mr. Fowler said.
salberts@nationalpost.com
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