AFRICA NEWS DIGEST
Jiang Zemin Announces Development Grant to Nigeria
On his first visit to Nigeria the week of April 15, Chinese President Jiang Zemin announced a $3.5-million development grant to be given to that country. Five agreements were signed, some of them on economic and technical cooperation. Scheduled to be part of the agreements, according to the Lagos, Nigeria-based daily Vanguard, were agreements on power and railways projects, as well as the supply of oil to China by Nigeria. Among the deals expected to be initialled is a $390-million deal with two Chinese companies to build two new gas-fired power plants in Nigeria, and a review of a $528-million contract to upgrade Nigeria's crumbling railway network.
Vanguard noted that the most significant deal, from Nigeria's standpoint, was the agreement signed month between Nigerian officials and the China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Company and the Shandong Power Construction Company. Nigeria is desperate to boost its electricity network. Under the terms of the contract, the Chinese companies will help manage the plants, with a total output of 670 megawatts, after construction is completed in two years. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Nigeria Railway Corporation, David Ndakotsu, said that work on the rail contract was now 90% complete, with new locomotive equipment in the country and tracks laid.
President Jiang's trip also included visits to two other African nations, Libya and Tunisia. An agreement was signed opening Libya's oil sector to Chinese firms. In Tunisia, Chinese officials said that Jiang's visit aimed at boosting cooperation in shipping and aviation.
Zimbabwe Paper: IMF, World Bank Policies Good for Nothing
"IMF, World Bank Policies Good for Nothing," reads the headline of an April 14 signed editorial in Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail. Written by the Mail's political editor, Munyaradzi Huni, the piece spells out the world's case against the present bankrupt international financial institutions, and makes clear the importance of what Zimbabwe is now doing.
"There are those who seem to have been 'drugged' by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank into thinking that Zimbabwe's economy cannot grow without implementing the policies prescribed by these Bretton Woods institutions. There are those who think these institutions are the country's only hope for survival. And there are those in the country that still think the government should kneel before the IMF and WB to get more loans. Fortunately for Zimbabwe, President Mugabe has realised that these institutions are not only Zimbabwe's, and not only Africa's, but the hidden killers of millions of people in the developing world through their policies.
"He has realized the near-universal failures of the IMF and WB and has decided that the children of Zimbabwe cannot continue dying just because of the love of the funds from these institutions that have been pushing the U.S. and British agenda since their formation soon after the Second World War. Although he has always been lambasting them, President Mugabe clearly showed that the time to dance to the tune of these institutions was over during his recent address to the Zanu-PF 49th ordinary session of the Central Committee. He said: 'This Central Committee must tell Government quite clearly that there will be no more hobnobbing with IMF-inspired blueprints.'
"It is difficult for some people to accept that the IMF and WB's free trade, market liberalisation and financial policies have contributed in reversing the gains that the country had made in the health and education sector since independence, but it's a fact. If one visits Parirenyatwa Hospital, Harare Hospital, Mpilo Hospital or any of the big hospitals in the country, the situation there brings tears to the eyes. Children whose lives could have been saved, are dying because there is no medication; some people are sent back home without receiving any treatment because they cannot afford the fees required, and it's no longer strange to see parents watching their children die.
"On the other hand, some children are no longer going to school just because the fees have become prohibitive. Some people blame the Government for all this but if the truth is to be told, 'things have not always been like this.' There was a time when the country's health sector was rated among the best in the developing world. There was a time when everyone with a hunger for education could go to school. And there was a time when one could walk into a shop and come out with a month's grocery after spending very little money. There was a time when all was well and that was before the IMF and WB came with their millions of dollars, together with the controversial policies that almost caused a social disaster in the country....
"[IMF and World Bank] policies have deepened poverty and increased inequality in the country and it now seems as if the IMF and WB are bent on creating a human rights catastrophe not only in Zimbabwe but also in all developing countries....
"The evidence that the IMF and the WB policies have led to the death of millions of people around the world is everywhere for anyone to see.... Not surprisingly, some countries are contemplating taking the IMF and WB to the International Court of Justice for the genocide that these institutions' policies have caused in their countries. Why should Zimbabwe cling to such organisations? Why should the country keep kneeling before the IMF and WB when it's clear their policies have failed to work in almost all the countries that they have been tried?"
Hazardous to Health: IMF, World Bank in Africa
A report detailing the destruction of health care in Africa by the IMF and World Bank, written by Africa Action, has just been released. Entitled "Hazardous to Health: The World Bank and IMF in Africa," the paper details how the intervention of the IMF and the World Bank in African countries over the past two decades has fuelled the rapid rise of the continent's health crisis by weakening the capacity of African governments to respond. "These institutions must be made accountable for their role in causing the worst health crisis in human history, which Africa now faces," says Africa Action Executive Director Salih Booker. According to the paper, the dictated economic policies created fertile ground for the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases. And, additionally, cutbacks in health budgets and the privatization of health services mandated by the institutions undermined Africa's health care systems so that they could not respond to the disaster. Africa Action's major focus at this point is AIDS in Africa.
Africa Action combines the Africa Fund, American Committee on Africa, and African Policy Information Center, and is headquartered in Washington. On April 9, Africa Action and TransAfrica released a joint open letter to South African President Thabo Mbeki, saying that Mbeki's AIDS policy has caused "countless deaths."
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