wfn.org | SOUTHERN AFRICA: PRIMATE SPEAKS OUT ON POVERTY AND DEBT

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

Oct. 31, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.10.5.8]

SOUTHERN AFRICA: PRIMATE SPEAKS OUT ON POVERTY AND DEBT BEFORE
COMMONWEALTH MEETING

(CPSA) This statement is based on a keynote speech made at a conference
preceding the meeting of the the heads of government of commonwealth
countries, on Tuesday 21 October 1997. A partnership of nations around
the globe is required to eradicate poverty, according to the the Most
Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.
Delivering  a keynote address to a conference in Edinburgh, organised by
the Royal African Society in Scotland to precede the heads of 
mmonwealth government meeting and associated with the Jubilee 2000
campaign, Archbishop Ndungane said that poverty was too big an issue to
be tackled by a divided community. "We require the participation of all
to ensure its eradication - particularly governments like those of the
Commonwealth, representatives, of which will soon be meeting,"  he said.
The issue needed to be tackled on a practical level, and not just at an
academic level, he said. Poverty was not inevitable.  He pointed out
that this year's UN Human Development Report had made this clear.
"The report points out that over the past three decades a dozen or more
developing countries have shown that it is possible to eliminate
absolute poverty.  A century and a half ago the world marshalled its
resources and launched a successful campaign against slavery .  In our
own times, moral and righteous people around the globe campaigned for
the end of apartheid and were successful," he said. It was now time to
harness all available resources to bring an end to poverty. Noting that
there were 800 days to go until the year 2000 dawned, Archbishop
Ndungane urged developed countries to write off the debts of
developing countries.  They should also adopt specific programmes to
allow poor countries greater access to technology, resources and
capital.  He praised the World Bank for putting a programme in place to
cancel Mozambique's debt. The Primate also spoke out against  foreign
loans being granted to any countries that wished to expand their
military capacity or purchase arms. The Archbishop proposed the
establishment of an international mediation council to negotiate the
repudiation of debts of developing countries. Such a Council would also
monitor  new loans to countries, which would have to adhere to nine
principles in order to qualify for the finance. These included the
principle that no debt be incurred for the purposes of militarism, or 
to maintain oppressive governments that violated fundamental human
rights. Archbishop Ndungane, an outspoken critic of governments  - 
including South Africa  -  that enlarged their military capacity without
just and sufficient cause, said another principle that the proposed
council should adopt would be to cease all loans if a country expanded
its armed services or military capacity to the detriment of its people.
He proposed that the Council should comprise of an independent
international body, a similar relevant regional body, the International
Monetary Fund and/or the World Bank,  and the country concerned. The
other seven principles that should be applied by the body, in an
endeavour to ensure that countries never again incurred debts that they
were unable to service  -  as was now the case in developing countries -
were:
*No country should be permitted to borrow more than a fixed percentage
of its GNP without first going to its people, for example in a
referendum, to obtain their approval.
*Preference should be given to making loans to countries which have
illustrated good stewardship in the use of their resources and in the
involvement of their own people in their socio-economic development and
the creative involvement of foreign investors.
*Preference should be given to countries that need loans for health,
education, social services, infrastructural development and the like. 
*The rape of the environment, or the denial of human rights, by any
country should disqualify it from receiving loans.
*A country which has shown a commitment to democratic government and
regular free elections should receive preferential treatment in
receiving loans.
*Countries receiving loans from any international financial institution
or commercial bank should submit themselves to a strict monitoring and
accountability process so that if it is found that debt relief is being
used for military or other purposes that do not advance the
ocio-economic development of people, the loans be suspended. 
*This  monitoring process must ensure that where a debt has been
cancelled, any provision that would have been made to service the loan
had it not been cancelled, must be redeployed for the development of
people and infrastructure. Developing countries must respond in a
disciplined way to this initiative by giving up the trappings and
reality of military power that comes with the purchase of arms; they
must also turn away from the symbols of power and wealth such as new
palaces and huge new state houses. There were already sufficient such
symbols in all countries without more having to be
acquired, Archbishop Ndungane said.