G-8's Broken Promises to Africa

L'AQUILA, Italy, June 10, 2009 — -- As President Barack Obama ends his first visit to the G-8 Summit as president and travels to Ghana, a country he has touted as a model for other African nations, aid to support development in the continent is once again in the spotlight.

In 2005, Africa took center stage as aid to the continent became a cause celebre.

From rock star Bono to movie idol Angelina Jolie, celebrities pushed the plight of the continent onto the front pages of newspapers and into living rooms around the world, and it worked.

Leaders from the eight wealthiest democracies, including Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, pledged to double their aid to the continent by 2010. The signing at the 2005 G-8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, was touted as a major step toward helping African countries escape poverty through development projects. Bono, who became the public face of the ONE campaign, a major player in the push for African aid, credited then-President George W. Bush for his commitment to Africa and pushed G-8 leaders to do more.

But, four years later, it seems the checks got lost in the mail.

According to Official Development Assistance (ODA) figures for 2008, G-8 nations delivered only one-third of the $21.5 billion in assistance they promised in 2005. The humanitarian group says the worst offenders are France and Italy. The host country for this year's G-8 Summit has given 3 percent of the $3.5 billion it pledged in 2005 and France has given 7 percent of its pledged $5.2 billion.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the only leader to sign the 2005 pledge who still remains in office. Berlusconi, whose personal life has recently dominated headlines, has become known as Mr. 3 percent, after the amount of aid his country has delivered. Berlusconi's defense: Blame the economy.

"Unfortunately, there were some delays in dispatching that aid because of the crisis," he said this week.

Activists say that's not a valid excuse and more needs to be done.

"It's precisely this time that we need to support the African countries that are actually being hit very hard by the economic crisis," said Oliver Buston, Europe director of the ONE campaign.