AFRICA INITIATIVE

-- The announcement of the 10-
year long, us $25 billion
Africa Development Initiative comes as a much
needed helping hand for a
continent sinking into the
quagmire of increasing
debt and poverty. The joint
programme involving the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and
its own agencies, aims at setting the continent firmly on
the path of development.
Africa has 22 but of 25 countries with the lowest levels of
economic and social development. The debts of
African countries stood at
US $313 billion at the end of
1994, equivalent to 234 per
cent of their export income.
Announcing the aid, the UN
secretary general, Boutros
Boutros Ghali said that while
conditions were improving
for many peoples around the
world, Africa was the only
region where poverty was
expected to increase during
this decade. The Organisation of African Unity has
pledged its support for the
programme. The plan aims
to channel private sources of
capital into- Africa while trying to reinforce the social
condition with broad programmes in education, food
production and soil improvement, water and sanitation, information technologies and better governing
skills.