[two pieces] <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1499616,00.html>
Oil wealth urged to save Africa Gaby Hinsliff, Mark Townsend and Lorna Martin Sunday June 5, 2005 The Observer The fabled wealth of the oil-rich Gulf states is to be targeted in an attempt to salvage a major debt relief deal for Africa ahead of the G8 summit in Gleneagles. Although Chancellor Gordon Brown is now confident of a breakthrough deal with the White House on debt relief, which could be worth up to $1 billion a year, he is still seeking to plug a �20bn hole on aid. Brown will challenge the Arab world to stump up more money - increasing the moral pressure at the same time on President Bush to give more generously. Despite their riches, boosted by oil, the Gulf states have had little tradition of donating overseas aid. Writing for The Observer today, on the eve of crucial talks between Tony Blair and Bush in Washington, Brown argues that, to tackle global poverty 'it is critical that all wealthy countries, including the richer oil-producing states, join in'. Paul Wolfowitz, the new head of the World Bank and a former key figure in the Bush administration, is understood to be interested in Brown's plan. The Chancellor has opened discussions with opposite numbers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Details are expected to be discussed at the G8 summit in Gleneagles next month. Separately, the Treasury has brokered a groundbreaking agreement with the US to cancel its International Monetary Fund debt for Africa - meaning the US would have offered more on debt relief than Germany or Italy. Crucially, however, it has also offered extra money ensuring the debt relief will not be paid for by cuts in other aid programmes, at least for two years. The final amount remains under discussion, but the deal follows months of lobbying, led by Brown, of his US counterpart, John Snow. Blair will, meanwhile, move this week to reassure Bush that aid increases would not be squandered on corrupt regimes. One option is for African leaders to sign up to new anti-corruption measures at the G8 summit. 'We will look at some very practical measures which first of all demonstrate the international community's ability to help on transparency and governance,' said a senior Whitehall source. The two leaders will also discuss security in Iraq and the next round of elections there, plus progress on the Middle East peace process. But there is growing evidence of a divide between the Blair and Brown camps over G8 negotiations. With Downing Street privately lowering expectations of a deal in Washington, the Treasury remains bullish about a deal. And while some around Brown argue it is time to spend the political capital gained from Iraq to push Bush into a deal, Downing Street insists it is wrong to portray him as an obstacle. 'It's about the personal relationship between Tony Blair and George Bush in advancing the agenda,' said the official. Britain aims to raise $100bn through Brown's International Finance Facility, $80bn from EU countries' contributions and the rest from the US. Bush's rejection of the IFF idea has left the $20bn gap, part of which could be filled by American funding through other channels than the IFF, part possibly by contributions from the Canadians and Japanese, but part could come from oil producing states under Brown's proposals. Soaring oil prices are creating hundreds of new billionaires in the Gulf. Yet after the tsunami disaster, Gulf states were slow to donate. Privately, Brown believes involving them would change perceptions that the West invests in Africa out of a sense of 'colonial guilt'. Sources said the Gulf states had not only a humanitarian but a security stake to combat rising Islamic extremism in Africa - a case Blair will also make in Washington. In his article today, Brown also puts the case for his scheme to research and fund the purchase of millions of vaccines. 'Years from now,' he writes, 'people will ask of Aids and Africa: "How could the world have known and failed to act?"' Aid agencies, however, warned against Britain settling for a fudge over Africa. 'The temptation with four weeks to go to Gleneagles is for Blair and Brown to do a deal on debt with the rest of the G8, no matter how far it is from what they and the Africa Commission have called for,' said Max Lawson, policy adviser at Oxfam, adding that the proposed debt relief deal was 'nowhere near what is needed'. Fears that the G8 summit could be subject to violent disruption increased this weekend after the Tayside Chief Constable, John Vine, responsible for co-ordinating security, conceded the risk of hardcore activists targeting it. <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1499475,00.html> Spend now, save lives The Chancellor sets out his plan to help conquer deadly diseases in Africa Gordon Brown Sunday June 5, 2005 The Observer This Friday, G8 finance ministers meeting in London will be asked to support a bold initiative aimed at helping to tackle the scourges of HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis. Six million people die each year from these dread diseases. In advance of Gleneagles, finance ministers will seek agreements on debt relief, increased aid and trade justice. But this week, we will also discuss Aids, TB and malaria. Our focus will be a plan to support a new international platform for research into vaccines and cures, public-private partnerships and advance purchase schemes for their development and, finance, to build the capacity of health-care systems. So important are these initiatives that I believe that the generation that can combat, cure and eradicate the world's deadliest diseases - and the world's least curable diseases - will rightly be called a great generation. As a killer disease, malaria must be fought today by the adequate provision of mosquito nets, often costing no more than $5. But the long-term search for an anti-malaria preventive vaccine has been boosted by recent medical trials in Mozambique arising from a partnership between GlaxoSmithKline and the Gates-led Malaria Vaccine Initiative. But even with the discovery of a vaccine that could prevent a million deaths a year, the work has only started. The challenge is that in an area where there are insufficient purchasers with money we need to ensure that the vaccine, when developed, goes into commercial production and is available at affordable prices. That is why the British government is inviting other countries and companies to join us to explore a jointly agreed advance purchase scheme to underwrite the buying of millions of vaccines and, in doing so, further encourage their development not just for malaria but for new strains of TB and HIV/Aids. We all know the current HIV/Aids pandemic has moved from a crisis to a daily emergency. Sixty-five million people have been infected - more than the entire population of the British Isles - and 25 million have died. In sub-Saharan Africa, with 25 million people infected and two million deaths each year, Aids is the single biggest killer on the continent. In Botswana and other southern parts, infection rates are nearly 40 per cent and rising. Life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa has fallen from 62 to 47. Eleven million children are Aids orphans and 99 per cent with HIV/Aids still have no access to treatment or care they need. Years from now, people will ask of Aids and Africa: 'How could the world have known and failed to act?' Our long-term proposal is to increase aid, through an International Finance Facility which will enable us to frontload resources so that a critical mass can be deployed as investment now when it will have the most impact. Providing long-term, predictable funding to finance a comprehensive effort to combat disease, with the provision of schooling, will be the first purpose of the IFF. With its pilot project, a programme for vaccination, five million lives could be saved between now and 2015. This will require frontloading $4 billion of investment. A fully fledged facility leveraging up aid by borrowing on the international capital markets would enable us to invest more now when it will have the most impact. Much is already being done through the praiseworthy International Aids Vaccine Initiative and Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. Yet currently, only �400 million a year is spent on researching an Aids vaccine. This is less than 10 pence a year per person suffering from HIV/Aids. The UK's new tax credit to stimulate research into diseases prevalent in the developing world is but a start. If we just keep spending at the current level, we could expect to have a partially effective vaccine for the developing world by around 2020. If, by doubling research and development spending over the coming five to 10 years we could bring forward the discovery of an Aids vaccine, we could save millions of lives. So, the challenge is to internationalise research, share information and co-ordinate it globally and to concentrate resources on top scientific priorities. That is why Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development, is pushing forward ideas for a worldwide infrastructure to share and co-ordinate Aids research and to encourage the development of viable drugs, vaccines and other technologies such as microbiocides. But we need to do more - from funding development, production and trials to financing systems for advance purchasing. If donors committed to buying, say, the first 250 million vaccine courses at $15 per course, that would translate into a $4bn guarantee, enough to generate much stronger interest in further research and development from both large and small pharmaceutical firms. Any plan must also do more to finance the treatment and care of the 40 million people (and their families) who currently live with HIV/Aids. Developing countries need money now for HIV/Aids prevention, testing, treatment, care of orphans and the strengthening of health-care delivery systems. This is the task of the Global Fund for Health. If the current momentum of the Global Fund is maintained, it will by 2008 have provided anti-retroviral therapy for 1.6 million people, counselling and testing for 52 million people and education and care to more than a million Aids orphans. But with only 440,000 people with HIV receiving treatment in 2004 - just 250,000 in sub-Saharan Africa - much more finance will be needed to meet the World Health Organisation target of three million people on anti-retroviral therapy. Hilary Benn has already promised that Britain will increase resources to develop healthcare systems with well-trained staff and equipment and fund stronger anti-poverty strategies. Globally, tackling the world's deadliest diseases and halving world poverty will require the overall doubling of aid recommended by the Commission for Africa. Which is why additional resources need to be agreed at Gleneagles and why it is critical that all wealthy countries, including the richer oil-producing states, join in. -- "Life sure is weird but what else am I to know?" [Jason Pierce]
