---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 17:36:04 -0800
From: David Mozer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: wa-afr <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [wa-afr-network] FW: URGENT ACTION: ALERT FOR DEBT RELIEF !
-----Original Message-----
From: Vicki Lynn Ferguson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2000 7:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: URGENT ACTION: ALERT FOR DEBT RELIEF !
Dear ADNA members,
Following find the update on what happened with the mark-up
on the emergency supplimental yesterday and suggested next steps from
Bread for the World. Please feel free to share this widely with all
of your contacts and networks concerned about these issues of
economic justice for the poorest of the poor in this world.
Thanks for your speedy attention to this.
Regards,
Vicki Ferguson
ADNA Communications Facilitator
From: "Ray Almeida" <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Bread for the World
To: "Dear Friends of Africa" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 17:02:27 -0500
Subject: ACTION FOR DEBT RELIEF !
Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
Priority: urgent
Fom Bread for the World (3/10/2000):
WHERE IS THE ISSUE OF DEBT RELIEF AT THE MOMENT AND
WHAT IS OUR STRATEGY FOR WINNING?
Yesterday (Thursday, March 9) the House Appropriations Committee
passed a $9 billion supplemental appropriation, with $4 billion more than
the adminstration requested for Colombian drug wars, Kosovo
peacekeeping, North Carolina flood relief, health care benefits for military
personnel, BUT NOT A DIME FOR DEBT RELIEF! The administration had
requested $210 million for the Heavily Indebted Poor Counties (HIPC)
trust fund to help the regional development banks do their part in
the international debt plan agreed to by the G-7 rich countries last
June.
It is clear that the Republican leadership has agreed that no money
would be given for debt relief until Senate committee chairs Phil Gramm
(R-TX) and Jesse Helms (R-NC) have had their opportunity to weigh in
on the policy changes they want to exact in the international financial
system. The release of the Meltzer Commission report this past
Wednesday contains a laundry list of recommendations for major
changes to the IMF, World Bank and regional development bank system.
Ironically, all eight members of the Meltzer Commission agreed on only
one thing: that debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries by all
the international financial institutions should be a priority action. On
the
rest of the recommendations for reform they were split. So, as Congress
and the administration argue and negotiate over the changes to the
international financial architecture, debt relief -- which everyone agrees
is a priority - is put on hold. The ones who suffer are the most
vulnerable - the poor and disaster-wracked in the world's poorest
countries.
The good news from yesterday's vote is that neither the Republicans nor
the Democrats have decided to make debt relief a symbolic, election
issue. There were no party-line votes, no posturing speeches. Only
silence. The reason for the silence presumably and hopefully is the
acknowledgement that if real progress is going to be made on debt relief,
then the negotiations over the conditions that will accompany
Congressional approval need to occur in good faith. The only problem
is, the delay in congressional funding for HIPC means a delay in debt
relief to suffering people in Mozambique, Bolivia, Uganda and 8 other
countries.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
In general, we need to turn up the heat and keep the pressure on,
throughout the supplemental process. We need to let the House
Republican leadership know we are unhappy with their delaying tactics.
We need to put pressure on the Senate appropriators and leadership to
put money for the HIPC trust fund into their bill and keep it there through
the conference report. We need to let our members know that they
should be writing letters of outrage to their members of Congress that
they have thought it acceptable to put off real help to poor people in the
world's poorest countries by denying a $210 million appropriation that
can unlock billions of dollars in debt relief for countries in desparate
straits.
We need to let Congress know that they must put debt relief back on
track NOW. Six months may not matter to Republican leaders, but it is a
matter of life and death for tens of thousands in nearly a dozen countries.
We are not trying to stifle debate on the question of the future role of the
IMF, the World Bank, or any of the other important issues. But it is a
moral outrage to hold hostage the lives of vulnerable people to such a
debate.
ACTION
For grassroots:
Call (202-225-3121) or write your members of Congress and tell them
that $210 million for debt relief must be included in a supplemental
appropriation this spring.
For organizations that care about debt relief:
Call or write the Republican leadership (Speaker Hastert 202-225-0600,
Rep. Dick Armey 225-4000, Rep. TomDelay 225-0197) and tell them
that it is unacceptable to exclude $210 million for debt relief from a
supplemental bill that ballooned from $5 billion to $9 billion.
Aditional information:
Jim McDonald Ray Almeida
[log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
==
Ray Almeida
Bread for the World
1100 Wayne Ave., Suite 1000
Siver Spring, MD 20910
(tel) 301-608-2400 ext. 232
(fax) 301-608-2401
(e-mail) [log in to unmask]
(web site) http://www.bread.org
****
Reposted by request from Bread for the World to the Advocacy Network
for Africa.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next meeting Sun., March 19, 1 to 6 PM, location TBA, Seattle. To post a message: [log in to unmask] To subscribe sending a blank message to [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
For complete information on the Washington State-Africa Network visit: http://www.ibike.org/africasummit/index.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
@Backup- Protect and Access your data any time, any where on the net.
Try @Backup FREE and recieve 300 points from mypoints.com Install now:
http://click.egroups.com/1/2345/5/_/23029/_/952760416/
-- Easily schedule meetings and events using the group calendar!
-- http://www.egroups.com/cal?listname=wa-afr-network&m=1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
