SAfrica-G8-debt
   South Africa presses G8 to discuss African debt

   TOKYO, March 28 (AFP) - South Africa's foreign minister Tuesday pressed
the
world's leading powers to discuss Africa's crippling debt burden with the
continent ahead of a Group of Eight summit in July.
   The G8 powers should "not just decide whatever without having a dialogue
with African countries," Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-zuma told the
Japan Press Club.
   She urged the leaders to discuss the debt with Algeria and South Africa,
the two countries mandated by the Organization of African Unity to promote
the
issue on behalf of the continent.
   "We expect first the countries of the G8 to at least get the views of
the
two leaders that have been mandated to put Africa's case and then for them
to
decide what to do about it," the minister said.
   Dlamini-zuma said she had pressed Japan's Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi
and
Foreign Minister Yohei Kono to put Africa's debt on the agenda of the G8,
to
be held from July 21-23 in the southern island of Okinawa.
   "Of course we did not expect a definitive answer because Japan is one of
the countries that are in the G8 summit but obviously it is not the only
country," she said.
   South Africa expected Japan to consult with other members of the G8 --
Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Russia and the United States --
before making a final decision.
   The South African foreign minister was scheduled to leave for home later
in
the day after her three-day visit here, ending a tour which also included a
trip to Beijing to prepare for a visit by President Jiang Zemin.
   The Group of Seven at a meeting in Cologne, Germany in June agreed on an
expanded, accelerated initiative to provide debt relief to 40 of the
world's
most impoverished nations, mostly in Africa.
   Financial commitments needed to implement the venture totalled some 27.5
billion dollars.
   djw/bro

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------