Bono, Mbeki, Blair gathered for the high-profile Africa session yesterday, with Kumi Naidoo from Civicus amongst the team gathered around the media-friendly table surrounded in fishbowl style by the concerned faces of Chief Executives from around the planet. Discussion focused on a matter of accounting, had the G8 delivered on their commitments to Africa made at Gleneagles. The answer, as we all know, is yes and no. Yes, development assistance has dramatically increased, and yes, there has been an acceleration of cancellation of sovereign debt. And no, the trade agenda remains unresolved, as does the fact and effect of agricultural subsidies on developing country economies.
A material conversation, certainly. Important topics, and in many ways the right people to have it. And Kumi, when challenged, was right to confirm that the G8 Gleneagles Summit was as good as it had been from the G8, and that many of those arrayed around the table had been key players in securing the gains that had been made.
But the conversation seems somehow stale and tired, despite Bono’s ever-flowing passion and unbounded energy. One elephant in the bedroom remained unseen, unmentioned. China was simply invisible, even although its changing geopolitical and economic role in the world is very directly transforming the circumstances of Africa. On the up side, Africa’s recent accelerated growth has little if anything to do with aid, or even trade with those gathered in the room, Europe and the USA. China’s thirst for natural resources has pushed up commodity prices, delivering real economic gains for the region. Similarly, the flow of investment into Africa from China has turned from a trickle into a torrential flow, accelerating infrastructure development beyond some countries wildest expectations. And African leaders feel, look and speak differently today, certainly for many reasons, but in part surely because of the dignifying effects of their newly-found alliance with China on their relationship with Europe and North America – a much-sought for reduced dependency has, finally, been achieved. And the costs, perhaps so far less visible, are nevertheless apparent. China will certainly make for a more patient partner, and in many respects will leave Africa to get on with its own thing. An if African governance was in good shape, this would be a wonderful thing. But of course it isn’t, and so in many ways it is not.
And that brings us nicely to that other elephant, the death of Britain’s international leadership role in fighting corruption. Perhaps Bono and Mr Blair other conversational partners was simply too polite to point out that in the one act on abandoning the investigation of alleged bribery between BAE Systems and the Saudi Government, Blair’s government has arguably done more harm to the cause of international development than the good it has sought to achieve through Gleneagles and many other initiatives. Real leadership is, I was told recently, the will to speak the truth to and about power. Using that criterion, last night’s Africa debate was irrelevant or, even worse, part of the problem.
