G-8 Summit hardly discussed Africa

So states a VOA report...but if you read the report, you find this:

However, one Africa analyst does not agree that Africa was short-sighted by the meeting.

Yolanda K. Spiers is the head of the Protocol and Diplomacy Unit of the Center for International Political Studies at the University of Pretoria. She told English to Africa reporter William Eagle “I didn’t expect as much from this summit as I did from last year’s. I think if people did they were slightly naïve.” She says she sees encouraging signs that the G8, and in particular Britain and France, remain consistent in their support for Africa: “ Britain… rallied other countries to start the process of writing off debt to the most indebted countries, and (we find encouraging) France’s pressure for a progress report for the summit next year in Germany…Those (two) countries are committed to a process of getting Africa out of the poverty trap.”

Ms. Spiers says it’s important for Africa to have G-8 support, but she says the continent’s leaders need to take responsibility for happens within their own countries. Political oppression, she says, stunts economic growth. She says the continent needs to pull itself up by its bootstraps.

Tony Blair's website point out:

On Africa, we made modest, but important, progress in taking forward the commitments of last year, including:

• scaling up action on HIV/AIDS through replenishing the Global Fund in 2006 and 2007;
• new initiatives on vaccines for malaria and pneunoccoceus;
• fully funding the Education Fast Track initiative.

We agreed to review progress on Africa again at the G8 Summit in 2007 .

I have asked the International Development Secretary to set out key milestones for the coming 12 months in his next report to Parliament. These will include supporting 10 African countries, developing long term education plans and getting the debts cancelled for 5 more African countries. Kofi Annan will also convene the Africa Progress Panel to monitor progress.

I also discussed Sudan with a number of G8 leaders and Kofi Annan. We agreed the situation in Darfur was unacceptable and we needed a quick deployment of the UN force.