2007年VOA标准英语-Africans Say G-8 Not Fulfilling Aid Promise

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
05 June 2007

Hundreds of people from West Africa are gathering¹ in Sikasso, Mali, this week, to bring attention to problems they say developed countries are ignoring.  The anti-globalization and anti-poverty campaigners call their meeting a people's poverty forum² that is intended to counter the G-8 summit of the world's wealthiest countries this week in Germany.   Phuong Tran has more from VOA's West Africa Bureau in Dakar.

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Congo remains plagued with poverty despite great mineral wealth opportunities

Forum organizers say world leaders preparing to gather for the G-8 meeting have not met promises to reduce poverty in Africa. 

When leaders from the world's wealthiest countries met at the G-8 Summit two years ago, they promised to double aid to Africa by 2010 and to cancel $40 billion in multilateral debt owed by 14 African countries.

But Barry Aminata Toure, president of the Mali-based Coalition⁴ for African Alternatives to Debt and Development and organizer of this week's forum, says the G-8 countries do not understand the extent of the problem.

She says these leaders do not know the reality of poverty Africans face everyday.  She says it is time for the more-advantaged countries to back up their promises with concrete plans. 

According to the international non-profit organization DATA, which has lobbied world leaders for Africa's debt relief, the G-8 countries have mostly kept their promise on debt cancellation⁵, but have only given half of what they promised in aid.

U.N. poverty advisor⁶ Jeffrey Sachs was present when the leaders made their promise two years ago.  He says many are still in denial about Africa's problems. "The idea that just closing our eyes and pretending the problems will just go away is cruel," he said, adding, "The idea that somehow time will solve these problems is a mistake."

Forum organizer Toure says about 800 participants from Benin, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Europe are attending the forum.  They are discussing their countries soaring unemployment rates, falling crop revenues, huge donor⁷ debts, and boatloads of Africans risking their lives at sea as refugees.

Toure called for African countries to take charge of their own destinies. She said they are also proposing a Southern Bank as an alternative to the World Bank, which has policies many participants say hurt Africans.

Earlier this week, the World Bank said the world's wealthiest countries have fallen behind in fulfilling their promises to invest in Africa and make it easier for African businesses to compete internationally.  The bank said many donor countries have increased support for special humanitarian⁸ assistance and debt reduction, but aid for development programs in many African countries remains flat.

1 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

2 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

5 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

6 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

7 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。