By AGGREY MUTAMBO

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A gathering of a group of world’s richest seven nations (G7) was on Friday confronted with a set of demands to right the governance in Africa, even though the agenda of the conference in Japan was mainly on the Russia-Ukraine war.

On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida opened a meeting with his counterparts from the Group of Seven industrialised nations (including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US plus the European Union) in Hiroshima.

Japan also invited to the three-day event, Comoros President Azali Assoumani in his capacity as the chair of the African Union, as well as Presidents of Brazil, Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam as well as multilateral bodies — including the UN, IMF and World Bank.

Kishida told the opening session the G7 was pursuing unity, not division and confrontation.

“It is reaffirming the G7’s unity and strengthening our role to ensure a coordinated international community and to hammer out active and concrete contributions to that end,” he added.

The group was expected to tackle the Ukraine crisis, global economic outlook and climate change but Day 1 was met with protests outside the meeting hall in Hiroshima amid criticism the gathering was ignoring world realities.

Wary eye on debt

In Africa, legislators joined a group of 23 lawmakers from around the world to demand adequate attention to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

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“These diseases cause untold suffering, can disable, disfigure, and be fatal. In addition to the human toll, NTDs have a significant economic impact, resulting in billions of dollars in associated costs and lost productivity each year,” they wrote in an open letter to the G7 on Thursday.

The lawmakers including Kenya’s Esther Passaris, Uganda’s Rosette Christine Mutambi, Benjamin Okezie Kalu of Nigeria, Eleven Kambizi (Zimbabwe), Prof António Rosário Niquice (Mozambique) and Larry P. Younquoi of Liberia argued that the end of NTDs will save Africa and the developing world $25 per capital for every dollar invested by funders — a 30 percent annualised rate of return.

Meanwhile, ahead of the meeting, the International Crisis Group said the G7 must address the economic problems Africa has faced since Covid-19 including struggling to repay debt.

“Africa’s immediate and urgent needs could be met by ensuring greater liquidity for governments, notably through the recycling of SDRs to forestall debt default, as discussed above.

“Funding NTDs makes good financial sense. Many low-cost interventions for NTDs exist, are affordable to implement in low-income settings, and yield a robust return on investment.

Africa’s wars and conflict, some activists argued, should be prioritised and justice brought to the victims.
The Tigrayan Advocacy and Development Association (TADA-UK) said the G7 leaders must follow through on the 47th summit in 2021 when they called on Eritrean troops to totally vacate Tigray.

“The Eritrean army is still occupying Western Tigray and continue to rape and kill innocent people,” the lobby said on Friday, accusing Asmara of refusing to cooperate on a search for justice for the perpetrators of the two-year war between Ethiopia and rebels. The war ended on November 4 last year after an AU-led, US supported mediation.

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“TADA-UK believes the G7 countries should uphold human rights at the heart of its foreign policy and investment in Ethiopia,” it said calling for withholding of financial support until authorities cooperate.

Ahead of the meeting, the International Crisis Group said the G7 must address the economic problems Africa has faced since Covid-19 including struggling to repay debt.

“Africa’s immediate and urgent needs could be met by ensuring greater liquidity for governments, notably through the recycling of SDRs to forestall debt default, as discussed above.

“The G7 should also follow through on two funding commitments made at its last summit that, although global in scope, are of particular relevance to African nations,” ICG said. Those commitments included raising $600 billion over five years for infrastructure investment in low- and middle-income countries, and collecting $4.5 billion for combating global food insecurity.

“The G7 should heed Africa’s calls to have a formal seat at tables where decisions affecting it are taken. G7 leaders should reassure President Azali that they will press this case at the next G20 summit,” the ICG added in a bulletin.

But graft watchdog Sentry said Africa’s and other global kleptocrats should be punished.

“As the G7 Summit gets underway in Hiroshima, Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, the preservation of international rules-based order, denuclearisation, and partnerships with the Global South top the agenda,” said Denisse Rudich, a Senior Advisor to The Sentry.

“The G7 must work together to shut down the illicit financial flows that act as a lifeline to violent kleptocratic networks in countries such as Russia, Sudan, and Myanmar, and it must prioritise fighting money laundering linked to war crimes and atrocities.