Arms race threatens UN poverty fight-German minister
09 Sep 2008 15:20:02 GMT Source: Reuters
By Iain Rogers BERLIN, Sept 9 (Reuters) - A new arms race fuelled in part by the crisis over Georgia threatens U.N. targets for boosting development aid and slashing poverty by 2015, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said on Tuesday. Speaking at an informal conference on the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Berlin, Wieczorek-Zeul said billions of dollars of spending on new weaponry was diverting much-needed cash from the fight against hunger, poverty and illness. "We must avoid falling back into a situation where we have a new arms race," she told conference delegates, including South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. "The arms race is a distraction. It's exactly the opposite of partnership and we need partnership," added Wieczorek-Zeul, a member of Germany's Social Democrats who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in an uneasy coalition. "The world needs to protect itself against hunger, poverty and illness. We have to mobilise our finances for that." Reducing poverty is one of eight targets agreed in 2000 by U.N. member states and the world's top development bodies. Slow delivery of aid by some of the world's richest nations and a recent spike in food and energy prices are two reasons the goals are in danger of being missed by the 2015 deadline, U.N. officials and aid agencies say. Wieczorek-Zeul slammed a controversial U.S. plan to build a missile shield in eastern Europe which Washington says is intended to protect Europe and the United States against attacks by what it calls rogue states, a reference principally to Iran. "The world certainly does not need new shields or whatever in Europe," she said. "Everything in the world depends on dialogue and solving problems through dialogue. Cooperation is what people in poverty need." Manuel, who with Wieczorek-Zeul is one of the U.N.'s special representatives on development financing, was scathing about a recent pledge the United States made to Georgia of at least $1 billion in aid to help it rebuild after the war with Russia. "It couldn't have been budgeted for," Manuel said at a news conference with Wieczorek-Zeul. "Where does political will come from like that?" he asked. "Because that is the same political will that we need to ensure that aid is available generally for everyone. "We can't have people flying in and making commitments on aid when they can't make the same commitments to the MDGs. We have to have a situation where we have commitments to donor aid that are predictable and transparent." Donor countries have increased assistance since 2000, but in 2006 and 2007 aid levels declined by 4.7 and 8.4 percent respectively, according to a U.N. report published last week that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called a "wake-up call." World leaders will discuss the U.N. development goals on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly later this month. (Reporting by Iain Rogers; editing by Sami Aboudi)
Burnt forest are seen on the edge of the Borjomi-Kharagauli national park near Tsagveri September 5, 2008. A blaze broke out at the height of Georgia's brief war with Russia and ...
