[stop-imf] Leaders of Poor Nations Support World Bank, IMF Protesters

[Robert Weissman]

Leaders at Cuba Summit Support World Bank, IMF Protesters
           United Press International
           April 16, 2000 

           WASHINGTON - Leaders of the world's poorest countries who met in
Cuba this week for
           a three-day summit voiced solidarity with anti-World
Bank/International Monetary Fund
           protesters the Washington Post reported Sunday. 

           About 40 heads of state attended the Group of 77 summit in Havana. 

           Spokesman for the Group of 77, Arthur Mbanefo, of Nigeria, said
on Saturday, "I, for
           one, support the demonstrators." 

           "Many countries have rejected the results of various policy
initiatives of the World Bank
           and IMF," he said. 

           "We are very supportive of demonstrations that could forcefully
handle those concerns,"
           he added. 

           South African President Thabo Mbeki said, "We believe
consciousness is rising, including
           in the north, about the inequality and insecurity globalization
has broughtabout the
           plight of the poor countries." Mbeki added that the skirmishes
in Seattle at the WTO
           meeting and the planned World Bank and IMF protests are a sign
of "a changing
           atmosphere which a more coherent Third World voice can take
advantage of." 

           Cuban President Fidel Castro called the economic difference
between Cuba and the
           United States "a new apartheid," the paper reported. 

           The newspaper also reported that Nigerian President and G-77
Chairman Olusegun
           Obasanjo said, "It is indeed time to recover our fighting
spirit." He added, "No doubt that
           from here we go forward, determined to make a difference." 

           About 80 percent of the world's population is represented by the
Group of 77, which
           was founded in 1964 to help alleviate poverty. The group is
composed of 133 members.