J2000 Afrika Against Leach and for HOPE

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

>Jubilee 2000 Coalition  Afrika Campaign
>
>March 11, 1999
>
>TO: MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
>
>We write concerning initiatives in the United States Congress to cancel
>debts owed to the U.S. by impoverished countries, and with particular regard to
>their treatment of multilateral debt relief. We appreciate the efforts of
>legislators like Representative Jim Leach, and commend them for their
>leadership on this important issue. However, we must point out that Mr. Leach's
>legislation contains a fatal flaw: it leaves multilateral debt
>relief in the hands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and continues to
>enforce the current link between access to multilateral debt relief for poor
>countries and compliance with harsh IMF structural adjustment austerity
>programs.
>
>Our experience in Africa has convinced us that in order to make a positive
>difference in the ability of poor countries to develop and meet the needs of
>their own people, it is essential that multilateral debt relief be de-linked
>from IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs.
>
>The Leach Bill only "urges" the President to ask the IMF, World Bank, and Paris
>Club to reform their Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) by
>shortening from six to three years the duration of IMF/World Bank structural
>adjustment policies which countries would have to complete in order to qualify
>for debt relief. This is not the change our impoverished countries need. It
>would leave our countries compelled to implement the draconian austerity
>policies prescribed by the IMF, which have already caused so much suffering to
>the poor -- the very suffering debt relief is designed to alleviate. Moreover,
>the delay in providing debt relief, which frequently exceeds six years because
>the IMF often determines that countries are not in full compliance, would be
>unconscionable. What these countries need is relief from their crushing debt
>burdens now.
>
>The IMF's own staff review of the operation of its Enhanced Structural
>Adjustment Facility (ESAF) shows that from 1981-85 to 1991-95, the debt
>burden of countries subjected to IMF structural adjustment almost doubled as a
>share of their GNP. We cannot support debt relief which would facilitate
>further imposition of programs that actually create more debt for the countries
>implementing them.
>
>We welcome these initiatives and the widening debate on the need
>for debt cancellation. But we cannot support debt relief initiatives which,
>far from relieving the burden which these countries face, continue to
>subject these countries to IMF policies which block economic growth, raise
>taxes and user fees on working families, and deepen poverty.
>
>In contrast, the multilateral debt provisions of the HOPE for Africa Act would
>move to cancel debt of sub-Saharan African countries without subjecting our
>countries to further IMF structural adjustment. We encourage you to support the
>HOPE for Africa Act.
>
>We respectfully ask that the U.S. Congress decline to support the
>multilateral debt proposals contained in the bill sponsored by
>Representative Leach. While undoubtedly well-intentioned, we feel that
>these provisions would actually have an adverse impact in Africa and in
>other impoverished regions of the world.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Affiong Limene Southey
>Principal Organizing Secretary
>Accra, Ghana
>
>Kofi Mawuli Klu
>International Coordinator
>London, UK
>
>Dennis Brutus
>Honorary Co-President
>Pittsburgh, USA
>
>And on behalf of:
>
>Maria Teresa Santana    Issifu Lampo    Malika Ayo Dediako
>Pan African Womens     Umoja Afrika    Afrikujima
>  Grassroots Network
>Lisbon, Portugal        Accra, Ghana    Accra, Ghana
>
>Soro Kigbafore Guillaume
>Student Movement for African Unity
>Abidjan, Cote dIvoire
>
>Constance Yahi
>Movement for the Defense of Womens Rights
>Abidjan, Cote dIvoire