Koffi Annan's advisor says African countries should refuse to pay debts.
The Times of Zambia
July 7, 2004

A SPECIAL adviser to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has said African countries should refuse to repay their foreign debts.
Annan's economic adviser Jeffrey Sachs first called on developed countries to cancel Africa's debts. But failing that, he said Africa should ignore its US $201 billion (£109 billion) debt burden.
Economic analysis, he said, had shown that it was impossible for Africa to achieve its development goal of halving poverty if it had to repay the loans.
Sachs made his comments on the eve of a summit of the heads of State of the African Union in Ethiopia.
"The time has come to end this charade," he said. "The debts are unaffordable. If they won't cancel the debts I would suggest obstruction; you do it yourselves." Sachs is special adviser to Koffi Annan on global anti-poverty targets.
He called on the developed world to double aid to Africa to $120 billion a year in order to meet commitments made in 1970.
There is some sympathy in some of the rich donor countries for the idea of debt cancellation. The British chancellor of the exchequer or finance minister Gordon Brown, did float the idea before the recent summit of the G8 major powers in the United States, although there has been no decision and some creditor countries do have a history of reluctance on debt relief issues.
But none would be likely to welcome a unilateral decision by the poor countries themselves simply to stop paying their debts, which are owed mainly to international organisations such as the World Bank and to rich country governments.
Meanwhile, United Party for National Development (UPND) Moomba Member of Parliament Vitalis Mooya has called on Zambians to support campaigns by Jubilee Zambia for a total debt cancellation.
Mr Mooya said once the debt was cancelled, this would enhance development as resources being used to service the debt would be ploughed into developmental projects. He said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that Zambia would only move forward in development if her debt was cancelled and such a vision should be achieved through the initiative called by Jubilee Zambia. Mr Mooya however, noted that there was need to change the management of resources once Zambia's debt was cancelled to ensure it went towards development. And Mr Mooya has commended Government for allocating $2 million to Southern Province for rehabilitation of roads. He said although the money was not enough to cater for the whole province, Government had shown commitment to enhancing development in the area.
"I commend Government for releasing $2 million and I would only urge them to continue with such a gesture and at least increase the allocation in future," he said.
He said that his constituency alone required about K30 billion to have improved roads, schools, hospitals and other vital infrastructure. He added that roads were vital for development in any country. "You cannot talk about having investors with poor roads. Even this poverty reduction exercise cannot be achieved with poor roads to access remote areas where there is poverty," he said.
Mr Mooya said he had the privilege to visit five provinces and saw the state of roads.
He suggested that money realised from vehicle licences, international transit fees and weigh bridges be directed towards improving roads.
Mr Mooya said such an action would cushion funds that were directed to the National Roads Board (NRB) for rehabilitation of roads.