Africa
has a crushing debt burden. The debt
burden is an obstacle to development, poverty alleviation and the fight against
disease including H.I.V./AIDS.
When
I worked at The Africa Fund I was a staff person on a project to promote the
involvement of state and municipal officials with U.S. policy toward
Africa. We worked to bring the issue of
Africa's debt to these officials. The
following is part of the result of that work.
In September
2000, I coordinated a statement by a group of state and municipal elected
officials calling for the cancellation of Africa Debt. The Singers are members of The Africa Fund's U.S.-Africa
Advisory Council of Public Officials.
Click here to read The Africa Fund's press release and the
Advisory Council statement.
The
National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC-LEO) adopted a
resolution calling for debt cancellation at its March 2000 conference. Read Africa Fund's
press release and NBC-LEO resolution text.
The
1,000 member U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution in June 1998
calling on the
President and Congress to provide leadership in working toward significant debt
reduction and cancellation of debt owed by the poorest African countries. Seven other mayors joined the resolution's
primary sponsor, the Hon. Wellington E. Webb, mayor of Denver. I worked with Mayor Webb's office to
coordinate this resolution. Read The Africa Fund's press release and U.S. Conference of
Mayors resolution.
There
has been a worldwide campaign to cancel the debt of poor countries. For more information visit Jubilee USA Network,
the successor to Jubilee 2000/