Scots cardinal blames G8 for growing crisis in West Africa
Aug 06, 2005
The head of the Catholic Church in Scotland has blamed the "disappointing" G8 Gleneagles summit for the mounting crisis in West Africa.
(The Scotsman, 27 Jul 2005) Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who led the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh on 2 July, yesterday said G8 leaders had ignored the pleas of those who took part in the event to tackle the problem of world hunger.
"I joined over 225,000 people to call on our leaders to act," he said. "Our motivation was to lift people from poverty, to end the loss of 50,000 lives every day from preventable causes and to halt the unfair distribution of resources which causes over 840 million people to go to bed hungry every night.
"However, the outcome of the G8 summit was disappointing and already we are witnessing potential loss of life on a grave scale in West Africa, including Niger. The inactivity of our leaders has contributed to this."
He added that both aid agencies and the United Nations had warned of the growing crisis in Niger and West Africa, where 3.6 million people have been hit by plagues of locusts devouring crops, and a severe drought.
Scots cardinal blames G8 for growing crisis in West Africa