From: barnhart@netcom.com (Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:AFRICA: German Minister proposes 'd
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 01:39:07 GMT
Organization: Netcom
Reply-To: barnhart@netcom.com

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: AFRICA: German Minister proposes 'democracy bonus'


bonn, aug 13 (ips/ramesh jaura) -- developing nations in general
and the countries of sub-saharan africa in particular should be
given a 'bonus' for taking steps towards to democracy and a
socially-aware market economy, says germany's overseas aid chief.

german economic cooperation minister carl-dieter spranger said
thursday that the bonus should take the form of a package to ease
their debts to the west's private banks and governments, allowing
them to keep the bulk of their export earnings, instead of having
to use them to service debt charges. he did not mention figures.

since the worst affected -- and not only in terms of debt --
were the countries of the sub-sahara, germany had decided to make
the region the ''focal point'' of its development assistance in
the next eight years until the turn of the century.

per capita growth in africa between 1965 and 1989 amounted to 0.3
percent a year in contrast to 5.2 percent in east asia and 1.8
percent in south asia, said spranger, who outlined germany's ideas
on ways to improve this situation.

''both those instruments and the concepts of developmental
cooperation which have proved to be unsatisfactory and brought
only a limited success to africa will be reviewed,'' spranger told
reporters.

germany was prepared to contribute its share to ''qualitative and
quantitative'' improvement of aid to africa in general and sub-
saharan africa in particular and expected other donor nations to
join hands, spranger added, but again did not mention figures.

of the total bilateral financial and technical assistance
amounting to about 4 billion marks (2.56 billion dollars) this
year, africa has a share of 40.2 percent in comparison to asia's
40 percent and latin america's 15.3 per cent.

spranger welcomed the fact that several african countries had
taken to economic reforms. he assured that germany will bring to
bear its influence ''to a larger extent than in the past'' with
the world bank, international monetary fund (imf) and the european
community so that the social impact of economic reforms is kept in
mind by the donor nations.

beside support for economic reforms, german economic cooperation
with sub-saharan nations will be focussed on combating poverty and
environmental pollution as well as backing educational and
vocational training projects.

spranger said germany might be prepared to fund by way of grants
the long-term financial and technical costs involved -- but only
after scrutinising in cooperation with the world bank the public
expenditure of the states involved. (more/ips)

africa: german minister proposes 'democracy bonus'(2-e)

africa: german minister (2)

''the idea is to ensure that countries getting such grants do not
divert their resources towards buying arms or going in for
purchases whose developmental impact is zero,'' explained hubert
linnhart, director of africa division at the economic cooperation
ministry.

linnhart is one of the authors of the position paper on
''development cooperation with countries south of the sahara in
the 1990s,'' released thursday.

according to the paper, the social, economic and ecological
situation in africa is bad enough and looks like deteriorating in
the coming years but there is no reason to fall prey to pessimism.

however there is no room for complacency either, the paper adds.
the governments of african countries will have to ''act decisively
to offer living conditions worthy of human beings to their growing
population,'' it notes.

and, instead of exuding what the paper calls ''afro-pessimism''
the region's partners in development cooperation will have to
contribute their share to provide full support for the
developmental efforts of african states, adds the document.

commenting on the paper, africa analyst walter michler said the
situation in sub-saharan africa is so precarious that immediate
action should be taken.

nearly 40 african states have in the past few years decided in
favour of democratisation and economic reforms but ''they have by
no means been given the feeling'' that they are being rewarded.

''africa has been forgotten and left in the lurch as germany and
europe concentrate themselves on east europe, and let us hope the
position paper will go beyond raising expectations and belying
them,'' michler said. (end/ips/cd/raj/rj/92)

-- 
Aaron (Barnhart@netcom.com) -- posting from Evanston, Illinois