BADRU D. MULUMBA
GLENEAGLES
News July 8, 2005
AFRICA activists who have been busy pressing the World's richest nations for more aid, debt relief, and fairer trade, are concerned that yesterday's bomb attacks in London may have taken world attention away from the G8 summit meeting and the continent's plight.
The summit, which had dominated global headlines for the last few days, was quickly wiped off by news of the explosions in London, which have been claimed by terrorists."It is a huge distraction to the summit," said Action Aid Director (Asia) John Samuel.
"To that extent, it is an affront on Africans, but also the citizens of the world who have spent the last six months (preparing to be heard at this summit). All this has been disrupted by one single act of terrorism. It is not only challenging the G8, but all issues of poverty."
Even those Africa activists who said it was too early to tell the full scale of the consequences could not hide the anxiety over the possibility that the London attacks would deny the continent the needed attention.
"It is difficult to say what is going to happen. None of us can tell but, essentially, if Blair has left this afternoon for London, he could return and the whole agenda is different," said Barbara Kwateng, the Brussels-based Media Chair of the Global Call for Action against Poverty (GCAP). "We are just here, trying to find out the likely effect."
The blasts disrupted efforts by anti-poverty musicians, Bob Geldof and Bono of U2 who spent Wednesday in a final push to bring back Africa to the agenda after the euphoria of the Olympics seemed to be stealing the show.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/news/news07081.php
How timely was the explosion?
Was the explosion timed / scheduled?
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