(February 5, 2004) Africa is center stage in the struggle for human and economic rights. It is home to the world’s gravest health crises – including the HIV/AIDS pandemic and chronic famine. Even though Africa has only 5 percent of the developing world’s income, it carries about two thirds of the debt – over $300 billion.
Banking on empire
(February 4, 2004) Iraqi ministries will now be able to borrow billions of dollars to buy much-needed equipment from overseas suppliers, but only by mortgaging the national oil revenues through a bank managed by New York-based multinational JP Morgan Chase.
Saddam’s odious debt
(February 2, 2004) Saddam accumulated around $130 billion of unpaid debt, on top of tens of billions of war reparation, and the countries and companies he owes are seeking to extract as much money as they can and use the debt as a lever to control Iraq’s economy.
Government pooh-poohs Tutu’s apartheid appeal
(February 2, 2004) “If the archbishop had sat down with the Minister of Justice (Penuell Maduna) to discuss the issue, he would have had a clearer understanding of the government’s position on the litigation in the United States.”
Apartheid claims against top firms backed by Tutu
(February 2, 2004) Mr Tutu has broken with the government over the issue South Africa’s former archbishop, Desmond Tutu, has backed compensation claims filed by apartheid victims.
Debt be not proud
(February 1, 2004) Odious debt" left over from rotten regimes cripples the developing world.
American Friends Service Committee
(February 1, 2004) Without doubt, the Iraqi people deserve a reprieve from debt. But Africa’s predicament doubles Iraq’s many times over. In Africa today, millions have been killed, and are routinely wounded, raped and displaced from their homes and means of livelihood by war.
Debt and reparations
(February 1, 2004) In addressing Africa’s struggle for relief from its onerous external debt, advocates of global justice have raised a critical question: Who owes whom? Millions of people on the continent and throughout the world have concluded that it is the countries of the Global North that are heavily indebted to African countries for over a century of exploitation.
After Iraq, let’s forgive some other debts
(February 1, 2004) It is right that most of Iraq’s debt should be forgiven – but so, too, should the debt for new democracies forced to endure the hangovers from the self-aggrandizing binges of their autocratic predecessors.
Documents indicate that Hussein paid off officials, journalists
(January 30, 2004) The regime of deposed President Saddam Hussein paid off Western and Arab countries through illicit oil sales and bribes in exchange for their support for the regime, claims Baghdad daily "Al-Mada".
Bashar ‘ready to return’ Saddam cash stashed in Syria
(January 30, 2004) Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is ready to return to Iraqi authorities money stashed in Syria by ousted President Saddam Hussein but does not want to give it to the Americans in Baghdad, a member of Iraq’s transitional Governing Council said yesterday.
Shh . . . Iraq (US) owes $200bn war debt
(January 30, 2004) There has been a lot of discussion of debt forgiveness for Iraq, but there have also been some interesting, almost forbidden, topics in the debate.
British Privy Council approves Belize dam to be built by Canadian firm
(January 29, 2004) In a split 3-2 judgment, a judicial committee of the council ruled that the environmental impact assessment done by regulatory authorities in Belize was sufficient to support construction of the dam.
Iraq debt must be written off – Brown
(January 29, 2004) Chancellor Gordon Brown of Britain’s New Labour Party told MPs the "vast majority" of Iraq’s US$120 billion international debt must be written off to stabilise its economy.
Hu to focus on energy tie-ups in Africa
(January 28, 2004) On only his third trip abroad as president, Hu Jintao is visiting three African countries, reflecting China’s growing need for natural resources to fuel its booming economy.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Patricia Adams and Lawrence Solomon
Other News Sources
Probe International 