Probe International

(March 12, 2005) The prime minister, Tony Blair, said yesterday that Britain would change its banking laws to speed up the return of funds stolen from Africa by corrupt leaders.

(March 11, 2005) The report from Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa will be an important addition to the ongoing search for solutions to "the foremost development challenge facing the international community," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

(March 11, 2005) Africa will not prosper until corruption is checked and governance improves. And that task, as the Africa Commission report says, is "first and foremost the responsibility of African countries and people."

(March 11, 2005) UK media analysis of the long-awaited final report from British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa cast a restrained eye over the commission’s recommendations on trade, corruption, arms sales and aid, mindful the report could go the way of other Africa recovery plans unless it received the backing of rich nation groups like the Group of Eight (G8) and the European Union.

(March 11, 2005) This week, Nigeria’s parliament passed a non-binding resolution demanding the country suspend repayment of its US$35-billion foreign debt. On Tuesday, Nigeria’s House of Representatives moved to repudiate the external debt, the highest of any African nation, comparing Nigeria’s situation to that of “countries emerging from war.”

(March 10, 2005) The report of the Africa Commission is expected to call for rich countries, and particularly their financial services industry, to do more to fight corruption.