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Bono
addressing the Closing Ceremony of the African Development Bank
Bono,
Secretary O'Neill talk to reporters
Remarks by Bono
addressing the Closing Ceremony of the African Development Bank meetings May
29th 2002-
This is where it all started for me. Seventeen years ago, I came to Ethiopia on
a wave of tears and compassion, flowing from the rich countries to the poor from
soccer stadiums taken over by musicians to refugee camps taken over by the
starving war weary people of Ethiopia.
The brilliant Bob Geldof taught me then the importance of being focused, angry,
persistent.
We raised 200 million dollars, and we thought we'd cracked it. It was a great
moment, it was a great feeling. Then I discovered that Africa pays 200 million
dollars every five days repaying old debts. Can I repeat that, 200 million
dollars every five days. Tears were obviously not enough.
We discovered what you here today already knew. That a lot of the problems
facing the developing world are structural… deeply embedded in a dysfunctional
relationship with the developed world that's been so wrong for so long. This
relationship has bred conflict and corruption. From the emasculation of the
slave trade to unfair trade, from physical bondage to economic bondage, from the
white man's burden to the black man's ---- burden. And, the new colonialism of
structural adjustment.
I was so encouraged on the second day of this trip to hear Secretary O' Neil say
to President Kufuor that he had come to Africa to hear from African's about
African's needs. He knows like you know that Africa's problems cannot be solved
by charity - or by prescriptions written in Washington.
Countries like Uganda and Ethiopia, which have been coming out of conflict and
are now tackling corruption - these countries deserve a new kind of
relationship. Partnership.
The problems are complex, nobody denies that, we've seen it with our own eyes.
But there are a few big decisions that we simply can't wait on any longer -
Three million people in this beautiful country are walking around with the death
sentence of HIV on their heads. That's as many people as live in my home country
of Ireland. The AIDS epidemic is acting as the wake up call for all of us around
the world, to put excuses and old attitudes behind us.
So what can we do?
First, it is not acceptable that these countries are still servicing old debts.
It is not acceptable that Ethiopia, where 62 per cent of adults cannot read,
where one million children are orphans, is paying 100 million dollars a year to
us - this is not acceptable on any level, anywhere, anyhow.
Second of course we are looking for an increase in aid, of course we are - call
it transitional money if you will, seed money if you want to… to re-ignite
their economic engines - their people actually.
We need to put billions more in, and we must see it for what it is: value for
money, smart money for the United States and Europe, because of the chaos that
will ensue if we don't will cost us a lot more in the long run. Look what
happened when we abandoned Afghanistan.
It's a painful transition that Ethiopia is making… and its people feel it the
most. This transition puts pressure on government. We can't afford to lose good
leadership, we have to support it. We have been all too eager in the past to
support bad leadership, leaving the poor to pay the price.
When aid works, it really works. The Secretary and I have seen some of the
results, at national, local and community levels.
Money is not going down a rat hole as a few people have said in London and
Washington. It is more likely to be going down a waterhole - - Saving children
from dying of diarrhoea, guinea worm, water borne killers.
It's an investment. It's an investment we can't afford not to make, in the most
valuable resource of all - people. But as the new African leadership knows, aid
by itself is not the answer.
Because, thirdly, I'm sounding like a banker now, did you hear that the firstly,
secondly and thirdly….these countries need to be allowed to trade fairly. Not
free trade, fair trade.
You know, I have that picture in the back of my head, when Ronald Regan in
Berlin with his great line "Tear down this wall". Do you remember
that? President Meles Zenawi faces a higher wall, a wall built of tariffs,
quotas, of subsidies. Mr Secretary - tear down this wall.
Look, I'm here to represent what we are calling the DATA agenda - stopping the
crises of debt, AIDS and trade in Africa. The acronym works two ways - because
in return, African leaders must heed the calls of their own people for D for
democracy, A for accountability, and T for transparency.
Prime Minister Zenawi, you must respond to civil society if we are to begin a
new relationship and a new partnership.
It's the beginning of the twenty first century for God's sake. We have to put
the past behind us. It's just that time.
It was bold and daring and imaginative of the Secretary of the US treasury to
ask me and my DATA colleagues on board. This trip has raised hopes. It would be
scandalous to raise hope without delivery.
The Secretary knows about delivering results. Measurable results. What's the
result of this trip? Well we'll have to see. He has got to go back to his
President and Congress and in that sense he's a messenger for the people he has
met and been so moved by. People like Agnes in Kampala who is soon to die of
AIDS leaving a family of six orphans. Iris, helping the poorest women in Soweto
with access to micro credit so they can build a roof over their heads. Mabel, an
extraordinary spirit that we met on the streets of Uganda.
And let me tell you about Jonah. This is a man we met in Soweto, an
extraordinary looking young man, striking and fit. Five years ago he weighed
half his body weight.Five yeas ago had TB, and scars all over his body from
scratching terrible skin rash.He managed to get onto a Medicine sans Frontiers
programme and his life has been transformed by anti-retrovirals. We were
excited, he was excited. He told us that his wife had died of AIDS, leaving him
with two children. That made him feel even gladder to be alive. We were excited
again. Then he told us that his present love was also HIV positive. She is not
part of the Medicine sans Frontiers programme.
So here was Jonah's dilemma. He said he could share his drugs with her and that
they both die slow. Or he could give his drugs to her knowing that his children
would lose their other parent to AIDS. Or he said, I can keep the drugs and lose
the woman I love. That's a decision that no civilised world should ask Jonah to
make, in my opinion.
I would like to tell you more about this extraordinary man I've been travelling
with. Secretary O' Neil is not just a suit and tie - he has a heart and a head
for these problems. In my opinion he is the right man for the job. He is God's
messenger. But this is the man who would ask God for measurable results…. Who
will ask God for measurable results! And I think that he is right.
I've been watching him - He learns by questioning every accepted fact, to work
out how we get results, results, results. But what are the results of inaction?
Do we raise hopes just to dash them?
In the last ten days while we've been on this trip, in Sub Saharan Africa:
- 55,000 people have died from AIDS
- $400 million have been spent by Africans on debt payments - much of this to
the IMF and WB. - 14,000 mothers have given HIV to their children, in
childbirth.
Can you believe that? I can't believe that. It's insanity.
On a brighter note, and there is much to be excited about, those same people,
Mabel, Agnes, Iris, Jonah were all striking not for their tragic circumstances
but for their peculiarly African indomitable spirit.
Africa, a shining dizzying continent of possibilities.
Africa, a landscape like no other.
Africa, a map of bewildering and beguiling contradictions.
Africa, a maze of smart dignified noble people.
Africa, we'll get out of your way - take over.
Africa, this is your century.
Africa, let's not wait to the end of the century.
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