The APP Bulletin

The greens won, and there’s a sense of euphoric, suspended disbelief in Kenya. The vote on the referendum, one of the measures set out in the National Accord brokered by Kofi Annan in 2008, on whether to adopt the new constitution, was peacefully conducted, and the ceremony was a national celebration. The sense of optimism on the streets is now palpable.

That ODA levels are not increasing in line with Gleneagles outcomes is alarming; many donors are postponing or walking away from their pledges.

The mountain shook, a mouse emerged. Copenhagen has not resulted in an agenda for action, but a political compromise of questionable legitimacy.

President Obama has made two major speeches on African soil recently, one in Cairo, one in Accra. Reactions to the latter have varied widely, from the ecstatic, particularly in Ghana itself, to the sceptical. Kenyans are of course piqued. Some on the continent even saw the choice of Ghana as based upon its recent oil discoveries, missing his intent.

What do LDCs need in order to mitigate the worst impact on their economies and people of the global meltdown, one that has “made in the north” stamped all over it?

It was important that it happened – but was what happened important? The Doha Conference on Financing for Development took place in uncertain times, at the tail end of one US Administration, as the global economic crisis reached new depths, and Mumbai was under assault. It coincided with the Thanksgiving weekend, thereby explaining, it was said, Robert Zoellick’s if not Dominique Strauss‐Kahn’s much‐remarked absence.

One clear message has emerged from recent high level meetings, including the Tunis meeting of African Ministers and Central Bank Governors and the G20 meeting in Washington. Honouring official aid commitments by rich countries is critical, and the global economic crisis is not the time to relax or scale them back. But sometimes, the logic behind this message gets lost.