Love fest in Lisbon?
December 6, 2007
The second Africa-European Union summit starts tomorrow in Lisbon, Portugal. Oh, joy. Oh, rapture.
Pardon the sarcasm, but I've never been a big fan of broad sweeping summits. In general, meetings such as this tend to be a bunch of people on their country's spending accounts enjoying some time out of the office. Sure they talk a lot, but then they go home and there's very little follow through.
There's a really good analysis piece from the Inter Press Service in South Africa about this upcoming meeting. The analysis states that certain European countries, who shall remain nameless, see Africa only as a "cash cow" instead of being on equal footing with them. Beyond this, these countries imploy "situational ethics" when it comes to human rights. They will stand up for the rights of Africans and boycott country by country only if it is not a threat to them economically.
Hopefully, at the end of this conference, the European countries will follow through with their promises and this conference won't just be a bunch of talk...
Anyway, it's a really good story that I just thought I would pass along to you!
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