African countries call for major debt relief

Leaders of eight West African countries yesterday called for significant debt relief at the end of a one-day summit meeting in Lome, AFP reported. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo - which make up the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) - urged developing countries to declare all African states severely indebted, making them eligible for more aid. The UEMOA countries, which use the CFA franc as their currency, stated their own efforts to improve their finances would probably be inadequate, AFP said. Earlier, opening the meeting, Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema urged a faster pace of integration among the eight countries, PANA said.