Village conference to discuss development

The Malian village of Siby, 50 km south of the capital, Bamako, will host a conference of at least 200 delegates discussing development and debt-relief for developing countries, news agencies reported on Wednesday. The delegates from Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal are due to meet on 26 - 27 June at a forum timed to coincide with the G-8 meeting slated for the same period in Kananaskis, Canada, PANA reported. The conference is organised by the Malian branch of Jubilee 2000, a global pressure group lobbying for the cancellation of third world debts. The secretary general, Donantie Dao, was quoted by news agencies as saying the agenda at the Siby conference would include the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), food security, women in development, "unfair trade", debt and structural adjustment programs. Siby was considered an ideal venue for the conference because it shows "no trace of development", the agencies quoted the organisers as saying. The Jubilee movement was established at a conference held in April 2001, soon after the end of the millennium Jubilee 2000 campaign. Delegates from more than 50 countries met in Bamako, and organised themselves into a network to campaign for debt cancellation.