Premier calls for firm action to combat poverty in Africa

Africa’s leaders must face the stark reality that the continent "is going nowhere" towards its anti-poverty goals, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared on Monday. In an impassioned speech, he called on the continent’s leaders to shed "past practices, biases and dogmas" to boost economic growth.

Meles said just "tinkering around the edges" would not be enough for Africa if it was to achieve its much-heralded 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Economists argue that the continent is unlikely to reach the MDGs and could even slip further into poverty. Growth rates have fallen and the AIDS pandemic is reducing them further.

Meles's highly critical keynote address in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, was delivered to hundreds of delegates ahead of the annual meeting of the African Development Bank. He charged that, for its part, the international community must overcome prejudice and allow world trade to boost development on the African continent.

His comments were made as the world’s seven most powerful leaders meet in the French alpine resort of Evian for their crucial G8 summit - at which Africa’s crisis is also on the agenda. The G8 nations have already come under fire from African politicians for failing to tackle debt, the AIDS pandemic and trade relations with the impoverished continent.

But Meles reserved his strongest criticism for the failed economic growth in his own country, where he has held power ever since the overthrow of the former Marxist regime 12 years ago.

He blasted the country’s regulations and bureaucracy, which he described as "Byzantine in their complexity and irrationality".

He added that Ethiopia must improve its governance. "We in Ethiopia realise that despite our best efforts, we are going nowhere as far as achieving rapid pro-poor growth is concerned."

He also said the government had not invested enough in rural infrastructure nor attracted foreign investment to the country -the world's third poorest. However, he added that the current agriculture-led industrialisation was and would remain the cornerstone of the country's economic development.