Rich and poor clash in Durban

Southern African countries at the regional World Economic Summit in Durban on Monday slammed the G-7 industrialised states for their approach to debt relief, news reports said. "For the G-7 to be cautious on debt is criminal," South African Trade Minister Alec Erwin said. "(The) G-7 can help, not by preaching, but by taking the debt off the books so we can proceed with proper public/private partnerships." He was responding to blunt criticism by US Deputy Commerce Secretary Robert Mallet who told the gathering of regional leaders and industrialists that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was moving too slowly on regional trade integration. "Investors hear this cautious conservation, and this unwillingness to step out aggressively, and they say well, Africa is not yet ready for prime time. That's the reality," Mallet said. "If regional integration proceeded with more vigour and if SADC was able to meet the security needs of the region as a region, and if it met common trade and tax policies, then there would be greater support from the G-7 countries." Erwin responded: "Bravado doesn't help us, realism helps us ... In Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, how can we do projects in public-private partnerships when the sovereign risk is so massive because of debt?" Mozambican President Joachim Chissano told reporters that "a poor country has to fight a lot in order to be helped. Those that can do more have a certain responsibility which they cannot escape." On Sunday, South African President Thabo Mbeki castigated a plan by the International Monetary Fund and G-7 to finance partial debt relief through the sale of gold, news reports said. "This has threatened the viability of various gold mines and created a potentially disastrous effect on our economies," he said in an opening speach to the plenary meeting. "We do not believe that it can be correct that we seek to solve one problem by creating another, focused on undermining our efforts at strengthening our economic and development capacities."