Africa has spoken it is now the G8 must listen, hear and act

10.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 6th Jul 2005

Children in Africa - it is about their future

On the eve of the G8 meeting Leaders at the African Union summit in Libya have called for full debt cancellation for all African nations. They welcomed last month's $40bn debt relief package already agreed by the G8, but said they wanted all of Africa's debt to be written off. In there statement they call not only for debt Cancellation, fairer trade and two seats on the UN Security Council - Africa has spoken it is now the G8 must listen, hear and act.

The summit statement called for fairer trade with the developed world and an end to agricultural subsidies. The leaders pressed for two permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

The leaders said debt forgiveness "must be applied by all creditors (multinational, bilateral and commercial), including the African Development Bank" and that "all African countries must benefit from this measure".

The end-of-summit statement also called for "the abolition of subsidies that stand as an obstacle to trade" and for the adoption of a "calendar" for the abolition of these subsidies.

The leaders pledged to step up their efforts to end war and political instability and improve standards of governance to attract investment to the continent.