Nigeria Content Online

Next month’s
climate conference in Cacun, Mexico, “will be a total fraud,” the Prime
Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, said yesterday in Addis Ababa.

Mr Zenawi, who
heads the Conference of African Heads of State and Government on
Climate Change, shocked particpants at the ongoing Seventh African
Development Forum when he said the massive deficit in global leadership
guarantees that the proposed conference would end badly.

In words devoid of
diplomatese, the Ethiopian leader, who is also co-chair of the High
Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, also suggested that,
‘it is possible the following one in South Africa will also be a
failure.’ Guests at the high table which included Jens Stoltenberg,
Prime Minister of Norway; Jean Ping, chairperson of the African Union
Commission; Festus Mogae, former president of Botswana and Donald
Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, appeared stunned
by Mr Zenawi’s words. The thousand- strong audience however clapped in
support of the frank assessment.

Mr Zenawi said in
the face of such clear failure in global leadership, African leaders
must find the means to react adequately to the situation irrespective
of what happens in the international community. He said a lack of
global leadership shows that structural issues are at stake, including
an unwillingness to stand up to vested interests and to challenge
myopic views.

He said the promise
that $100 billion will be made available for Africa by 2020 to fight
climate change is only feasible if leaders from developed countries
responsible for most of the climate damage are willing to face up to
their responsibilities. He also rejected the notion that the money is
to be given as aid, saying it is rather a “downpayment on reparation”
to a continent suffering from problems it did not cause.

He said African
leaders, however, “are not going to wait until these guys are converted
to sanity. We will just continue to use the limited resources we have.
Leadership in our case means fighting for every cent they owe us, but
in the meantime doing all we can on our own.”

Change of strategy

Mr Stoltenberg, who
co-chairs the advisory group on climate change financing, agreed with
Mr Zenawi that there are reasons for concern that the conference in
Cacun will be disappointing.

He said it is
impossible to expect that the so-called comprehensive legally binding
agreement on climate change, which failed to materialise in the last
conference, will be reached in Cacun, or even in the next conference in
South Africa. He suggested reduced expectations in the form of
short-term goals that are possible, such as progress on staving off
deforestration and on some aspect of the financing.

Mr Mogae said even
though Africa is the least guilty of climate crimes and suffers
disproportionately, it is incumbent on the continent to find projects
it can self finance to mitigate the effects, rather than wait
indefinitely for succour from abroad. He also blamed African leaders
who fail to use the advantage provided by the last climate conference
to press home their advantage.

“I hope that, as leaders, in future when we agree on a position that
serves our interests, we would be heard to be supporting that position.
We need to crystallise our tactics,” he said.