Africa wants its own army from G8

By Martin Plaut
BBC News

The African Union has peacekeepers in Darfur

African leaders will put forward a proposal for the region to get its own standing army to G8 leaders next week, Africa's development body has said.

It should be ready to go to trouble spots at a moment's notice, Nepad head Wiseman Nkuhlu said.

He also said that a new $20bn fund is needed to speed up the distribution of cash for development projects.

These two initiatives will be in addition to aid, debt and trade already on the agenda at the G8 summit.

Nepad favours Africa drawing up its own priorities for growth and renewal.

Ambitious

Speaking in London ahead of the G8 summit, Mr Nkuhlu said the standing army should be drawn from Africa's own soldiers.

Billions and billions of dollars that are supposed to be flowing to Africa are not flowing Wiseman Nkuhlu G8 issues explained

These would have equipment necessary to do the job, and would be served by an intelligence committee to spot potential conflicts before they erupt.

The troops would probably not be located all in one place, but would be ready to fly at a moment's notice.

The new financial fund would be located within an existing organisation, like the World Bank, but would be entirely separate from it - and administered by African finance ministers and their Western counterparts.

Mr Nkuhlu said this was necessary because of rising African frustration with the excruciating slow pace at which funds reach their intended targets.

"The African Development Bank, the World Bank, the European Union, they sit on billions and billions of dollars that are supposed to be flowing to Africa. But they're not flowing. And when you ask them, it has to do with procedures," he told the BBC.

"On the African countries' side, they say that these procedures are difficult and really cumbersome."

The only way to deal with these complaints was to set up a new fund with new guidelines, he said.

Both are highly ambitious proposals, and come with very large price tags.