Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06LONDON7035
2006-09-29 16:14:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy London
Cable title:
(SBU) BLAIR'S AFRICA PROGRESS PANEL IS TAKING SHAPE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 007035
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/EPS, EUR/UBI
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2016
TAGS: PREL EAID
SUBJECT: (SBU) BLAIR'S AFRICA PROGRESS PANEL IS TAKING SHAPE
Classified By: PolCouns Richard Mills; reason 1.4 (b, d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 007035
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/EPS, EUR/UBI
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2016
TAGS: PREL EAID
SUBJECT: (SBU) BLAIR'S AFRICA PROGRESS PANEL IS TAKING SHAPE
Classified By: PolCouns Richard Mills; reason 1.4 (b, d)
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Prime Minister Blair has decided to
convene an Africa Progress Panel to ensure that the promises
on Africa made at G8 and UN Summits are kept. Kofi Annan has
agreed to chair it; Bob Geldof, President Obasanjo, Michel
Camdessus, Graca Machel and Peter Eigan (founder of
Transparency International) have agreed to join the Panel;
Bill Gates has agreed to provide funding and may join the
panel, as may Sonia Gandhi. From an unofficial source, we
understand the Panel may be announced formally in November.
We are seeking additional details and will report them
septel. END SUMMARY.
2. (U) During a speech in June, Prime Minister Tony Blair
announced that he had "decided to convene a panel of world
leaders from all sectors to ensure that our promises to
Africa are kept." To be called the Africa Progress Panel
(APP),it would "encourage and measure progress against the
commitments made to and by Africa at G8 and UN summits,
notably Gleneagles, towards the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals" and would "maintain the international
political profile of Africa that was achieved last year."
Blair noted that at Gleneagles "the G8 agreed that the
existing Africa Partnership Forum (APF) should be
strengthened to monitor implementation. The UK and other
donors are funding the establishment of a support unit to
help the APF carry out its monitoring mandate. The
Commission for Africa recommended the establishment of an
independent mechanism to monitor and report on progress."
Blair said Kofi Annan had agreed to chair the APP and several
prominent figures had agreed to be on the Panel:
activist/rock star Sir Bob Geldof, President Olusegun
Obasanjo of Nigeria, Graca Machel (wife of Nelson Mandela),
and Peter Eigan (founder of Transparency International).
Blair also announced that Bill Gates had "agreed to fund it."
He said the APP would "produce an annual report that will be
submitted to the G8, the UN and the APF. Blair promised that
he himself would "meet the panel regularly to hear reports
from them."
3. (C) According to Anna Clunes of the Prime Minister's
Foreign Policy staff, Michel Camdessus (former executive
director of the IMF) has also agreed to join the APP, and
Sonia Gandhi is "95 percent" sure to join. Blair is making a
fresh attempt to get Bill Gates to serve on the Panel ("we
need an American," as Clunes put it).
4. (C/NF) Retired UK ambassador Myles Wickstead (protect
throughout),who ran the secretariat of Blair's Commission
for Africa, told Poloff September 20 that he anticipated the
Prime Minister would formally announce the APP in November.
Wickstead said that he may/may become head of a small APP
staff, in which case he would seek to visit G8 capitals
shortly thereafter to consult and make clear that the Panel
wants to work constructively with G8 governments. A former
DFID official, Wickstead said that in addition to Gates, the
APP would receive funding from the UK through DFID.
5. (U) We continue to seek additional details and will
report them septel.
Visit London's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm
Tuttle
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/EPS, EUR/UBI
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2016
TAGS: PREL EAID
SUBJECT: (SBU) BLAIR'S AFRICA PROGRESS PANEL IS TAKING SHAPE
Classified By: PolCouns Richard Mills; reason 1.4 (b, d)
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Prime Minister Blair has decided to
convene an Africa Progress Panel to ensure that the promises
on Africa made at G8 and UN Summits are kept. Kofi Annan has
agreed to chair it; Bob Geldof, President Obasanjo, Michel
Camdessus, Graca Machel and Peter Eigan (founder of
Transparency International) have agreed to join the Panel;
Bill Gates has agreed to provide funding and may join the
panel, as may Sonia Gandhi. From an unofficial source, we
understand the Panel may be announced formally in November.
We are seeking additional details and will report them
septel. END SUMMARY.
2. (U) During a speech in June, Prime Minister Tony Blair
announced that he had "decided to convene a panel of world
leaders from all sectors to ensure that our promises to
Africa are kept." To be called the Africa Progress Panel
(APP),it would "encourage and measure progress against the
commitments made to and by Africa at G8 and UN summits,
notably Gleneagles, towards the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals" and would "maintain the international
political profile of Africa that was achieved last year."
Blair noted that at Gleneagles "the G8 agreed that the
existing Africa Partnership Forum (APF) should be
strengthened to monitor implementation. The UK and other
donors are funding the establishment of a support unit to
help the APF carry out its monitoring mandate. The
Commission for Africa recommended the establishment of an
independent mechanism to monitor and report on progress."
Blair said Kofi Annan had agreed to chair the APP and several
prominent figures had agreed to be on the Panel:
activist/rock star Sir Bob Geldof, President Olusegun
Obasanjo of Nigeria, Graca Machel (wife of Nelson Mandela),
and Peter Eigan (founder of Transparency International).
Blair also announced that Bill Gates had "agreed to fund it."
He said the APP would "produce an annual report that will be
submitted to the G8, the UN and the APF. Blair promised that
he himself would "meet the panel regularly to hear reports
from them."
3. (C) According to Anna Clunes of the Prime Minister's
Foreign Policy staff, Michel Camdessus (former executive
director of the IMF) has also agreed to join the APP, and
Sonia Gandhi is "95 percent" sure to join. Blair is making a
fresh attempt to get Bill Gates to serve on the Panel ("we
need an American," as Clunes put it).
4. (C/NF) Retired UK ambassador Myles Wickstead (protect
throughout),who ran the secretariat of Blair's Commission
for Africa, told Poloff September 20 that he anticipated the
Prime Minister would formally announce the APP in November.
Wickstead said that he may/may become head of a small APP
staff, in which case he would seek to visit G8 capitals
shortly thereafter to consult and make clear that the Panel
wants to work constructively with G8 governments. A former
DFID official, Wickstead said that in addition to Gates, the
APP would receive funding from the UK through DFID.
5. (U) We continue to seek additional details and will
report them septel.
Visit London's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm
Tuttle