Poverty problems

Press, 13 June 1977, Page 6

Poverty problems

From JOHN ROSS London The rostrum at London’s] Government Press Centre was ] occupied in succession by the| heads of the Nigerian. Jam-! aican, and Canadian delega-] tions to the Commonwealth; Prime Ministers’ conference I on Friday. Brigadier Shehu Yar adua,, head of the Nigerian team,! crisp but reserved, was fol-, lowed by the Jamaican Prime' Minister (Mr Michael Man-! ley) — informal, relaxed, and articulate — and then by! Canada’s Prime Minister (Mr Trudeau). Brigadier Yar’adua in-1 sisted that Britain was “not] as impotent as it thinks it] is” on Rhodesia. It still had! enough influence to encour- ] age members of the United! Nations to take sanctions! seriously, he said. On Nigeria’s views about | closing the widening gap be-1 tween the rich and poor! countries, the Brigadier said! that the rich countries did' not seem terriblv interested i in helping to right the situ-] tion. “If we could force them to do this we would, but we] cannot,” he said. Mr Manlev’s opening com-] plaint was that he had been] thoroughly misunderstood on several occasions by the media — and some of the questions showed that things were not improving. His major contribution to the conference has been a well-argued paper on ways and means of reorganising the international economy to

,give developing countries a i 'fairer share of the cake. After ithe virtual collapse of the north-south dialogue in Paris J last month, he has suggested ■| that the talks should be re- •! sumed under the United Nations umbrella. i “When the last of the cur- • i rent crop of tyrants is toppled, the problems of poverty will remain,” he said. 'I Mr Manley said that his J proposals were not a threat , Ito the housewives of the , affluent West — all he 'wanted was for the standard of living in poorer countries .jto increase at a faster rate [than that of the more wealthy ! countries. ■ His initiative, which is sup-i j ported by Mr Muldoon, re-1 Iceived a sympathetic hearing, ! although he had no ready-] [made answer to the crucial] [question: how can the rich] ] countries be persuaded to (accept and implement such] [proposals? I The first question to Mr (Trudeau was in French. Be-i I fore he had time to reply, a, (cultured English accent] I asked: “Can you translate] [for the developing part of, [the Commonwealth?” '[ Mr Trudeau laid empha-: 'lsis on the predicament the ! Commonwealth faced over [the poverty gap. “Unless we '! solve for ourselves, within 1 our own economy, the desire ! for more and more people to ! get more and more, and by > self-discipline begin to solve: the problems of inflation and • unemployment, the chances i of our being able to share ;'what we have with the de:,veloping countries are not livery great.”

That argument would be less acceptable to Jamaica than to Canada, “and their expectations are much more justified than ours,” he said. On the absence of Ugandan delegates at the conference, Mr Trudeau said that he was not personally afraid of President Amin, and would have been in favour of his attending the conference “provided he was not sitting next to me.”

The press conference given by the- Zambian President (Dr Kaunda) on Saturday morning, was high on entertainment value. “The reason I am here is to ask you a few questions — like how do you think the [conference has gone so far?” he joked.

Dr Kaunda said that he had been impressed with the [contribution to the debate on southern Africa by Mr Muldoon. “I have often said to him and his colleagues that there should be more contact between New Zealand and southern Africa, because I am sure his heart is in the right place. He has not, however, understood the complexity of the problems.”

One reporter asked Dr Kaunda about his Christian beliefs, and asked: “Is God watching over southern Africa, and is he in white Rhodesia?” In the course of a 12i minute sermon which followed, Dr Kaunda said that he felt Mr Vorster, Mr Smith, and he all believed in the same God.

“The problem is, they don’t understand Him.”