If you want to start the day in despair, read The Washington Post’s pre-G8 editorial. It reckons that Nepad (the New Partnership for African Development), the commitment to expanding primary school enrolments in poor countries and the development round of trade talks are all pretty much dead in the water.
The conclusion: “Unfortunately, therefore, the summit in Canada is unlikely to help Africa much, though we’d be delighted to be proven wrong.”
And that’s even assuming that Africa gets its long-overdue attention from the G8 in the light of the expected tussle over president Bush’s Middle East speech the other night.