Africa Responds to Make Poverty History Campaign Prior to G8 Summit

African Union's member states have gathered in Libya to discuss strategies on how to benefit from the recent anti-poverty campaign culminating in a series of concerts called 'Live 8' in ten venues around the globe. The campaign is now peaking as the G8 Summit taking place in the UK fast approaches.

The main focus of the G8 summit is Africa - with pleas to double aid to the poorest countries and for a full cancellation of their debts. Concerts during last weekend were used to underscored these topics.

The G8 Summit has now drawn the public's attention and many eyes are looking at the meeting between the world's most powerful leaders with concern.

"Africa will lose hope if rich nations break their promises," Economic Director of the African Union Rene N'Guettia Kouassi said.

This message will be sent to the G8 later this week.

The African Union tops 53 African states, and its meeting will be held from 4th-5th July in Sirte, Libya and will be joined by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

"The fact that we still have underdevelopment in Africa shows that a lot still remains to be done...and African participation in the G8 summit will be the occasion to get this message across," AU's Rene N'Guettia Kouassi continued.

UK Chancellor Gordon Brown said on Sunday that great progress has already been made on "one or two of the major issues" of poverty reduction.

The G8 summit is being considered as the opportunity for a turning point in the development of Africa. The leaders of the richest countries have already agreed on sweeping out the debt of 18 of the poorest countries, 14 of them in Africa, and increasing aid to the continent.

Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, believes the summit comes at an "historic moment of opportunity for Africa".

"Africa is showing signs of hope that need to be grasped. There are more elected governments and fewer civil wars. A number of countries have enviable growth rates," he says in the Nigerian newspaper 'This Day'.

Further protests and concerts are set to continue in the background of the G8 Summit. Protests in Edinburgh and outside the Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland will be another runner in the relay race calling for solutions of the desperate situation of the poor and vulnerable in Africa.