German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to the international community on Tuesday to honour aid pledges made to Africa, DPA reported. "It's a question of reliability and credibility," Merkel told a meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum in Berlin. The gathering brings together Africa coordinators of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations and representatives of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The advocacy group DATA - Debt, AIDS, trade, Africa - says the G8 is failing to live up to the commitment made at its 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland to double assistance to Africa by 2010. Ghana's foreign minister and current Africa Union chairman Nana Akufo-Addo told Berlin meeting that Africa wanted to help "shape globalization and not become its victim." Merkel said there was a "global solution" to Africa's problems, which had been exacerbated by wars and epidemics. Europe had a special responsibility because of its geographic proximity to the continent, she added. The chancellor said it was important that financial assistance to Africa was used to improve the living conditions of the people there, adding she would like to see greater accountability for the way funds were used. Merkel said she hoped the forum would give a "positive impulse" to the G8 summit that Germany is hosting in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm in two weeks' time. Africa is one of the main items on the agenda of the G8 talks involving the leaders of Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Japan, the United States and Russia.
