U.S. Water News Online
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- More than 300 million Africans suffer from a shortage of clean water, resulting in 6,000 deaths a year and growing violence over access to water, experts told an international summit.
The scarcity of clean water has increased the danger or social and political conflict in Africa's urban areas, which continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, senior United Nations officials warned.
African Cabinet ministers representing more than 40 countries attended a five-day summit that opened in Ethiopia's capital along with 1,000 delegates to discuss the water crisis on the world's poorest continent.
The Addis Ababa summit is the first of its kind to draw political leaders and experts from across the continent to establish an action plan to deal with the myriad of problems surrounding Africa's water use.
While experts said there was plenty of water available in Africa, much of it is wasted or poorly managed, resulting in shortages across Africa. African ministers appealed for $16 billion a year from major financial institutions, like the World Bank, to help address problems.
Egypt's water minister, Dr. Mahmoud Abu-Zeid, accused rich nations of ``turning their backs on the poor'' by failing to provide financial support for water projects. He said without enormous financial backing from donors and political commitment from African leaders, impoverished nations will never ``escape the vicious cycle of poverty.''
Abu-Zeid also called upon African countries to ensure peace by working together to avoid disputes sparked by water shortages.
Kinglsey Amoako, head of the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, estimated that $20 billion a year is needed to help get water to 300 million Africans. But just $4 billion is spent per year on water supply and sanitation, he said.
As a result millions live in appalling conditions and needlessly die, Amoako said. He challenged African government's to ``put their money where their mouth is'' and commit 5 percent of their national budgets to funding water projects.
Some African countries spend as little as 1 percent of their budgets on water supply, relying on foreign aid to make up the difference.
Amoako told delegates that desertification of the continent as well as years of poor management and widespread environmental degradation must be reversed.
``We owe it to our children and grandchildren to address all these concerns with haste,'' Amoako said. ``If we fail to do so, history will not judge us kindly.''
Under plans being drawn up, African governments are looking to work together to manage rivers to avoid the threat of so-called ``water wars.'' More than two-thirds of Africa's 60 river basins are shared by more than one country, creating the potential for clashes over who and how they should be used.
Anna Tibaijuka, head of the U.N. agency on housing, said failing to utilize water effectively would undermine important economic and political strides already made.
``This economic recovery could be in peril if Africa fails to manage its water resources efficiently and equitably,'' Tibaijuka said. She also said impoverished Africans living in slums on the continent are being forced to pay five times as much per liter or clean water as people living in rich nations.
Tibaijuka also warned that within the next 20 years, 500 million people will be living in slum conditions in the continent's burgeoning cities, most without clean water.
``Water scarcity is fast becoming a potential source of social and political conflict,'' she noted. ``Poor service provision is extremely detrimental to the health and economy of the African continent.''
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