“She will also visit an HIV and Aids project being run by the Daughters of Charity in the region.”Fri 11 Feb 2005 2:05pm (UK)
Baroness Set for Ethiopia Journey
By Ben Padley, Community Newswire
An international aid agency has today announced it will welcome Baroness Amos, the Leader of the House of Lords, to Ethiopia as part of the Make Poverty History campaign.
Baroness Amos, who is also the government’s international development spokesperson in the Lords, will visit Cafod – the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development – funded projects in the Tigray region, which was badly affected by the 1984/85 famine that led to Live Aid.
She is due to visit the Watershed agricultural programme in May Zeg Zeg, a project that has helped around 100,000 people to become self-sufficient through better farming methods and improved irrigation.
She will also visit an HIV and Aids project being run by the Daughters of Charity in the region.
The visit comes ahead of the release of the Commission for Africa report in the run-up to the G8 summit in July.
Beverley Jones, a spokesperson for Cafod, said: “During our visit to Tigray, Cafod aims to show Baroness Amos not only how good development aid can change lives but also how unfair trade rules and the burden of debt keep millions of Ethiopians below the poverty line.
“We will remind the Baroness of the promise made in 2001 by the British Government with fellow members of the G8 to halve world poverty by 2015 with the launch of the Millennium Development Goals.
“The world is failing dismally to keep its promise and Ethiopia, along with most of Africa is expected to reach the goals 150 years late.”
During her visit Baroness Amos will also meet with African Union and Ethiopian government officials.
The Make Poverty History campaign is a coalition of over 200 organisations and further details about its work can be found at www.makepovertyhistory.org
