This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Justice for Africa
03/07/2005
There is hope that the world leaders will bring justice
to Africa, it was asserted today.
First Minister Jack McConnell said that Scotland is
ready for the G8 summit, and he expressed his hope that the
world leaders would listen to the people of Scotland
following yesterday's Make Poverty History
demonstration.
According to estimates, more than 220,000 people took
part yesterday's Make Poverty History march and
demonstration in Edinburgh.
Speaking in Dundee at an international conference on
African education, hosted by Abertay University, the First
Minister said:
"This is a big week for Scotland. The most high profile
and most significant G8 summit for decades is meeting on
our soil.
"And yesterday we saw the largest ever demonstration of
public opinion in Scottish history on the streets of
Edinburgh. The people of Scotland have spoken. It is
impossible for the leaders of the G8 not to have heard
them.
"For a place like Scotland these events come along
rarely. We are pleased that our small country is at the
centre of global politics. But we are much more pleased
that there is an opportunity, once and for all, to bring
justice for the people of Africa."
The "Abertay Conversation" which ends today, Sunday July
3, involves some of the most important figures in African
higher education working with British academics to develop
a blueprint for investment and development in African
universities.
The conference was organised jointly by Abertay
University, the Association of Commonwealth Universities,
the Association of African Universities and the
Commonwealth of Learning.