British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday challenged the world to help end the poverty, conflict and disease plaguing Africa, as he launched a major international report on how to ease the continent's woes. "There can be no excuse, no defense, no justification for the plight of millions of our fellow beings in Africa today. There should be nothing that stands in our way of changing it. That is the simple message from the report published today," said Blair, unveiling the findings of his Africa Commission. The 400-page report calls on the international community to immediately double foreign aid to Africa to US$50 billion and make fighting AIDS a priority. It sets 100 percent debt cancellation as a goal and urges rich nations to drop trade barriers that hurt poor countries. It also says African leaders must move faster toward democracy, stamp out corruption and take other steps to improve how their countries are run. Blair hopes the report will be embraced around the world as a blueprint for an African renaissance. He has made helping Africa a key priority for Britain's presidencies of both the powerful Group of Eight wealthiest nations and the European Union this year. "In a world where prosperity is increasing and more people sharing each year in this growing wealth, it is an obscenity that should haunt our daily thoughts that 4 million children in Africa will die this year before their fifth birthday," Blair added, calling for a new partnership between the developing world and Africa "that goes beyond the old donor and recipient relationship."
