A sub-regional seminar on "Debt in Central Africa" was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from 10 to 12 January 2000. The seminar falls within the framework of the Accra, Lomé, Johannesburg and Lusaka meetings.
It was jointly organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), the Federation of Protestant Churches and Missions of Cameroon (FEMEC) and the Ecumenical Service for Peace (SeP), Cameroon.
Apart from nationals of Central African countries and Mauritius, the seminar equally saw the participation of resource persons from various organisations of the North and the South that advocate debt cancellation (Eurodad, Uganda Debt Network, Jubilee 2000 South Africa, Jubilee 2000 London Africa Initiative).
There was a consensus on the following leading ideas:
1. The debt of poor countries should be completely cancelled! This is a main prerequisite for poverty and misery alleviation and for regaining their dignity;
2. The struggle for debt cancellation is a struggle for social justice. It aims to free the human person from the yoke of everlasting economic domination and slavery. The fight concerns all of us. All the components of civil society, without exclusion, should contribute to the fight;
3. Debt is not only an economic problem. It is a fundamentally moral and ethical problem which requires various solutions -political, legal and social.
12 January 2000
WCC Programmes
