Associated Press - January 27, 2005

DAVOS, Switzerland - The world's richest man, one of its most visible social activists and Britain's leader put a sharp focus on the horrors facing Africa's poor on Thursday, saying the planet's indifference to the suffering has been scandalous.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has made Africa a focus of his leadership of the Group of Eight this year, said the continent's plight is "a scar on the conscience of the world," and questioned whether the global community would allow such poverty to persist anywhere else in the world.

"I almost think if what was happening in Africa today as we speak was happening in any other part of the world, there would be such a scandal and clamor that governments would be falling over themselves to do something about this," Mr. Blair said at the second day of the World Economic Forum in this Swiss ski resort.

Bill Gates, who has amassed a fortune of $48 billion (€36.7 billion) in estimated wealth as founder of Microsoft, said most of the disease and despair on the African continent would be easily preventable if resources were applied. "Millions of children die in Africa who shouldn't die, who would be very easy to save," he said. "The fact that we don't apply the resources to the known cures or to finding better cures is really ... the most scandalous issue of our time."

Mr. Gates recently put more of his money where his mouth is, pledging $750 million to support immunization programs in developing countries.

Bono, of rock bank U2, praised both men, saying they were "getting it right." Of Mr. Gates, he said: "He is a brainy man and he thinks extreme poverty is stupid."

During a keynote address to the conference Wednesday, Mr. Blair read off a litany of statistics:

-- 300 million Africans lack safe drinking water

-- 3,000 African children under the age of five die every day from Malaria.

-- 6,000 Africans die daily of AIDS .

"We know all of this. So what can be done?" Mr. Blair said.

Mr. Blair and Bono joined former U.S. President Bill Clinton to exchange ideas on how to improve the plight of Africa, including making available more money to fight malaria. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said the continent is ready to heal itself, adding "we just need a little bit of assistance."

Near the meeting center about 50 Greenpeace demonstrators appeared to take police by surprise by protesting what it said was Dow Chemical's "refusal to pay compensation and clear up the affected area in Bhopal," in India. The protesters quickly changed into skeleton costumes and lay down on the main street to block traffic going to the forum as they complained about the follow-up to the 1984 cyanide gas leak from a Union Carbide subsidiary. Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide Corp. in 2001.

In another test of the security surrounding the meeting, two unidentified men were arrested when one of them -- a cameraman -- filmed his colleague slipping under a fence into the secure area. The two were released but could face charges, police said.

Meanwhile, OPEC President Sheik Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who is also Kuwait's oil minister, said the cartel's concerns about oversupply in the second quarter may be addressed, but he didn't believe output would be cut. A planned press conference about OPEC was canceled.

The annual meeting in Davos brings together 2,500 of the world's leading business, intellectual, political and social leaders. Business participants pay 14,000 Swiss francs ($11,800) each for the privilege of attending five days of seminars on how to solve the world's yawning prosperity gap, the need to commit resources to fight AIDS , and the threat of terrorism.

The conference has made a point in recent years of being more inclusive of those opposed to the globalization that most business leaders trumpet. Some speakers had blunt messages for the business elite, saying the lofty ideals set out at the summit are too often divorced from the reality of business behavior.

"If you actually look at CEO pay, it's actually decoupled from performance," said Rakesh Khurana, a Harvard Business School professor. "We fool ourselves if we think that the average individual doesn't see that."

Speaking at a session Thursday titled "Does Business Have a Noble Purpose?" Mr. Khurana said CEO pay has risen dramatically relative to that of average employees in recent decades, and the pay packages are often harmful to a company's rank-and-file.

In his speech Wednesday, Mr. Blair urged the U.S. to take the world's needs into account when it seeks global support for its actions, citing climate change as an issue all nations must address together. "If America wants the rest of the world to be part of the agenda it has set, it must be part of their agenda, too," Mr. Blair told the meeting. He added, however, President Bush's speech at his second term inauguration speech last week indicated that "there is a wish to reunify" in Washington. (see related article).

In separate appearances, Mr. Blair and French President Jacques Chirac -- who addressed the conference by video phone -- said large-scale, sustained assistance for the poor can only make the world a more stable place, but outlined different scenarios on how to get there.

Referring to the Dec. 26 tsunami that struck Asian coastlines, which have possibly left up to 300,000 people dead, Mr. Chirac said, "The world suffers chronically from what has been strikingly called the 'silent tsunamis.' Famine. Infectious diseases that decimate the life force of entire continents."

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