9 June 2005 Edition

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Cancel the debt call

Gerry Adams chats with Fr Eamon Stack, who ministered in Portadown during the worst of the Drumcree tensions in the mid to late 1990s, at the rally

Gerry Adams chats with Fr Eamon Stack, who ministered in Portadown during the worst of the Drumcree tensions in the mid to late 1990s, at the rally

Hundreds of people from across Belfast gathered at Custom House Square on Saturday last to send a message to the governments of the industrialised nations to get rid of world poverty.

Among the crowd, which included students groups, human rights groups and organisations such as Concern and Oxfam, who work to alleviate the burden of poverty on the world's impoverished nations, was the Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams and party members Kathy Stanton, Paul Maskey and Fra McCann.

Stanton, the party's spokesperson on poverty, called for the cancellation of 'third world debt' and an end to the exploitation of workers throughout the so-called third world.

"The poverty we see in Africa is the legacy of colonial exploitation and Western governments who were largely responsible for this exploitation have a moral responsibility to alleviate it," she said.

Stanton also pointed out that "poverty is on the rise throughout Ireland and both the British and Dublin governments need to take action to decrease the gap between the rich and poor in their own jurisdictions as well as working to alleviate the debt of poor nations.

Deborah Doherty of the Make Poverty History campaign told the crowd: "Our campaign is about the fact that a child dies from poverty every three seconds. It is a scandal that we can do something about. This is our chance to do something positive to alleviate world poverty."

Meanwhile, thousands are expected to gather in Dublin on 30 June in a massive show of support for the Make Poverty History campaign.

The rally, scheduled for Dublin City Centre, is expected to bring the city centre to a standstill as demonstrators demand the cancellation of third world debt ahead of the July meeting of the G8 industrialised nations in Edinburgh.


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