African bishops call for fair trade.

Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops from east and southern Africa, meeting in Nairobi for April's Global Week of Action on Trade, have joined farmers, workers, traders and civil society groups by calling for fair international trade.

"Trade is important in addressing poverty. However, Africa has not reaped its fair entitlement," said Kenyan Anglican Bishop Gideon Ireri, who heads the Anglican Peace and Justice Network in his country.

Most of Kenya's inhabitants earn their livelihood from agriculture. The east African country has led calls for fair trade since dwindling markets for its produce have impoverished large numbers of its citizens. "The poor are not poor because they want it, but because what belongs to them has been taken away," said Ireri, noting that instituting debt relief would help restore what has been taken.

A coalition of international non-governmental organizations and churches in Kenya said the global south earns eight times more each year from trade than it receives in aid, yet its share of world trade continues to fall. The coalition states that Africa accounts for only 2.6 per cent of total world trade, less than half what it was in 1980.

"Because of unfair trading conditions Africans are being squeezed," said Zambian Roman Catholic cleric Telesphore Mpundu. "There should be a level playing field between developed countries and developing countries."

The bishops said although the establishment of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization in 1995 was to be a means of enhancing global prosperity of all its member states, the reality is that the WTO has contributed to the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few.