© 2010 APP

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -  Set up to monitor states’ pledges to help Africa, the Africa Progress Panel’s future is “under review”, according to a spokesperson quoted in the UK’s Telegraph. The Panel was called into existence in 2007 by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, “as a vehicle to maintain a focus on the commitments to Africa made by the international community in the wake of the Gleneagles G8 Summit and of the Commission for Africa Report in 2007.”

Despite very high-profile members including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former IMF Director General Michel Camdessus, rocker Bob Geldoff and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, critics claim that the panel has punched below its weight, and Blair has not even bothered to attend its last four meetings.

Members will hold a meeting 3 February to decide its future role. Its mandate expires in 2010.

Links to other sites: Africa Progress Panel, Daily Telegraph