GATT MEETING HEARS PLEA FOR AFRICAN DEBT RELIEF
  Debt among African
  countries will continue to grow and their economies will remain
  stifled unless developed countries lower their interest rates,
  Nigerian Trade Minister Samaila Mamman said today.
      He told an informal meeting of the General Agreement on
  Tariffs and Trade the widening gap between industrialized and
  developing countries and an unfair international economic
  system were major obstacles to growth in developing countries.
      "I wish to emphasize that the growth in the volume of the
  external indebtedness of African countries reflects the full
  effect of the deflationary monetary and trade policies of the
  developed market economy countries," Mamman said.
      Delegates from 23 countries are attending the talks of the
  world trade body in the New Zealand resort of Taupo.