Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Half of Africa’s nations may become failed or failing states over the next decade if their governments don’t address the global financial crisis and climate change, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.

African leaders should unite to demand a financial recovery package for the continent, Meles said in a speech at the African Union heads-of-state summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, today. Compensation should also be sought from industrialized nations for the effects of global warming.

“It’s likely that the coming decade or so will be very dark indeed for Africa,” Meles said. “Our prospects are not bright at all.”

Economic growth in Africa may slow to 3.4 percent this year, from 5.2 percent last year, amid expectations that economies such as the U.S., Japan and the U.K. will suffer their deepest recessions since World War II, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Rising global temperatures have intensified the effects of droughts, floods and storms in Africa, scientists say. Soil damage partly caused by climate change may plunge the continent, home to 1 billion people, into chaos as food production declines, according to the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

“We have to recognize the dire consequences of what is unfolding before our eyes,” said Meles. “Our continental organizations should be seized with this matter in a much more effective and serious matter.”

Aggressive Stance

Meles said that Africa should take a more aggressive stance in seeking compensation from rich countries that have spent billions of dollars bailing out their financial systems. The world’s biggest financial companies have suffered losses of more than $1 trillion since the outbreak of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis in 2007.

“A bank in these countries which is deemed too important to fail is getting more assistance, more bailout money than the whole continent of Africa,” said Meles. “We have to insist that Africa is at least as important in the global economy as the individual banks that are getting the bailouts.”

Meles also urged fellow African leaders to nominate a single representative to lead negotiations at the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December to present a united front on behalf of all 53 countries on the continent.

“The coming decade is likely to be a period of structural transformation and the associated pain of transition,” he said. “The fate of countries and continents is likely to be determined by how well and how fast they adjust to the transition. Those who lack these resources and capabilities are likely to suffer and may even fail.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 3, 2009 06:33 EST