The lobby on behalf of Africans living in extreme poverty continued in full force yesterday as leaders of the G-20 nations arrived in town.

On the streets, African immigrants and other protesters decried the G-20 member nations, which they said are to blame for the capitalist structures that continue to prop up brutal dictators on the continent.

And at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, which was used as the press center for various groups lobbying the G-20 leaders, international advocates challenged the efficacy of a summit that would fail to address the question of global poverty.

The success and humanity of the G-20 Summit will ultimately be measured by the livelihood and fate of the poorest, particularly in Africa, said Privilege Hang'andu, a Zambian official of the group Jubilee USA.

"Africa, as indebted as it is, cannot afford more loans," Mr. Hang'andu said, as he called on summit participants to commit to canceling untold amounts of "odious" African debt.

An alliance of 75 religious denominations, development agencies and human rights organizations, Jubilee USA joined the list of international social justice organizations pushing the G-20 to address issues of poverty and debt cancellation in Africa. To that end, Jubilee, like advocacy groups such as the ONE Campaign, is calling on the G-20 to recommit itself to African development.

In London, G-20 leaders agreed to raise more than $1 trillion in resources for development in poor countries. Some $50 billion of that was earmarked for Africa. In addition, world leaders led by President Obama at the July G-8 meeting in Italy agreed to raise $20 billion toward food security and increasing farming capacity in Africa.

But as a group of protesters lining Liberty Avenue outside the August Wilson Center chanted about the need to end genocide in Africa, Neil Watkins, director of Jubilee USA, said the G-20 needs to clarify its prior commitments.

"They are not delivering on their promises and a lot is being left unsaid," said Mr. Watkins, adding that the majority of donors that pledged to raise part of the $50 billion for Africa have not yet delivered on their promise.

What's more, the $20 billion promised for food security, which was scheduled to be distributed over a three-year period, is yet to be fully fleshed out.

"We still don't know if that will be new money or existing money that will be repackaged," Mr. Watkins said.

But for Mekdese Kassa, who was part of a group of about 30 people protesting against the government of Ethiopia, the money is part of the problem.

Referring to American aid to Ethiopia, Mr. Kassa said: "We are saying that U.S. money is being used to kill women and children as a form of genocide, and we want the G-20 to listen. We are focusing on human rights. Human rights violations in Ethiopia are worse than any country, you name it."

Mr. Kassa, who manages a cancer center in Baltimore, was part of a sizeable contingency of Ethiopians who came to Pittsburgh by bus from Washington, D.C., Maryland, Ohio, New York City and Boston.

They protested the regime of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whom they described as a dictator who imprisons his opposition consisting of people like Birtukan Mideksa -- a 35-year-old former judge and mother of a 4-year-old sentenced to life in prison by the government.

Dressed in the green, yellow and red colors of the Ethiopian flag, they called on U.S. taxpayers and the governments of G-20 countries to halt financial backing to Ethiopia, Sudan and Zimbabwe for war crimes and suppression of democracy.