News from Africa

Some reading to keep you up to date from the bright continent...

The UN wants the majority of aid to Africa to be channeled through one source. I see the point, yet still disagree. Although, when dealing with the big projects the UN is talking about, it isn't the worst idea. But when 90% of aid winds up back in the hands of donor nations, this isn't the solution.

Ugandan President Museveni says he might go to Juba to take charge of peace talks with the LRA. Frustration over the slow pace of talks is taking its toll on both sides...

Condi talks tough on Darfur. After falling to the back burners of public diplomacy, it seems that maybe Darfur in Sudan is moving up the US administration's list of concerns.

Comments

[bro]

Maybe Darfur has been simmering on the front burner. Western countries can only do so much when the prime minister won't meet with you and leaves you waiting in the hotel room for days, threatens countries that want to send in troops from outside Africa, and has powerful Asian friends that don't want western involvement in the country. I know that Sudan is a priority in the administration, and I dare say, the #1 priority at the moment for all of Africa. BTW, Sudan is currently withholding visas for official Americans and maybe all Americans at the present time. Unless you want to start a broader war, which has happened in the past, a country must be willing to accept outside help in order for others to provide help that is ready and mostly willing.

[bro]

Realities about Aid in Africa:
In order to sell the idea of giving away tax money, every donor country needs to show the benefits to its citizens. To do this, the donor countries' usually require a 'buy host country' clause for the capital purchases. Often, though, this isn't so bad because the receiving countries do not produce the big ticket items, such as telecommunications, heavy machinery, factory lines, etc. The best the local economies can do is to supply the labor and incidentals and wind up with a great finished product. At least, the US uses local labor. China imports the labor force from their own country.
The best thing going right now is the MCC. This program allows competitive purchases from any country. If the local economy produces the product, great! Also, before awarding aid, MCC requires certain conditions to exist in the country such as an improving democracy, a lesser degree of corruption, public and private input, etc. Aid isn't perfect but how much money can the world dump into Africa and see no progress (in most cases) for over 30 years?

[steven]

Wow - so much propaganda in just two comments! ;-P Just kidding, "bro."

Re: Darfur, I didn't mean to imply that nothing was being done behind the scenes, thus the reference to "public diplomacy," which I may or may not be defining properly! Just saying that those of us not working for the man are hearing about it for the first time in a while. As for the solution... we might disagree on that one, but that's OK -

Re: Aid, besides "capital purchases," how much winds up being spent on consultants and thnk tanks and inside-the-Beltway offices? That is just as big a part of the 90% of international aid to Africa that winds up outside Africa as anything else. Aid is a business, and it is a business that makes a lot of Westerners rich... and keeps a lot of Africans poor, thereby perpetuating the business, which is, of course, the aim of business. That sounds far more cynical than my actual understanding, but I wrote it that way to get the point across, even if it is hyperbolic. There are some things that aid can provide - infrastructure and sanitation being two good examples that I've seen, but I've seen far more devestating effects (physically and environmentally, but mostly psychological, emotional, and spiritual) than benefit when considered from long term perspectives. (Of course, budgets are short-term perspectives... but that's a different post.) You should read Sachs to get his perspective... I agree with him that aid can help if it is done "better," but sustainable development (in my opinion) will not come from the "big push" but rather in coordination with big aid from the local, indigenously-led level.