Aid To Africa - A Better Way To Address The Issue
By Gabrielle Reilly

GOOD INTENTIONS GONE BAD IN AFRICA

Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Africa is filled with good intentions that ended badly.

Half-completed hydroelectric dams covered with weeds, empty irrigation pipes decaying in the equatorial sun and roads that literally lead to nowhere dot the continent, testaments to corruption and bad judgment. Despite billions of dollars in aid, Africa has gone backward since the 1970s on every measurable level.

When the leaders of the Group of Eight wealthy nations meet this week in Scotland to discuss helping the poorest people on the planet, they will try to ensure any new pledges will not be good money following bad.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Commission for Africa say that times have changed, and the world now has a chance to reverse the continent's economic and social decline. But there is a vast range of opinions on how to avoid the mistakes of the past.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi - who serves on Blair's commission - had advice for both donors and recipients.

"The donors should use development assistance not to prop-up all sorts of unsavory leaders simply because of their geopolitical or other interests, but to support actual development," Meles said, referring to the Cold War years when African leaders pocketed development money from either the United States or the Soviet Union with impunity.

"On the African side, I think it is time for Africans to stop blaming everyone except themselves for the dire situation we find ourselves in," he added. "We need to own up to our own shortcomings in the past and come up with alternative strategies and implement them."

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VALUES

The value of a man should be seen in what he gives
and not in what he is able to receive.

- Albert Einstein