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Headlines : Human RightsLive 8: The lords of poverty?
Ahead of this week’s G8 conference in Scotland, the world’s richest nations forgave billions in debt to the world’s poorest. Great news, right? Not necessarily. Decades of Western aid have done little to ease suffering in Africa — indeed the situation is worse than ever. Is it time for the West to rethink its aid strategy?
[Posted By silverback]Republished from Der Spiegel
The aid workers are thirsty and the beer is flowing: There is a party mood in Rumbak, the city of tents which at one time almost became the capital of Southern Sudan. It’s is a bit like the end of the day atmosphere at a trade fair: The stands have closed down and people have knocked off work.
All over the place people in sandals and washed-out T-shirts emblazoned with meaningful slogans (“no cattle plague — more milk”) and where they are stationed (“Somalia, Uganda, Sudan”), dart down side streets. The aid organizations’ colored pennants flutter in the hot evening wind.
Several times a day local people heave heavy crates out of the rickety old planes which have just landed. Obscure airlines use these planes, before they are sent to the scrap yard, to turn a fast buck. Rumbak, which until recently was a God-forsaken hole, is now booming.
After over 20 years of civil war between the North and the South in Sudan, a peace agreement has now been reached. In April it was decided in Oslo that Sudan would be granted $4.5 billion in reconstruction aid. A decision which, although greeted joyfully by many people, is viewed with…
Posted by silverback
Co-founder of GNN. Music video and feature film director. Co-author of "True Lies." Director/shooter of "BattleGround." Arrested at the RNC shooting first narrative feature "This Revolution." New projects: A book, "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: The New...
The headline of this piece is an allusion to The Lords of Poverty, a book on the international aid industry, by Graham Hancock – mentioned midway down the piece. I don’t know how dated his dark assessment of the big picture is (I mean it was published in 1992, I don’t know how much things may have changed since then), but this is an important book in that it raises some serious questions about how humanitarian assistance is provided, how effective it is, and what systemic problems need(ed) to be addressed.