Posted on 06/17/2005 10:33:08 AM PDT by ejdrapes
KIGALI (Reuters) - Rich nations including the United States should send much more aid to Africa, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said on Friday, adding he would try to persuade Washington to boost its assistance to the continent. "I am strongly in favor of seeing great increases in levels of development assistance for Africa," he told reporters in Rwanda on his first visit to the continent in his new job. "A number of governments have increased it substantially in recent years, including the United States, but I think much more is still needed," said the former U.S. deputy defense secretary, who took up his new job on June 1. Wolfowitz began his visit to Africa after a weekend deal by the Group of Eight (G8) wealthy nations to wipe out more than $40 billion of the debt that 18 countries owe the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush met in Washington earlier this month on an ambitious proposal by Blair to sharply increase new assistance to Africa. Blair wants the world's richest countries to give an extra $25 billion in aid a year and 100 percent debt cancellation for poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So far there is no sign of Bush supporting an increase in assistance to Africa, and Washington essentially believes it is doing enough, although it wants to speed up delivery of aid. Asked if he would use his contacts with the White House to push for more African aid, he replied: "I would like to see everybody do more." "I'm not here to defend the Bush administration, I don't work for it any more. I intend to work not only with the administration but with Congress on both sides, with the Democrats and the Republicans, to develop more political will to increase foreign assistance." "I've believed for a long time it's a good investment." SUBSIDIES Wolfowitz said increased aid would not be enough, even if used well and accountably, and African countries needed help to sell their produce overseas. "What is promising now is that Africans and African leaders seem to recognize their responsibility about corruption, to develop institutions that will ensure transparency and accountability, so that assistance can be used well." "Even with all that, you have to remember that developing countries, especially countries like Rwanda, need more opportunities to sell their products in international markets. That means developed countries have to act together to reduce agricultural subsidies and open markets." Poor countries complain they are pushed out of markets in rich nations by tariff barriers, by subsidies paid to farmers in wealthy economies and by trade rules that make it prohibitively costly for them to process the raw materials they produce. With 334 projects and commitments of $16.6 billion, the World Bank is the largest provider of development assistance to Africa. Wolfowitz, who has already visited Nigeria and Burkina Faso on his African trip, travels next to South Africa. Africa needs 'great increases' in aid - Wolfowitz
Couldn't we buy pretty much all of Africa for $16 billion?
Do we want it for $16.00?
Let's ask Oprah
I guess Wolfowitz is trying to get back into the good graces of teh new world order crowd at his new job.
africa is loaded with minerals and natural resources - they need money, we need to strip mine and suck all the oil out of their continent - let's make a deal.
We have paid to much into africa already. Since 190 over 189 BILLION.
What has changed.
Good idea...besides she's a Zulu. Just ask her!
Another idea: If we close Gitmo, let's get the detainees gigs as gofers for Oprah. I reckon THAT would really be torture! "Oh, Ahmed, have you picked up that pantyhose yet? Be a sweetheart and do it right away!"
Yeah, that would hurt.
"Do we want it for $16.00?"
Close jaykay, but a slight error......more like $00.16
I think it's high time someone in the administration wakes up and quits taking advice from Wolfonut. If the Bush administration wants to appear in any way conservative (which would be a very long shot) they should make an announcement that they appreciate what Paulie has to say but no. And then follow through with it.
Enough's enough already.
Just because they "need," and we "have," doesn't mean we "owe." It's their own culture that holds them back.
Africa is blessed with incredible natural resources -- gold, diamonds, oil, etc. Why can't this be redistributed among the African nations before they come to us for more handouts?
No aid without ACCOUNTABILITY.
Too much has been wasted on fraud and corruption.
400 billion in Western aid (most from the USA) since 1970. It's throwing money into a sinkhole - the pockets of the kleptocrats running things. Wolfowitz is simply returning to his leftist roots.
It's remarkable how "compassionate" all of these "conservatives" can be with all of the money grabbed from other folks - taxpayers.
So am I...provided by the European Union and China. ;)
Credit Suisse in Zurich will welcome the additional $24.9 billion in aid for "Africa".
If all western countries withdrew from Africa and waited ten years, there wouldn't be anyone left alive and we could do whatever we wanted with the place.
Giving aid ensures that nothing will ever get better there.
This is the same deal as the American welfare system.
We are harming these people by providing them with free handouts. We are crippling them by keeping them in a constant state of dependence.
Weeeeeeee're RIIIIIIIIICHHHH!!!!!!! Yiiiiiipiiieee!!!!!
Who wants money? Got it rightchere!
Why don't I just go flush my share down the toilet?
If Africans can't solve Africa's problems, how can they keep things going in the long term anyway?
Whatever happened to the Golden Rule? He who has the Gold Rules? Why are we supposed to send all this money with no strings attached? Why do we have to just send Abbas, or Mugabe, or Mandela or whatever thug it happens to be at the moment a check to do with as they will? I am so sick of paying off the world. I want something back.
Wolfowitz of all people must know better.
Poverty is not caused by a lack of money. You eliminate poverty by creating wealth. You set the stage for wealth creation by establishing clear, predictable laws, and by protecting the rights of individuals.
If we want to build a prosperous Africa, we have to first build a just Africa, and that means overthrowing at least a couple of the more egregious examples of brutality presently governing there.
If you're not prepared to do what it takes to save Africa quickly, then the alternative is to build lots of clinics, refugee camps, and orphanages, to patch people up after they've been attacked by one mob or other, to feed them after they've been driven off their land by one mob or other, and to care for their children after the parents have been slaughtered by one mob or other.
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