Congo ruler runs up £207,000 hotel bill (Debt Relief = PARTY TIME!!!)

The Sunday Times (UK) ^ | January 07, 2007 | Tony Allen-Mills

[Mount Athos]

Bob Geldalf & Bono campaigned hard for debt relief for African governments. Much money was spent towards this that could have gone towards other causes.

With their debt eliminated, corrupt african governments are free to immediately rack up debt to limit again for more mercedes and summer homes.

[dighton]

“In what sense are these hotel bills a good use of Congo-Brazzaville’s money when the majority of the population doesn’t have electricity or drinking water?”

As Mr. Sassou-Nguesso might say, “Let them drink Cristal.”

[durasell]

Congo ruler runs up £207,000 hotel




Damn those mini bar macadamia nuts!

[CindyDawg]

Let them worry about their own country. It's not like our leaders don't waste our money too, and we have a heck of a lot more big spenders than they do.

[raybbr]

Denis Sassou-Nguesso

"When I go to NY I will party on your behalf!!!!"

[B.O. Plenty]

Who is surprised what an African "official" does? Hell....some of these people literally eat their own people.

There is a reason why Africa is called the "dark continent"..and as islm grows in Africa...it only gets darker....

[Calvin Locke]

Don't forget Tony Blair.

[Hoodat]

Did you really expect anything different from the Self-Anointed?

[Aikonaa]

...as members of his entourage drank Cristal champagne...

A favorite among the hip-hop crowd as well. I doubt Cristal likes these associations, though. LOL.

[Hoodat]

Despite Wolfowitz’s corruption concerns, pressure from France and other African nations obliged the World Bank to implement a debt relief package.

'Nuff said.

[nuconvert]

"More than 70% of Congo- Brazzaville’s 3m people live off less than £1 a day, despite the wealth generated by its oil industry which earned an estimated £1.3 billion in 2006."

[NonValueAdded]

Yeah, but the killer charge on the bill was for the cleanup after the barbecued goat incident involving a Persian rug and scorch marks on the ceiling.

[knarf]

How much went to Mgumby's home delivery fried chicken and escort service?

[Jaysun]

But Sassou-Nguesso, a former Marxist who has twice seized power through coups, discussed his spending habits during an interview with Fortune magazine last June.

Former Marxist my a**. There's no such thing. Africa is overrun with Muslims and despots. Cleaning it up will take more than we're ever going to be willing to commit, and I'm not talking about money.

[Jaysun]

Let them worry about their own country. It's not like our leaders don't waste our money too, and we have a heck of a lot more big spenders than they do.

Our people aren't eating their own seed corn and living in chicken shacks. That's why this guy's actions are so outrageous.

[durasell]

You see a country in poverty and chaos. China sees a country rich in natural resources -- such as coltan, an essential component of cell phones, notebook computers and video game systems.

China will "clean up" the Congo, but the U.S. may not like the results.

Go ahead Google "China Congo" and see what comes up.

[Jaysun]

The entire continent is rich in natural resources. China's brand of cleaning up is no different than the brand of cleaning that his been going on there for as long as I can remember.

To really clean it up we need to stop giving them money, encourage the spread of Christianity, and violently oppose anything less than free market capitalism.

[durasell]

China's brand of cleaning up is probably giving away some of their horde of U.S. dollars to leaders in exchange for security by whatever means necessary and encouraging the spread of strong central socialized gubmints, i.e. communism.

But that's okay, because the U.S. is pretty much abandoning the continent anyway. Too expensive, too messy.

[AlexW]

I first thought it was a story about Cynthia McKinney, or the Ford family of Memphis....Their all the same.

[rabscuttle385]

France and other African nations

France is an African nation?

I know that it's geographically European, but that sentence says something completely different.