Free Republic

The Zambian economist and author of the new book Dead Aid explains her beef with the U2 frontman, her love for the Chinese, and her high hopes for her home continent. If there is such a thing as a sensation in African development, it would be Dambisa Moyo. The author of the new book Dead Aid, she has taken on many of the conventions of the relationship between the West and Africa--aid, celebrity spokespeople, the "China does bad" storyline that has been covered in this magazine. In her book, she argues that government aid has not helped Africa, despite...

LONDON (AFP) - Live 8 organisers including Irish rocker Bob Geldof has lambasted leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations for falling short of promises, made one year ago, to alleviate suffering in Africa. In July 2005, Geldof helped to organise 10 Live 8 concerts worldwide -- timed to coincide with the G8 summit hosted by Britain -- to help raise awareness of the plight of Africans living in poverty. Geldof, joined by fellow Live 8 performer and Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, on Thursday issued a G8 progress update alongside campaigning body DATA -- which stands for Debt, AIDS,...

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Billions of dollars in aid will achieve "zero" in Africa unless governments on the continent are serious about fighting corruption and poverty, Irish rocker and humanitarian Bob Geldof said. The 54-year-old political activist, who will be performing in Johannesburg and Cape Town this week, said he saw "many, many optimistic signs and just as many crap signs" that African governments were cleaning up their act. "The rich world can pour endless billions into the continent of Africa but none of this will work unless African governments are serious," Geldof told a news conference in Johannesburg. "Corruption is...

NAIROBI, Kenya - Promises of aid to Africa must be kept in 2006 or millions of people will die needlessly, the top U.N. adviser on poverty said Monday while insisting that every penny must be accounted for to ensure it is used properly. Jeffrey Sachs, who is director of the U.N. Millennium Project and special adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, called 2005 the year of promises, after the leaders of the world's wealthiest countries promised to double aid to Africa. "2006 has to be the year of real action on the ground," Sachs, an economist who teaches at Harvard University,...

RUSH: Have you heard some of the quotes coming out of LIVE 8? Bob Geldof -- Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof – said, "Something must be done; anything must be done, whether it works or not." Something must be done whether it works or not? Sir Bono of U2 said that 3,000 Africans, mostly children, are dying every day from mosquito bites. I ran the numbers. You know, 3,000, that's 1.365 million a year. That's just children, mostly children from mosquito bites. If you add AIDS and genocide to it, there ought not be anybody left in Africa. So we shouldn't...