|
Mark Dooley, Sunday Independent, 30th April, 2006
HOW might you feel if the Irish Government handed
€70m to those responsible for the genocide in Darfur? You wouldn't
sleep easy.
But that is precisely how much of your cash the Government
will give in aid to Uganda and Ethiopia in 2006. So far, only John
O'Shea of the charity GOAL has objected. He refused to meet Ugandan
president Yoweri Museveni when he visited Ireland in 2003.
Recently, the minister with responsibility for overseas
aid, Conor Lenihan, accused O'Shea of "hit-and-run tactics"
for not meeting him or Museveni. He added that Irish aid agencies
Trocaire and Concern supported the Government's decision to continue
providing "aid to Ethiopia at current levels, or higher, and
the most effective way of providing it is through Ethiopian government
structures".
John O'Shea says it's hypocritical and immoral. If,
as Conor Lenihan says, "The promotion of human rights is an
essential part of Ireland's aid programme," then how can we
justify channelling millions through the coffers of corrupt despots?
"What level of crimes against humanity,"
O'Shea asks, "do the governments of Uganda and Ethiopia need
to perpetrate before the Government decides to cut off financial
aid?"
And just in case you think O'Shea is exaggerating,
here are some highlights from the Ugandan and Ethiopian killing
fields.
Yoweri Museveni has been president of Uganda since
1986. He succeeded two of the most evil tyrants in Africa's sad
history, Idi Amin and Milton Obote. And yet despite being lauded
as Uganda's saviour, Museveni has caused carnage on a scale not
seen since Hitler.
First, by failing to halt a civil war in northern
Uganda, Museveni's government is responsible for the murder of 50,000
and the uprooting of 1.2 million more. Amnesty International has
accused his security services of widespread torture. And in 2005,
two of the president's leading political rivals were detained in
advance of this year's presidential elections.
In 1998, Museveni invaded the Democratic Republic
of Congo on the pretext of hunting down rebels. That triggered a
civil war in the Congo and the death of over four million people.
In 2002, the UN implicated members of Museveni's family in the looting
of Congo's vast natural resources.
Last week The Daily Telegraph reported that Uganda
is still "stoking the flames of anarchy in the Democratic Republic
of Congo by arming brutal militias in return for gold and mineral
wealth".
The militias are taking aim at the 17,000 UN peacekeepers
that are struggling to hold the country together. One UN official
confirmed the Telegraph's report by saying: "I don't have photographs
of arms crossing the border but yes, it is clear that is what is
happening and elements of the Ugandan army are responsible."
In Ethiopia, meanwhile, the government of Meles Zenawi
last year shot dead 80 people before arresting 10,000 others. Their
crime was to protest against rigged elections. Those detained included
many elected opposition figures, journalists, and human-rights activists.
On a visit to Ethiopia last week, the UN Human Rights
Commissioner Louise Arbour attacked the government for its refusal
to release those still imprisoned. After spending time at one jail,
she claimed to be "particularly struck and distressed to see
children from infants to five-year-olds whose mothers are incarcerated".
If convicted, they could face death at the hands of a military renowned
for its cruelty.
These recent reports from Uganda and Ethiopia vindicate
John O'Shea's belief that "aid to corrupt governments is ineffective.
Worse, it is irresponsible." For years we have put funds into
the grubby hands of Yoweri Museveni, even as he terrorised Uganda
and made millions perish in the Congo.
And when Conor Lenihan says that we should increase
aid to Ethiopia, does he intend making it dependent on the release
of all political prisoners? I very much suspect not. But that is
the very least we should demand in exchange for our donations. It
is no longer tolerable that Irish taxpayers should line the pockets
of African thugs who slaughter, suppress and starve.
Aid should be directed away from monsters like Museveni
and given to non-governmental groups who will distribute it wisely.
Only then can we be sure our money is saving - rather than destroying
- life.
|
