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Media Statement, 21st June 2005
The UK Government has clearly decided that debt relief and the
doubling of aid are the two greatest priorities for the poor of
the Third World and while congratulating the Government on bringing
the poor of the Third World to the top of the international agenda,
GOAL fundamentally disagrees with what they term as "real priorities"
for the poor.
The main priorities at the moment must be protection for the millions
of vulnerable people in Darfur, northern Uganda and the DRC. What
these people want is the international community to show real moral
fibre - not to write a cheque - and send in the armies to protect
them. A doubling of aid or a trebling of aid or wiping out the debt
will not help these people.
Secondly the legitimacy of channelling money through corrupt Third
World regimes must be questioned as a matter of urgency. Doubling
aid, for all the noble aims of such a step, is useless unless the
capacity of African countries to spend that aid effectively is doubled
first. And this simply has not happened. As long as corruption exists
at its current level in Africa, and as long as donors continue to
look the other way, foreign aid will simply serve to keep African
Kleptocrats in power.
The sheer indifference of the governments of the West, coupled
with the corrupt regimes in the Third World have combined to leave
millions in desperate need.
It is time for the international community and Mr's Blair and Brown
to finally bite the bullet and admit that signing cheques is not
the answer. The initiatives for the G8 summit have not materialised
as GOAL had hoped, but it is still not too late. The people of Africa
deserve more than empty gestures.
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