Listening to Africans for a Change

Moeletsi Mbeki recently stated that "...The best way to keep Africans poor is to continue handing money to political elites who suppress development...the Marshall Plan pulled Europe and Japan out of the doldrums that followed WWII because it was driven by the principles of strengthening democratic institutions and free markets. Most African aid, however, has been provided under the erroneous assumption that strengthening the state will lead to development...Concerts and conferences help focus attention on Africa’s extraordinary economic and health-related problems. Even Bono’s group, DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) demanded that rich nations open their markets, quota and duty free, to African exports, remove agricultural subsidies that hurt African farmers, and allow African nations to harness the power of trade in their own way to maximize poverty alleviation and economic growth...",CFACT.