Singer urges aid for Africa's poor
2002-05-14 13:44
London - Pop Star Bob Geldof, who inspired the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert, called on Monday for more help for the poor of Africa.
"While some aid has still got through to the Third World,"
Western governments have done little to change the overall
situation, he said, publicising a report by the charity Christian
Aid, called Listen to Africa.
"I don't think anyone sets out to malign poor people but
certainly that's what we do through organisations such as the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund," Geldof said.
The transatlantic Live Aid rock extravaganza on July 13, 1985
raised more than $100 million for starving Africans.
The Christian Aid report looks at three major problems facing
the continent - conflict, trade with the West, and the way aid is
given to African countries.
The report said efforts to resolve the problems have failed to
take into account the opinions of African countries themselves.
Christian Aid director Daleep Mukarji also issued an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying the world has given little attention to Africa's war on poverty.
"This is an African war, on whose outcome the whole future of
the continent depends and in which the developed nations of the
world are heavily involved. But currently it is being lost,"
Mukarji said.
The letter said many previous aid initiatives had had little
impact on poverty and in some cases had made the situation worse.
"Christian Aid argued that this failure is principally because
inappropriate models of development have been imposed from outside, and that the interests of the reformers from the world's rich countries have carried at least as much weight as the interest of those they purport to help," the letter said.
"The need now, therefore, is for genuinely selfless aid to be
given - targeted at the areas and projects that African people
themselves say are priorities," he said.
"And for this to happen, the World Bank and the IMF, the World
Trade Organisation and the governments of donor countries like
Britain simply must listen to Africa," Mukarji said. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA