Easier than we thought?

In the editorial section of today's washingtonpost.com, Sebastian Mallaby wrote a piece titled "Easy Ways to Aid Africa." Mallaby makes some excellent points which should probably be noted by first world countries concerned about giving aid.

Africa is in no doubt the most destitute region in the world. The majority of the population lives below the poverty line and many children are lucky to survive infancy. However, instead of pushing more aid in helping the struggling continent recover, from a legacy of violence and ill-fated boundary lines drawn during the days of colonialism, most people have given up. That Africa is hopeless, and helping them would cost impossible amounts, seems to be a worldwide belief.

However, as Mallaby points out, the world thought the same thing about Asia in the 1960s. Today, while many nations are still struggling, the continent is a totally separate world from Asia! Life expectancies have doubled in many of the nations and while the standard of living is nowhere near that to Western standards, most citizens are living much better than they were 40 years ago.

The Commission for Africa is calling for and extra $25 billion in annual aid to Africa, in which the U.S. would probably be on the hook for $12 billion. That equals .1 percent of the U.S. economy. Americans spend about $9 billion a year on movie tickets!

Blockbuster anyone?

Mallaby also pointed out several steps wealthy countries could do to aid Africa that would be free, one of the biggest which is to stop hiding corrupt money stolen by government officials in Western banks. Nigeria's government is currently fighting to retrieve money stolen by their former dictator, Sani Abacha. The Swiss have returned $458 million, but the British have only returned a fraction of the millions in their bank accounts. And yet, rich countries are more than prepared to force banks to cooperate in tracking terrorist finances. While not equal discretion on dictator finances?