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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC) from 1995 to 2001 and by Africa Action
from 2001 to 2003. APIC was merged into Africa Action in 2001. Please note that many outdated links in this archived
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Africa: Save Aid to Africa
Any links to other sites in this file from 1995 are not clickable,
given the difficulty in maintaining up-to-date links in old files.
However, we hope they may still provide leads for your research.
Africa: Save Aid to Africa
Date Distributed (ymd): 950125
SAVE AID TO AFRICA
(Prepared by Bread for the World: A Christian Citizens'
Movement in the USA. 1/20/95)
In the last two months there have been calls from
members of Congress for drastic cuts to overseas
programs. Most disturbing was the December 12
announcement by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY),
incoming chairman of the Foreign Operations
subcommittee, of his intentions to introduce
legislation that would radically revise foreign
assistance programs. While Senator McConnell's
proposals are being characterized as "moderate"
compared with those of Senator Jesse Helms, in many
respects they would be more harmful to the interests of
people in developing countries, especially in Africa.
Senator McConnell would have the power to institute
many or all of his proposals through the annual foreign
aid appropriations bill.
Senator McConnell proposes steep cuts to most
developing nations in Africa and other poor regions.
Yet he would maintain more than $5 billion for
countries in the Middle East and $1.5 billion for
countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union. He would also increase spending for military
aid and for programs that promote export and investment
opportunities for U.S. businesses. Other poorer
countries would have to compete for approximately $3
billion, more than 30 percent less than current levels,
and would have to demonstrate commitment to free market
principles to be eligible.
McConnell further proposes abolishing the Agency
for International Development (A.I.D.) and the African
Development Foundation and eliminating the Development
Fund for Africa as an earmarked allocation of AID's
funds. The Development Fund for Africa is
currently funded at $800 million for some 20 countries
with legislative guidelines to promote sustainable
development. McConnell would instead give the State
Department responsibility for administering economic
aid according to the extent to which it furthers U.S.
interests, couched narrowly as stability, national
security, and economic interests. The reduction of
poverty is nowhere mentioned in the bill.
Bread for the World strongly opposes cuts to
programs that promote sustainable development and
reduce poverty. We especially support saving aid to
Africa. We further oppose establishing U.S. security
and economic interests as the primary rationale for
foreign assistance. Sustainable development,
especially the reduction of poverty in environmentally
sound ways, should be the leading purpose of U.S.
foreign assistance.
*Aid to Africa must be saved.* Africa is a
continent in crisis: war, famine, environmental decay
and economic marginalization plague many countries.
But Africa is also facing opportunity: some wars are
ending and refugees are returning home, people are
experiencing new-found political and economic freedoms
in many countries, and some communities are making
progress toward meeting basic needs. U.S. assistance
can help to make the difference in the precarious
balance between crisis and opportunity.
*WHY SAVE DEVELOPMENT AID TO AFRICA?*
*Development aid works.* The Development Fund for
Africa, administered by A.I.D., must be retained as a
separate account and at no less than the current
funding level of $800 million. The U.S. and other
major donors are having measurable impact on the lives
of Africans. The DFA has demonstrated success in
contributing to Africa's many gains in economic growth,
democratization, and in basic health and education.
Likewise, the African Development Foundation plays a
critical role in the U.S. aid program to Africa and
should be continued. ADF has successfully supported
grassroots development initiatives in food production,
trading, herding and income generation which have
improved the socio-economic status of people at the
local level. Unfortunately, these successes are
overshadowed by the horror stories in Somalia, Rwanda
and Sudan.
*Assistance that promotes self-help development
and prevents crisis is cost-effective.* In a time of
declining resources it is not efficient merely to throw
aid at disasters. For example, we spent more than $2
billion on the Somalia tragedy, nearly five times the
amount spent on development in Somalia for the
preceding thirty years. In the Horn of Africa, from
1985-1992, the U.S. and other donors spent about $4
billion on food aid alone. Disaster assistance saves
lives, but it is time to stop treating the symptoms
only and start treating the causes of Africa's
problems.
*The United States has a moral responsibility to
stay engaged in Africa.* During the Cold War the
United States supported centralized and authoritarian
regimes which were highly militarized. In many of
these countries, military expenditures exceeded social
spending. Local policies, reinforced by donor
assistance, did not foster local development but were
implemented to sustain governments and pursue wars.
Of the six countries which received the largest share
of U.S. aid to Africa (mainly military and security)
from 1962 to 1988 -- Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Somalia,
Sudan and Zaire -- five have experienced bloody
civil wars and, in Kenya, hundreds have been killed in
ethnic violence. Now that the Cold War is over and
U.S. interests have been redefined, the U.S. has a
responsibility to support conflict resolution, economic
restoration and stability. According to the World
Bank, the number of poor people in Africa could double
during the 1990s if the world community is not
responsive to African development needs.
*It is in the national interest of the United
States to provide tangible support to Africa and
other developing countries,* particularly in view of
the growing importance of global interdependence.
Africa's problems have contributed to environmental and
wildlife losses of planetary importance and
international movements of refugees and disease. With
its population of more than 500 million people and
rich natural resources, Africa could instead be a
significant global partner in world trade. Further,
an estimated 12 percent of U.S. citizens have their
roots in Africa and care deeply about its development.
*Aid to Africa and other developing nations should
be less politicized, not more.* Bread for the World
opposes abolishing A.I.D. and shifting the
responsibility of administering U.S. development
assistance to the State Department. Such an action
would reinforce the past practice of using aid to serve
short-term U.S. political objectives, rather than to
address poor people's real development needs. In an
effort to streamline and improve the effectiveness of
U.S. aid programs, A.I.D. Administrator Brian
Atwood has already undertaken many cost-saving and
organizational reforms. More remains to be done,
but the reform process would be set back - not abetted
- by a merger into the State Department.
Furthermore, the main purpose of U.S. economic
assistance should be to promote sustainable
development, particularly in ways that reduce poverty.
Free market economic policies could help advance
sustainable development, but should not be the end goal
of U.S. aid, as Senator McConnell proposes. Markets
cannot thrive if people are dying of poverty and
hunger. A broad range of investments to help people
meet their basic needs, increase their incomes, protect
their environment, participate in decisions, and
resolve conflicts are essential in reducing poverty and
promoting development.
For more information: Contact Sharon Pauling at Bread
for the World, 1100 Wayne Ave., Suite 1000, Silver
Spring, MD 20910 Phone: (301)608-2400 Fax: (301) 608-
2401. Email: bfw@gmuvax.gmu.edu.
*******************************************************
This material is being reposted for wider distribution
by the Washington Office on Africa (WOA) and the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC). WOA is a
not-for-profit church, trade union and civil rights
group supported organization that works with Congress
on Africa-related legislation. APIC is WOA's
educational affiliate.
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