Should we be helping poverty in Afrcia?

[middle_aged_dutchman]

'I therefore propose that all of sub-Saharan Africa be put back under colonial administration forthwith. It?s quite clear that these people are not yet up to running 21st century nations.'

Not a practicable plan. And do you really think countries north of the Sahara, like Algeria, Egypt, Lybia and Sudan, are examples of how a 21st century country should be run?

Of all African countries it's a handful of sub-Saharan countries that present a little spark of hope. Botswana is doing quite well for African standards. And do not give up Kenya and Tanzania too quickly either. At least they are peace-loving countries. Their main problem is the large influx of refugees from neighbouring countries that are not. Mozambique seems to have learned by now that the population should invest in reconstruction rather than in the civil war that devastated the country from the late Seventies until the late Nineties.

These are the countries we should invest in. Forget the rest. Perhaps in ten, twenty or thirty years some of them will have learned the same lesson as Mozambique. Then we can try to help those countries too. At the moment any attempt at aid only makes matters worse. Giving food to Zimbabwe for instance only strengthens Mugabe's position.

[middle_aged_dutchman]

After re-reading this thread I see there is something I have to add to what I said above.

"the women have kids like rabbits". Yes, and why? Because of the strong position of the roman catholic church in Southern Africa! The pope is still making a strong stand against contraception. And don't forget the increasing influence of the Saudis and their particular form of islam in Northern Africa. In this respect the Saudis are even more catholic than the pope. So contraceptives are hard to get and very expensive in the biggest part of Africa.

And what do you think about Britain's (and Holland's) closest ally, the USA? Between 1992 and 2005 Uganda carried out a successful anti-aids program. Condoms were easily available and everyone knew what they were for. The number of AIDS patients dropped by more than 50 percent.

In 2005 Uganda accepted US aid. In exchange the country had to change its anti-aids campaign. Instead of propagating the use of condoms the government started to propagate total continence as a remedy against aids.

I think it will only be a matter of time before the number of aids patients is on the rise again. Perhaps we should even be glad of that, for the population will rise too when condoms are no longer used. In that way the one evil will keep the other evil under control.

Before we start to help Africa, we should know: in what direction? And we should not permit the pope, the Saudis and George W. Bush to determine that direction.

[Arginald Valleywater]

As far as I can see Morocco is doing fine. Libya has good education and healthcare but a raving loony president. Kenya and Tanzania are OK but by C21 standards still backwards. We will really some fun in 2010 when the World Cup goes totally tits up. When I worked for a very large food company they would only send male staff to Algeria for fear of the women being sexually and verbally abused. Only Nigeria was less corrupt.

Where did it all go wrong? The CIA, communism? Religion or are they quite happy to sponge off people who get off their own arses (Britain, France, Germany, Holland etc) and advance, be it through medicine, science or social skills?