Sir, - Perhaps to Philip Donnelly's surprise, Oxfam would agree with much in his letter about Third World debt (July 29th). The incompetence and large-scale thievery of some African rulers are well-known. A lot of aid has been wasted on failed projects. The relatively brief colonial period, though not harmless, by no means accounts for all of Africa's ills.
So, if Africa's suffering is not due exclusively to the evils of colonialism and globalisation, as Mr Donnelly rightly claims, are its woes then due to welfare junkie-ism, and its "grotesque circus of dictators, kleptocrats, and warlords" as he also maintains? Surely one simplistic solution is as inadequate as the other.
The African people start with several significant disadvantages. Major diseases, such as malaria, are endemic, causing chronic physical debility and under-performance over many generations. Africa lacks significant indigenous staple food crops. Maize, bananas, and cassava have all been introduced only in the past few centuries. Deadly animal diseases (notably sleeping sickness) still prevent domesticated animal husbandry throughout huge tracts of the continent.
Add to these natural disadvantages several thousand years of slavery, and it is not surprising that Africa has largely failed to develop sophisticated institutions to run government, business, the arts, and sciences.
Instead of walking away from Africa, as Mr Donnelly proposes, or punishing ordinary Africans for the crimes and misrule of their governments, the really big challenge to his "courage and self-belief" is to find truly effective ways to support Africa's own efforts to raise its living standards. A good reason to do this (for Mr Donnelly, if not for the rest of us) is that it will serve our own long-term best interest - by creating to create prosperous markets for our future exports. But, just as importantly, it is simply morally the right thing to do.
Also, debt is only a relatively small part of the picture - although it ought, for pragmatic reasons, to be written off, within the context of the "poverty relief strategy plans" that now exist.
Far more important to African living standards is the grossly hypocritical attitude of rich country governments towards global trade. The articles that poor countries can produce competitively, notably agricultural products and textiles, we block from entering our markets. Worse, we subsidise and dump our own food surpluses thereby destroying the livelihoods of millions of extremely poor farmers overseas.
African poverty is more complicated than Mr Donnelly suggests. Colonialism and globalisation are not the sole culprits. But our current "dog-in-the-manger" trade behaviour in rich countries is denying Africa the chance to earn its own living and to solve its own problems. - Yours, etc.,
Dr BRIAN SCOTT,
Executive Director,
Oxfam Ireland,
Burgh Quay,
Dublin 2.