U.S. Challenged to Increase Aid to Africa
A powerful consensus is building for a doubling of aid to Africa among the world's heavyweight donors, except the United States, a divide that is likely to come into sharp relief this week when Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain arrives in Washington to meet with President Bush.
Mr. Blair, America's closest ally, hopes to shake loose more American aid for Africa. He is expected to ask Mr. Bush on Tuesday to join the leaders of other rich nations in forging a kind of Marshall Plan for Africa; Mr. Blair has called the continent's deepening poverty "the fundamental moral challenge of our time."
Britain is far from alone. The European Union has found its collective voice on global poverty, too. Its 25 member nations agreed unanimously on May 24 to almost double assistance to poor countries over the next five years. Japan this week reaffirmed its pledge to double aid to Africa in just three years.
But when President Bush was asked this week about Mr. Blair's effort, as well as a British proposal to raise money for development on capital markets, he replied, "It doesn't fit our budgetary process."
The president hastened to add that he hoped to advance a "compassion agenda" when Mr. Blair plays host to leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized nations in Scotland next month, but any new Africa pact would certainly be weakened without American support.
Underlying this debate are differences over Africa's readiness to absorb the additional $25 billion in aid Mr. Blair advocates. The Europeans favor a quick and bold surge in spending that officials in Paris and London say will make it possible for Africa to join the global economy.
Their view is buttressed by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Blair's Africa commission and a panel of experts appointed by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
All have said that many African nations are improving governance, fighting corruption and growing economically, and could make good use of more aid.
Bush administration officials say they, too, believe aid can help. They note that the United States has tripled aid to Africa to $3.2 billion since Mr. Bush took office, with initiatives to tackle AIDS and to assist well-governed countries. Financing for those programs will grow in coming years, they say.
But the United States favors a more gradual buildup of aid, the officials said. It contends that the problem is less a lack of money than the ability of poor countries with weak institutions to spend it wisely.
"If you want to spend money well, it takes time," said an administration official who declined to be quoted by name.
The administration has said that decades of extensive aid have failed to encourage economic growth. In 2002, Mr. Bush announced plans for a Millennium Challenge Account intended to change the way aid was given out, assisting only countries that controlled corruption, invested in health and education and encouraged trade and private investment.
It was financed by Congress in 2004. So far, only eight African countries have been found eligible under its stringent standards and only one - Madagascar - has closed a deal for an aid package.
More grants will be closed in coming months. Paul V. Applegarth, who heads the program, says its approach is in the intellectual forefront.
But critics complain that the money is being spent too slowly and in amounts that are still too stingy.
"They're fighting wars for hundreds of billions of dollars and what they've done for Africa is start one program for AIDS," said Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Columbia University economist who led a United Nations-sponsored report on poverty. "The Millennium Challenge Account hasn't disbursed a penny yet."
The aid debate is likely to heat up between now and September, when world leaders assess progress toward goals they set in 2000, among them to halve extreme poverty.
In the longer run, if Europe does rapidly accelerate aid, it will intensify a trend, more than a generation in the making, that has left European nations the world's dominant donors.
While the United States is still the single largest donor, giving about a quarter of the total, it is next to last in the share of national income it gives - 16 cents of each $100. On average, major European nations give more than twice as much - 36 cents of each $100. And they plan to raise that level to 51 cents of $100 by 2010.
In Europe, the issue of African poverty has greater traction than in the United States because of its historical links to Africa as colonial powers, the clout of nonprofit groups like Oxfam, and the proximity of Africa, which makes the prospect of African poverty and social breakdown a security threat.
Alongside the British plan, France is advocating a levy on airline tickets, either as a tax or a voluntary contribution by passengers. Thierry Breton, the French finance minister, said in an interview in Paris that he had broached the idea with John W. Snow, the United States Treasury secretary.
"I said, 'John, maybe it's a good idea you join,' " he recalled. " 'If you feel comfortable with it and want to do it on a voluntary basis, fine.' "
But Tony Fratto, a Treasury spokesman, said the United States was not interested in either the British or the French proposals. "We're happy to go to Congress and ask for money," he said. "We don't need a scheme or an alternate way to increase funding for development."
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The New York Times |
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