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Developed nations have a moral obligation to help, Wolfowitz said last week in an interview in Kinshasa, Congo. He said former combatants in countries recovering from civil war might resort to terrorism if not for a $100 million World Bank programme to help them return to civilian life.
"There is a huge self-interest in helping," he said. "It's not good for the rich world, and particularly not good for Europe, to have so many people in Africa living in misery and trying to flee here, even potentially becoming a breeding ground for terrorists." |
Wolfowitz, on his third trip to Sub-Saharan Africa since he took over as president of the lender in June 2005, is making aid to the continent a priority. His visit is a prelude to a yearlong campaign to raise at least $18 billion from rich countries that the World Bank will then use to build schools, roads and clinics in poor nations.
Wolfowitz, a former US Deputy Defence Secretary, has also been on a major anti-corruption drive, which prompted him to suspend aid to countries such as Chad. More than $330 million of development aid has been "wasted" in Africa over three decades, he said.
He added that World Bank assistance is helping development in African countries such as Ghana, which have a chance to become low-cost manufacturing centers like China, he said.
This year, the World Bank is providing about $450 million in aid to the West African nation of 22 million people. The bank last year pledged about $2.3 billion to all of sub-Saharan Africa, where it estimates 300 million people live in poverty.
"When Africa becomes a productive place," Wolfowitz said, "we'll all gain from it."
Source: Bloomberg
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