Aid: more, less or better targeted?

The African Monitor called on western and multilateral donors need to make good on their promises of aid to Africa, reports the Daily Mail and Guardian.

The group also called on western countries to reform the international trade system.

African Monitor president Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said the collapse of the World Trade Organisation's Doha talks has stalled negotiations on international trade, which is largely biased against developing countries and restricts market access by African countries.

He pointed out that, far from 'sharing the wealth,' the G8 group of the world's richest countries is sending over half its aid to only ten countires: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Congo, Mozambique, Uganda, Ghana and Zambia.

A piece in South Africa's Business Day takes issue with that assertion, in a column entitled: 'Helping hand that hobbles Africa.'

It pointed out that Africa received $320bn in aid between 1970 and 2004, yet f[e]ll dramatically behind other regions in development terms.

It added that the rise of China as a major player in Africa is already changing the continent's development model.