The politics of poverty: Aid in the new Cold War

Some of the world's poorest people are already paying for the War on Terror, as the giving of aid by the world's richest countries becomes ruled by the rhetoric of 'with us or against us'. This must not continue, says this year's Christian Aid Week report.

(PRWEB) May 12, 2004 -- 'The politics of poverty: Aid in the new Cold War' examines how the policies of donor countries are starting to follow those from the dark days of the Cold War.

Aid, says the report, is once again being viewed as a means of promoting the donors' own interests, particularly their security, rather than addressing the real needs of poor people.

The report sets out the mistakes of the past and shows how they are starting to be repeated.

Drawing on evidence from recent discussions in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it demonstrates how some forms of military training and intelligence gathering are now being considered as suitable areas to be funded from aid budgets. This has never previously been permitted.

It examines the case of Uganda, which illustrates how the government's manipulation of the War on Terror has led to an intensification of the conflict in the north of the country and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

Hopes of a peace deal have diminished, while succour has been given to an increasingly repressive regime.

It also looks at the situation in Afghanistan, where US-led forces are waving the humanitarian flag while also fighting a war - a fatal combination.

Across Afghanistan, aid workers are being killed and much-needed reconstruction is now on hold.

Download report from http://www.christianaid.org.uk/indepth/404caweek/index.htm