Media Statement, 21st June 2005

The UK Government has clearly decided that debt relief and the doubling of aid are the two greatest priorities for the poor of the Third World and while congratulating the Government on bringing the poor of the Third World to the top of the international agenda, GOAL fundamentally disagrees with what they term as "real priorities" for the poor.

The main priorities at the moment must be protection for the millions of vulnerable people in Darfur, northern Uganda and the DRC. What these people want is the international community to show real moral fibre - not to write a cheque - and send in the armies to protect them. A doubling of aid or a trebling of aid or wiping out the debt will not help these people.

Secondly the legitimacy of channelling money through corrupt Third World regimes must be questioned as a matter of urgency. Doubling aid, for all the noble aims of such a step, is useless unless the capacity of African countries to spend that aid effectively is doubled first. And this simply has not happened. As long as corruption exists at its current level in Africa, and as long as donors continue to look the other way, foreign aid will simply serve to keep African Kleptocrats in power.

The sheer indifference of the governments of the West, coupled with the corrupt regimes in the Third World have combined to leave millions in desperate need.

It is time for the international community and Mr's Blair and Brown to finally bite the bullet and admit that signing cheques is not the answer. The initiatives for the G8 summit have not materialised as GOAL had hoped, but it is still not too late. The people of Africa deserve more than empty gestures.