Saving Africa will take humility, says Times of London

By Alex Singleton | 4 June 2005

The Times of London says that "Saving Africa will take humility, not grandstanding", referring to the Live 8 concerts planned by Bob Geldof:

The line-up is astounding. While Bob Geldof generates headlines with his Live 8 concerts next month, Tony Blair will bring leaders of the G8 industrialised countries to Gleneagles to discuss African poverty. Geldof's Live Aid did much to mobilise public opinion in the 1980s, although little to relieve poverty. This time the combination of pop stars and politicians could be truly powerful, if all stick to what they do best. That means leaving the grandstanding to the celebrities, not indulging their call for demonstrations, as the Chancellor did yesterday. And it means focusing political minds on the less glamorous, but vital, business of spending money wisely...

Yet why should more aid suddenly work miracles, when Africa has received more aid per head in the past than any other region, with so much less to show for it? Mr Blair's Commission for Africa has eloquently described the poor quality of much aid, the weakness of many African governments and the corruption that still mocks the poor. This makes the emphasis on doubling aid in Gordon Brown's new "Marshall Plan" a little confusing.