--------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:16:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: ddenno@...
Subject: [Ihp] Wars in Africa Wipe out Aid Gains

Interesting article about small arms conflict and impact on developing
countries in BBC news. Coincides with release of "Africa's Missing
Billions"--a compelling read which helps explain the connection between the
arms trade and health and the movement for an arms trade treaty. The report
can be found at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/11_10_07_africabillions.pdf



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7038348.stm

BBC NEWS STORY:
Wars in Africa wipe out aid gains

Money spent on wars means less spent on development A report on armed conflict
in Africa has shown that the cost to the continent's development over a 15-year
period was nearly $300bn (£146bn). The research was undertaken by a number of
non-governmental organisations, including Oxfam.

It says the cost of conflict was equal to the amount of money received in aid
during the same period.

This is the first time analysts have calculated the overall effects of armed
violence on development.

The report says that between 1990 and 2005, 23 African nations were involved in
conflict, and on average this cost African economies $18bn a year.

It concludes that African governments have taken encouraging steps at a
regional level to control arms transfers, but that what is needed is a global,
legally-binding arms trade treaty.

Does war make Africa poor?

The president of Liberia, which is just starting to recover from a long civil
war, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, also wrote the preface to the report.

She told the BBC "the proliferation of weapons is a key driver in armed
conflicts".

"We need to restrict the supply of guns to African conflict zones - and an arms
trade treaty is a vital way to do this", she said.

Ongoing burden

The BBC's Johannesburg correspondent Peter Biles says that some costs of war,
such as increased military spending and a struggling economy continue long
after the fighting has stopped.

Liberia's Defence Minister, Brownie Samukai told the BBC's Network Africa
programme that to his knowledge expenditure this year alone included sums of
$11m and $35m "for training, equipment, facilities, buildings and construction
- a combination of these types of expenditure."

The researchers say that although the number of armed conflicts is falling in
Africa there is no room for complacency, with little hope of a swift settlement
in either Sudan or Somalia.

And some experts argue that Africa actually needs to increase its arms
spending.

Haneelmoed Heitman - the Africa correspondent for Jane's Defence - told the BBC
"in a lot of countries the primary problem is that the national security forces
are too small, too ill-equipped and too ill-trained to actually provide any
sort of security".

He cites the example of Cameroon which has some 12,500 troops to cover around
400,000 sq kms with no transport or reconaissance aircraft.

"Without helicopters for tactical movement", says Mr Heitman, "it's physically
impossible for them to deploy to counter banditry or insurgency".

He concludes that most African countries need to spend more on military
equipment - but primarily on transport such as helicopters to allow them to
mobilise to deploy against the "bad guys".







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