Wars in Africa wipe out aid gains
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.





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.


READ THE FINDINGS

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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".

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7038348.stm

Published: 2007/10/11 08:45:40 GMT

Bloody fallacy! All the countries engaged in wars in Africa annually do not even have Federation accounts that will total $300 billion annually.


These people just believe when they want to talk bad about Africa, they can just begin to pull statistics out of their arses. There's something wrong with someone somewhere for these kinds of fantastic figures and attribute them to Africa.


Most of the rich African countries are not engaged in wars. It is the poorest countries that are fighting wars so where are they getting the $300 billion from annually? Or is the IMF providing war aid in terms of loans and weapons deals?

Wars in Africa wipe out aid gains
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.

Na so una dey fail exams.$300 bn over a 15 year period.Denex,take note.Na why your carry over for school dey too much

@I-man

e be like say you no even read the topic of the thread wey you dey post. "ANNUALLY"

denex:

@I-man

e be like say you no even read the topic of the thread wey you dey post. "ANNUALLY"

If dey make mistake for your exam question paper,you go leave am like dat?Immediately I see the topic,I sabi say im no go be true.You don already begin blame Westerners for the mistake Na so you dey get carry overs for school

Denex you are the one jumping to conclusions,

take time to read words slowly and carefully next time

the original poster is in error with the title, the details show $300bn over a 15 year period.

The annual cost is put at $18bn a year.

Are you sure he doesn't work for PM News or some other junk heap publication?

So where has these wars led us in Africa considering the fact that most of these wars are senseless.

@I-man

The whole story was just a bloody lie that stank to high heavens. I didn't need to write exams before I condemn such fallacy.


And it is your own state of mind that is impeding your judgement. I never blamed any westerner for anything. I accused the source of the annual $300 billion to be a reservoir of fallacy.


You think I'm attacking western people? Well, wait till somebody comes in here and says 70% of Europeans are illiterate, then you will see how much I'll attack such a person.

$300bn in 15 years


( SERIOUSLY LAUGHING HEAD OFF HERE)

You mean say all those tribal wars wey people dey been fight with matchet and cutlass carry put for the wars that africa spent 300Billion dollars in 15 years for??

WE SERIOUSLY NEED LAUGH-EMOTES IN HERE , these do not do justice to the kind of laugh you get from reading the above,

Couldnt we have been able to purchase more sophisticated weapons to kill us all with that $300bn annually spent on wars?

If indeed this is true then everyone who has been overcharging us for cutlasses and hoes as weapons of war should be facing the EFCC tribunal.

OH LORD HAVE MERCY ON US ALL !!!

$18billion worth of cutlasses, machetes and axes produced annually!!

Who needs oil?

I suggest we diversify into IED's and Suicide bomber vests for export to Iraq and maybe Iran in the near future.

The African Renaissance is here!

350 000 Chakabulas =========== $1million dollars
18 million machetes ============ $9 million dollars
100 million cutlasses ============ $150 million dollars
200,000 axes================= $ 7 million dollars

Being able to claim that this all amounts to a TOTAL of ======= $300 Billion Dollars

PRICELESS!!!!

Are we loosing the main point of this thread?

That we, as poor, hungry, and undeveloped Africans are spending way too much money on wars.

I think the issue would be if you actually believe that the numbers are true

Hope the world gets a hold of this information and stops pumping AID unnecessarily into Africa.