This might only be amusing to me, but today my google alerts inbox had articles with African leaders stating completely opposite views on foreign aid. Gaddafi warned against imperialist powers using their foreign aid to buy influence in Africa. Meanwhile, the new leaders of the new coalition government in Kenya were asking Western diplomats to increase their foreign aid, in order to encourage stability. That article went on to note that a recent Human Rights Watch report accuses the two parties’ leaders of instigating the recent post-election violence.
Neither article is particularly interesting, but such divergent views being expressed on the same day is an interesting example that the recipients of aid have their own positions, and that assistance is not universally recognized as benevolent.
