When it comes to giving on the global scale, African nations are usually on the receiving end of international largess, but the harrowing images from earthquake-ravaged Haiti have several African nations pledging financial support for the relief effort.
While the pledge offers of $2.5 million from the Democratic Republic of Congo and $3 million from Ghana are a drop in the bucket compared to pledges made by the United States and most European nations, the pledges represent the first time in recent memory that African countries have pooled their meager financial resources to help a country outside of their continent.
Aside from the individual country pledges, a campaign called "Africa for Haiti" has been started online.
Other African countries that have pledged support, include Equatorial Guinea ($2 million), Namibia and Gabon ($1 million each), Sierra Leone ($100,000), and Senegal, which has pledged $1 million and land to any Haitian emigre.
To my thinking, the size of the pledge isn't as important as the notion among African leaders that they can help bring positive change to those who are worse off than they are. Sitting with a hand outstretched, looking for the next concert by Bono or U.N.-sponsored food program to provide for the people is no way to run a nation.
Now it is up to the leaders to get that message to their people. Word of the Haitian pledges brought angry rioting among the masses in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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By: paul on 2/05/2010 4:22PM
Why are the Africans always at the bottom of the socio-economic barrel? Of course there are individuals that rise to the top, but African nations are the poorest of all. Haiti, for example, is full of people from African descent, and they are the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.
Is there something cultural or genetic that keeps them down? Is it racism?
I have no idea - I'm not pretending to know the answer - but it would seem to me that it would be of great benefit to find out why this trend seems to emerge no matter what continent, hemisphere, country, etc. you look at.
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By: Manny on 2/06/2010 5:44PM
Those African Nations that have pledged money and other logistics to the Haitan disater recovery are to be applauded. Unless we forget, most of those countries are as destitute as the Haitian government was before the earthquaque. They operate with the debilitating effect of low or empty treasuries.
Now, on the issue of black countries poverty and dependency on the great powers. The main reason they are as poor as they are: Race! When Haiti became independent, The U.S. was a young republic of 28 years old. It should have been happy there was another free nation in the Americas. It was the opposite, since slavery was the biggest money maker for the Americans. One of the biggest blows to the Haitians aspirations for freedom was when The U.S. acted in concert with France and the rest of Europe to not only refused to help the Haitans rebuild their country following the revolt, it imposed a blockade of its own on the young and fragile county to suppress its development.
France imposed on the Haitians to pay for their freedom and the lost of property it incrued for the exhorbitant sum of 150,000 Ducas. That's equivalant to $1 billion dollars. by the way, it was non-negotiable. It's what is known today as gunboat diplomacy. The Haitian harbor was blocked with at least a dozen clipper ships equipped with canons to enforce the demand. With no organization or independent sources to turn to for help, the Haitian government agreed to cough up the money. There it was, a young nation of mostly poor and illiterate ex-slaves back to basically square one for its survival. It is believed that the high payments made to France were about 80% of Haiti's annual GNP. Drastic measures Were taken to make sure revenues were steady from the primitive type of agriculture of that era. It wasn't easy; the Haitians had to borrow from both French and German banks over time to maintain payments and keeping their government afloat. It took until 1947 to pay off that debt. by then, Haiti was basically a shell of its old self, with an empty treasury, and population of still mostly poor illiterate citizens. The product of discrimination, infightings which resulted from a divisive society established by the French, later reenforced by the U.S. during the occupation which lasted for 19 years. By the way, the blockade imposed by the U.S. was in place for 23 years.
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By: GLC3 on 2/07/2010 3:58PM
The title does a disservice to African Nations. Of course they gave. Why wouldn't they?
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By: paul on 2/08/2010 11:53AM
I thought the same thing until I looked up exactly how poor these African nations are. I found a chart that shows the GDP per capita of all these nations for comparison. I was astounded. The US makes a respectable $47,000 per person. Most European countries are up in that neighborhood. Haiti on the other hand makes $1,300, while some of the African countries that sent help make as little as $300-400. It's difficult to imagine how any infrastructure could be built and maintained when there is so little money to pull from.
here's a link to that chart...
http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/economic-statistics-by-country.html
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