Whether Ethiopia has benefited from foreign aid in any virtuous way is a subject of ongoing debate. Of course somebody must be benefiting from those billion dollars poured by donors (Mind you Ethiopia receives more than $3 billion aid each year. The USA is being the largest bilateral donor and it gave $932m in aid in 2010). The question remains who might that invisible recipient be? Where do these billions end up? Where is that black hole?
Call it cynicism, but surely the lives of ordinary people of Ethiopians have been the same with or with out the aid. The aid instead nurtures our “lords”. Lords we can’t afford to feed but smart enough to feed themselves from the pie they secure on our behalf.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9556288.stm
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/08/04/eu-failed-to-act-on-ambassadors-reports-of-disappearances-and-election-intimidation/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/ethiopia/8681975/Britain-and-EU-increase-aid-to-Ethiopia-while-ignoring-human-rights-warnings.html
