The Basket Case of Africa

Kevin Myers, writing in the Irish Independent, boldly goes where many have thought but were afraid to speak. he's through with appeals to help Africa. "Africa is giving nothing to anyone -- apart from AIDS."

But, please, please, you self-righteously wrathful, spare me mention of our own Famine, with this or that lazy analogy. There is no comparison. Within 20 years of the Famine, the Irish population was down by 30pc. Over the equivalent period, thanks to western food, the Mercedes 10-wheel truck and the Lockheed Hercules, Ethiopia's has more than doubled.

Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.

Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.

RTWT.

As someone who has lived there - my visa actually listed me as a "medical missionary" - maybe I'm qualified to weigh in. The sad fact is that it's Africans oppressing other Africans, from brutal Somali warlords to the corrupt WaBenzi, and all the money and materials sent only makes the situation worse. One can help the sick get well, only to have them turned into refugees in the next civil war.

But the terminally guilt-ridden West, which has nothing to be guilty about, will remain susceptible to appeals to their guilt for some time to come. But maybe Mr. Myers' article will put a dent in the guilt.