Yahoo – AFP,
31 March 2014
European commissioneer for Development Andris Piebalgs delivers a speech during the inauguration ceremony of Kinshasa's new courthouse, on March 4, 2014 in Kinshasa (AFP Photo/Junior D. Kannah) |
Brussels
(AFP) - The head of the EU's huge aid programme to Africa warned on Tuesday
that tying investment on the continent to democratic reforms risked backfiring
if viewed as neo-colonialism.
"I
would always warn against linking the two things directly, because it seems
like blackmailing," the European Union's Development Commissioner Andris
Piebalgs told AFP.
He
emphasised that conditions on aid were necessary, but said African governments
might view them as a "colonial tool".
Speaking at
the margins of the fifth EU-Africa Business Forum in Brussels, Piebalgs said
that as a Latvian, whose country had been "colonised" by the Soviet
Union, he understood these sensitivities.
The EU and
its 28 member states are the largest donors of development assistance to
Africa, spending over 18.5 billion euros in 2012 -- over half of the state
support provided worldwide to combat poverty on the continent.
"If a
government is improving human rights and is a stable democracy, we provide
support directly to that government. If that is not the case we work through
projects." Piebalgs said.
"So
there is some carrot in this process, but there is no stick," he said.
While the
EU leads the world in aid to Africa, in 2009 it was overtaken by China as
Africa's leading trading partner, with Chinese companies making large
investments in the continent.
Piebalgs
said China's growing presence was positive, because the "need for
investment in Africa is so huge" that the EU cannot be the only player.
But he also
called on donor countries, including China and India, to improve accountability
and transparency, and said there should be greater coordination of
international efforts in Africa.
"It
does not help if we have the same role, in the same place, but with two
different (forms of) financing competing," he said.
African and
EU leaders meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday for an EU-Africa summit
which will bring together some 80 states from both continents.
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