A frican statesmen and international bankers recently met on opposite sides of the world to discuss, in part, the elimination of the crushing debt held by the world's 41 poorest nations. Their aim was to boost spending on education, health care and social programs using money that otherwise would be spent on debt servicing. While the impact of that debt is abstract for most of us, it is something I know firsthand. During the 1985 famine, when activist Bob Geldof was rallying the West to raise money for starving Ethiopians, I was in Niger, a similarly affected country, placing tiny babies with parchment-thin skin onto scales they barely tipped and handing out meager foodstuffs to their hungry mothers. It was the only place I've ever lived where I felt no fear.
Crime is rampant and access to health care and education has fallen.
In 1999, the nation's president was overthrown in a violent coup, but not, as Americans tend to believe, because the Nigerians are violent people. This is the scenario all over Africa. To get a sense of why cancellation of these debts is not just necessary but the right thing to do, look to Niger's neighbor to the south, Nigeria. Down is the only direction in this scenario. And all our attempts to support the fledgling democracies or to negotiate the end to civil conflicts are made a mockery of as we transfer desperately needed funds from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich.