Two quiet disasters

As the news media turns their attention toward hurricanes and Supreme Court justices, it seems that Africa always gets the cold shoulder. Sure, it's heart-wrenching to see starving infants for a little bit, but then it's time to move on. Meanwhile, the situation in Niger remains dire, and not necessarily for obvious reasons.\nThere are really two disasters happening in Niger. The first and immediate problem is the current food crisis. From watching basic news coverage, one might say Niger's current problem is famine. The United Nations and countless other aid organizations seem to think so. Yet Niger's own President Tandja denies that claim. He could be right. The food crisis in Niger is nothing new. According to the BBC, one in four Nigerois children die before age five -- a staggering statistic in a country with a relatively low HIV-infection rate. \nThis isn't a famine. It's everyday life in Niger. \nThe solution isn't to dump more food into Niger. Whatever food manages to avoid the hands of corruption and waste will only sustain the country for a short time. Throwing non-specific aid packages at the problem might ease our guilty consciences when the media show us dying babies, but it is not a realistic solution to Niger's problems.\nThe series of misguided and misappropriated aid packages comprises the second, and more catastrophic, disaster in Africa. Some say aid is the way out of poverty. Many, including British Chancellor Gordon Brown, have suggested Africa needs a Marshall Plan. Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria has noted that the world has given Africa the equivalent of five Marshall Plans since 1945, and Africa's situation has not improved. \nThere's basic economics behind this. If we give food to Niger, the country's farm prices go down, giving even less incentive to grow anything more than subsistence crops. Then, if we force African nations to pay back their development loans, they have to sacrifice the well-being of their people to keep foreign aid pouring in. Some things a government cuts might be an emergency food stockpile, which Niger did last year. And the very concept of governments giving to governments means waste at every level, eventually getting only a fraction of the original aid to the people who need it most .\nHow do we fix the problem? I don't know. I wish I had a magical solution for fixing 50 years of mistakes in foreign aid. I think, however, the first step to accepting the challenges of the new century is to declare that what we have been doing is wrong. As aid dramatically increased between 1975 and 1995, growth in Africa significantly decreased. \nFrom Jeffrey Sachs to Bono, everyone speaks as if they have the solution to "save Africa." Africa doesn't need "saving." That's an inherently colonial concept. We need to start asking the hard questions and realizing we have to set aside our guilt-induced place as world savior. \nUnfortunately, there are no easy answers in a complex world. Simply cutting off all aid is not an option, but clearly our course of action thus far has been ill-advised. If we just continue with handouts, Niger will continue to suffer.