Bono vs. Sarkozy

Back in 2005 a group of the world's leading economies (a.k.a. the G8) pledged to double the foreign aid they provided to Africa by 2010. With less than two years until the deadline though, the G8 nations are falling far short of the mark, and that has musicians-turned-activists Bono and Bob Geldof mad.

They've singled out France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, since France has actually reduced aid to southern Africa in the past two years. Geldof said the wealthy nations have "failed…utterly and miserably."

Geldof and Bono grandly took up the cause of Africa in recent years, not only lobbying the leaders of the world's richest nations, but also holding the worldwide series of Live 8 concerts to build awareness of the plight of the poorest African nations. They have vocally promoted both foreign aid and debt relief for Africa's poorest nations.

That second part - the debt relief - they say is especially important, because many African nations face crushing debt payments to foreign nations (usually wealthy foreign nations). Unable to ever payoff their loans, the African nations are forced to pay huge parts of their annual revenues in interest payments, leaving them with little money to develop their own countries. So, Bono and Geldof say, forgive the debt and these countries will have much more money to spend on their own people, thus giving them a chance to develop.

But part of the debt forgiveness plan is that each nation getting their debt forgiven must make a commitment to good government - in other words they have to run their countries well: free elections, no government oppression, no funneling public funds off to Swiss bank accounts, and so on.

Reaction in Southern Africa to the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe though shows that many of these governments have some work to do regarding good government and helping to prop up a regional dictator, I would argue, is not a solid commitment to good governance. If Bono is going to critique Sarkozy for not paying up, fine. But I'd also expect him to scold the governments in Southern Africa for helping to prop up a dictator.

The G8 nations should live up to their pledges to Africa, but the countries in Africa need to live up to their end of the bargain as well. If a country is going to have billions of dollars worth of debt forgiven, asking their government to commit to a series of policies to ensure the ethical running of their country is not a huge price to ask.