Debt in developing countries should not be turned into emotive issue
Editor - It is good to see that efforts are being made to remedy the debt problem of the developing world.1 It is important, however, that the issue is not turned into an emotive cause, leading to decisions based on popular rather than informed opinion. Some of the campaigns for debt relief run the risk of doing just this.
In many cases, poverty in the world's poorest countries is the result of current or previous economic management by the government (for example, in Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin, 1971-9) and of a lack of resources or unfavourable natural conditions. In many cases this goes on today, such as the protracted civil war in Sudan, which has been a cause of as much suffering as any natural disaster could inflict. Sudan spends most of its gross national product on arms, although most of its population lives in abject poverty. Hence it is probable that relief of its debt would result in larger expenditure on arms, with little or no benefit for most of the people in the country.
It is therefore important that campaigns for total cancellation of debt in the developing world acknowledge that for a significant minority of countries, cancellation of debt is merely a green light for further economic mismanagement and mistreatment of populations. A repetition of the Live Aid campaign of the 1980s would be unfortunate. Despite commendable motives, it ended up mostly feeding the Ethiopian government's army and had little effect on the state of the general population, especially those living in areas of the country that were occupied by rebels at the time.
Guy Hagan, third year medical student, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT
studentBMJ 2000;08:175-216 June ISSN 0966-6494
- Finer S. Medical students campaign for Jubilee 2000. studentBMJ 2000;8:137. (May.)
