DESMOND DAVIES, London | Monday 9.45am
THE World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Fund are inadvertently financing wars in Africa, the International Institute for Strategic Studies has said in its current report, titled ‘The Military Balance 1999-2000.’
“Many governments in the region have access to structural adjustment funding from the IMF and development assistance, including for demobilisation programmes, from the World Bank,” the report said.
“This is raising questions about the multilateral banks’ inadvertent role as financiers to Africa’s wars. “Their equivocal position has been all the more noticeable in a period when the UN itself has been increasingly unable or unwilling to commit to peacekeeping operations.”
The IISS said that the increase in armed conflict in Africa has led to a rise in the continent’s defence spending – from $9,2-billion in 1997 to $9,7-billion in 1998. The report said that warring governments are financing their war efforts from various sources such as export levies on oil, diamonds and other mineral commodities.
“War loans are raised from the external private sector in return for property rights or concessions on oil and mineral assets,” the IISS added. The arms market in Africa also expanded, according to the report.
Private militia companies buying arms are responsible for the growth of the market from $1-billion in 1997 to $1,7-billion last year.
These companies, with a strong presence of personnel from Eastern Europe and South Africa, were accused by the IISS of often engaging in criminal activities while supporting political and ethnic groups. — MISA