Kofi Annan is right to criticise the slow reaction by the west to the Ebola crisis (Follow Britains example on Ebola, David Cameron tells world leaders, 17 October 2014). However, I do not agree that if the crisis had hit some other region it probably would have been handled very differently. In fact, when you look at the evolution of the crisis, the international community really woke up when the disease got to America and Europe. Mr Annan knows very well that there would be no need for the west to help Africa fight Ebola today if most of the £550bn given to the continent as development aid since independence, had not been diverted to fund local leaders luxury lifestyles.
Yet the insinuation of racism is too often used to morally blackmail western governments into taking, or not taking an action in Africa. For example, last year, the African Union passed a resolution that claimed the west was using the international criminal court (ICC) to witch-hunt African leaders.
Sam Akaki
Director, Democratic Institutions for Poverty Reduction in Africa (Dipra)
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