Development in Africa The Problems of Today*
| Date | 01 July 1968 |
| Published date | 01 July 1968 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1968.tb00338.x |
| Author | Andrew Cohen |
Development in Africa
The
Problems of Today*
By Sir
ANDREW
COHEN
The late Sir Andrew Cohen was Permanent Secretary, Ministry
of
Overseas Development
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WHEN
we open our newspapers we see more often than not nowadaysgloomy
news about Africa. Most gloomy of all is the news which comes out of
Southern Africa; but I am not so much concerned with that today. We also
get news about gloomy events further north, news of fighting, of tribal
disturbances, even of broken diplomatic relations with Britain. I quite often
meet people who say in face of this situation "Why do we give massive aid
to African countries?" Nearly a third of our whole aid effort - £65 million
in 1966 - goes to the African countries.
"Is
this necessary?" they say.
"Is
it a British interest that we should
continue to do this ?"
This question gets asked not only by those who are hostile to aid, but by
the uncommitted. What is the answer?
When these things are said to me I answer quite emphatically that it is
right to continue to give aid on this scale, and that it is likely to go on being
right to do so for a very considerable number
of
years ahead. I believe that
it is in our interest as a member of the world community and as a trading
nation to see stability and progress in Africa, and we shall not see this if we
cut down or cut off our aid. I believe also that we are far more likely to make
an effective contribution if we recognise that our aid commitment to the
African countries we deal with is a long-term commitment and if we plan
accordingly.
Before I go into detail on what we are doing and why, I have two general
points to make.
First we must remember, when this or that happening in Africa depresses
us, that the difficulties these countries now face, and some of the weaknesses
they suffer from, stem from the state of affairs we ourselves left behind in
Africa. For two or three generations we and others had power in these
countries, and for most of that period absolute power. We did much during
that time, but few people would dispute that we did not make enough public
investment in these countries and did not do it early enough. Few would
dispute that we did not train Africans for the higher responsibilities in
Government early enough; we did more than some others, but not quickly
enough. With some exceptions, we did not succeed in developing the
efficiency of peasant agriculture. We left many of these countries with
irrational frontiers. Such frontiers are not
of
course unique to Africa, nor
can the blame be
put
wholly on us. British rule in Africa built up countries
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*A talk given at a joint meeting
with
The
Royal
Commonwealth
Society, on
November
2, 1967, and reprinted
from
African Affairs,
the
Quarterly
journal of
the
Royal African Society, Vol. 67, No. 266, 1968, with the kind permission
ofthe
Editor.
434
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