Denmark cuts aid, targets rights violators

Several southern African countries will soon feel the effects of a Danish government decision on Tuesday to cut aid to the developing world by more than US $170 million. After a review of the country's aid policies, Finance Minister Thor Pedersen announced the cuts in a draft budget submitted to parliament on Tuesday, saying that Denmark wanted to be more efficient in the way it assisted the developing world and did not want to prop up dictators. As a result, he said, his government decided to cease funding development projects Zimbabwe and Malawi completely. "The government will pursue an assistance policy with a higher degree of consistency. Systematic, constant violations of human rights and democratic rules will no longer be accepted. Therefore, development cooperation with Zimbabwe, Malawi ... and their status as programme countries will cease," according to the review published on the foreign ministry's website. Development cooperation with Zimbabwe had already been reduced dramatically and was implemented outside of government channels, the review said, adding that "these activities will now also be phased out as quickly as possible, and already in 2002 reduced by DKK 75 million" (US $8,699,990). The review said political developments in Malawi continued to move in a "negative" direction. "For this reason both development and environmental assistance will be radically reduced in 2002 and finally phased out in 2003. The government has also closed its embassy in the poverty-stricken country. AP news agency quoted an unnamed spokesman at the Danish embassy in Malawi on Thursday as saying that the embassy was closed. The Danish government recalled its ambassador Orla Bakdal last November, after an audit sparked suspicions that some money may have been misused. After the audit, senior government officials accused Bakdal of being rude and disrespectful to Malawian President Bakili Muluzi. According to AP, about 300 Malawians will be put out of work by the Danish decision to withdraw funding from the country. In terms of Denmark's new aid allocations: - Mozambique, which has shown "positive economic and democratic development", will continue to get just more than US $23 million annually in bilateral assistance. It will also continue to receive environmental assistance. - Zambia will not experience a cut in aid, but "developments after the December 2001 election will be followed closely". "Before new environmental activities are initiated in Zambia, experience from ongoing activities will have to be reviewed," the government review said. - South Africa will continue to receive US $4,639,994 annually, but will see a reduction in environment assistance this year. - Namibia and Botswana will also see adjustments in bilateral aid. The Danish government said no new regional environmental activities would be initiated in southern Africa this year. "The government also expects recipients of Danish environmental assistance to live up to the internationally recognised principles concerning respect for democracy and human rights. Extending environmental assistance as an isolated sector activity without consideration for criticisable political conditions in the country in question must cease," it said in its review. In spite of the cuts, the government said about 62 percent of its bilateral development assistance and about 49 percent of its environmental assistance would still be ploughed into Africa. Ross Herbert, Africa Research Fellow with the South African Institute for International Affairs, told IRIN on Thursday that the move was indicative of two trends developing among donor governments - the need to concentrate aid in fewer countries and a greater intolerance of abuses of office and undemocratic behaviour. "Particularly the Nordic countries have sought to maximise the impact of their aid by focusing on fewer countries and being more selective about which countries they give assistance to," he said. Also, Herbert added, there was still debate over whether development aid in its present form was effective. "There is a feeling that 40 years of development aid has left few positive enduring legacies for Africa," he said. For its part, the Danish government said in its review that it "wishes to break with the habitual thinking of years which dictates that if only assistance increases everything will be good". "Reorientation of Danish assistance is to ensure that in the future there will be a clear focus on the assistance supporting poverty-oriented economic growth and on Danish programme countries working with efficient, long-term national strategies for poverty reductions. "It must be ensured that Danish assistance plays the originally intended role: to help the poor by ensuring critical investments in education and health, to build up an infrastructure and support the development of a private sector as an engine for growth," it added.