Hunger continues to haunt most countries as they still rely on subsistence agriculture for survival and as food security is directly related to the weather. Faced with consecutive years of poor agricultural production and consequent humanitarian crises, many governments have had to spend scarce resources to purchase emergency rations. In fact, Africa's dependency on foreign aid has yet to decrease poverty even by a small percentile. Despite the huge amount of raw materials leaving Africa and entering Western markets, most countries in Africa have been riddled by the negative consequences of foreign aid. Although Africa has the potential of sustaining itself on free trade, it seems that western countries are not interested in fostering trade relations that benefits all partners mutually. In other words, after decolonization, the nature of trade is so out of balance that we are seeing neo-colonialism crippling the continent into more extreme poverty.

The theme of this year's International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is “working together out of poverty.' This theme was chosen by the UN to highlight the need for a truly global anti-poverty alliance, one in which both developed and developing countries participate actively. This theme brings out the importance of the relationship between the first MDG (eradicate extreme poverty and hunger) and the eighth MDG (develop a global partnership for development). Supposedly, at the heart of the millennium development goals is the understanding that fighting poverty is a collective understanding in which all countries have a stake in the results. This ‘global social pact' of the UN Millennium Declaration is supposed to mean developing countries will do more to ensure their own development and developed countries will support them through aid, debt relief, and better opportunities for trade. This article will attempt to shed some important light on this topic.

The myth that aid helps

As the saying goes, ‘…give a man a fish and he will not go hungry for a day; teach a man to fish and he will not go hungry for the rest of his life.' Foreign aid is supposed to be used to empower people so that they can lift themselves out of poverty and improve their standard of living, and yet the continent that is most dependent on foreign aid is the most impoverished. In fact, foreign aid can be described as a new agent of neo-colonialism and psychological warfare. Those ‘honorable initiatives' of organizing music concerts to raise money to feed poor and starving children in Africa has only made matters worse; as some countries wait for handouts, the amount of aid needed to feed starving children today has more than doubled since the 1980s.

What is really needed is not aid, but trade. However, despite continuous calls for free trade by African nations, activist movements, civil society organizations and NGOs, the exploitation of African resources continues with no improvements in trade relations. Some big name initiatives are out there but they have yet to make any type of positive impact. For example, there is the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) of the Untied States which is supposed to be a tool for sustainable growth and poverty reduction through opening up trade between the US and Africa. However, as far as reaching this goal, Agoa has yet to even make a dent in developing agriculture, which is the key to Africa's economic growth. The truth about Agoa is that it is primarily a means of enabling African oil to enter US markets without duty charges (oil represents more than 80% of Agoa imports to the US). The oil trade has little impact on hunger and poverty alleviation and it has even been associated with civil conflict.

The truth is, foreign aid, especially when it is given too hastily in complex political emergencies and other forms of disasters, often produces perverse and very counter-productive results. Prevention is better than a temporary cure; accordingly, the principles of development approaches should understand and address the underlying causes of poverty and vulnerability. Such an approach requires new and higher standards of participation and accountability, and they should work to strengthen and diversify potential safety nets.

Global partnerships are hard to come by

True cooperation for development is very hard to come by due to the lack of clear ground rules. Some reasons that explain the need for such ground rules include complex political environments, little ‘ Third World exposure' and the fact that Northern approaches are frequently inappropriate for Southern problems. Therefore, for global partnerships to work and be sustainable, principles of ownership for capacity development, supporting development fit for country-specific conditions, and a long-term commitment are necessary. However, in many cases, such principles are overlooked when development agencies do not give due respect to the needs of the partner country. Moreover, it isn't a secret that development assistance and even, in some cases, humanitarian aid is given for political ‘favors.' On top of this, we cannot deny that racism and neocolonialism affect the type of ‘partnerships' that can be developed, with the ‘they-don't-know-what's-better-for-themselves' type of comments that often come up at luncheons expatriates have among themselves.

Foreign aid is simply not reliable

Foreign aid, and even humanitarian aid, is often given in political contexts. Therefore, if you are not a political ally or if there are not economic/exploitive opportunities for foreign investment in your country, you are not going to be on the top of the list to receive aid, despite how much you might need it. In April 2003, when Eritrea did appeal to get food aid to prevent a crisis from happening (due to drought and the amount of internally displaced people of the border conflict), food aid pledges met only 43% of the estimated national requirements. Knowing how unreliable the international community can be, the government chose to conduct several activities. These activities include the formation of the National Drought Relief Coordinating Committee, the purchase of grain from the international market, and appealing to Eritreans living inside and outside the country for donations. Even more has been done since the drought crisis—campaigns for water conservation awareness, expansion of drip irrigation systems, intensification of the construction of dams and digging of wells, construction of roads to major agricultural areas, introduction of mechanized farming, and incentives to commercial farmers are being performed by the people and Government of Eritrea and very positive results are being witnessed.

As Africans, we have to realize that we can change our situations by working hard and working together. Partnerships with the west can be beneficial, but only if intentions are genuine. But, more importantly, we cannot wait for the west to give hand outs—we should be able to create our own programs and initiatives that match our own particular needs.

Practical action and not summits are the only way to eradicate poverty

Despite external constraints however, the responsibility of eradicating poverty in the South ultimately lies in the hands of those living in the South. Yes, the UN has their summits and other big meetings where they think and suggest of ways to eradicate poverty—but what is really needed is practical action. The fundamental principle that Eritrea adheres to in this regard is based on ardent practical action and not on seemingly grandiose but empty theories—we know that any country runs the risk of being ruthlessly exploited and oppressed if it doesn't continuously endeavor to be self-reliant and participates in the world economy as an equal partner.

For Africa , putting an end to colonization was a major goal in the 20th century. However, as witnessed today, colonization has only been replaced with neo-colonization. Fortunately for Eritrea , who freed herself from colonization way after other African nations, things didn't stop at independence. Observing the experiences of others, we continued to embark on development right after gaining independence, to make up for time and opportunities lost during the years of colonial rule. A clear example of this is the creation of the National Service program, with its sole objective to cultivate capable, hardworking, and alert citizens who would turn the Eritrean people's dreams into reality and do away with poverty. In order to carryout an effective struggle against poverty and backwardness, however, the establishment of peaceful and stable grounds is required because as long as there are anti-peace elements around, we cannot efficiently develop our country. Therefore, the national service program is also building a strong nation that cannot be challenged by its enemies and where peace and development is secured.

Peace needs development and development needs peace

It is obvious that regional and global peace and stability are a crucial prerequisite for development and the eradication of poverty. Eritrea is set out to establish mutual beneficial relations with neighboring countries by strengthening historical, cultural and economic ties to promote conducive grounds for joint economic progress. As we live in a world of perpetual globalization, there is no nation that can hope to secure economic development in isolation. And if you live in the Horn of Africa, you cannot expect to invest in economic development without giving due consideration to investing in peace initiatives among your neighbors. Eritrea knows this all too well and has contributed positively to this end. An example of this is the historical signing of the Asmara peace agreement between the Sudanese Government of National Unity and the East Sudan Front, which has just experienced its first anniversary last Sunday (14 October). Our motivation for striving to ensure reliable regional peace is to overcome any hostilities designed to pose obstacles in our fight to eradicate poverty.

Neo-imperialists simply do not support self-reliance

Despite efforts for peace and development on the part of Eritrea , there are continuous smear campaigns against Eritrea , particularly from the United States . Neo-imperialists pout, saying ‘…we watched them throw out USAID' as if Eritrea had no right to do so. The US is pissed off by the fact that Eritrea would take such a bold stance and put a halt to 10 years of dependency and paralysis of the country's own productive capacities. It isn't like Eritrea is the only one to take such action. Just recently, the international charity organization CARE even announced that it will no longer accept US-donated food aid to Africa as it undermines farmers and households, is not sustainable, and doesn't bring any long-term change to malnutrition rates.

Sometimes, the west does promote African action but with the right analysis, it is easy to see that they promote African action when they do not want to take action. The idea of African solutions for African problems is being abused by the western side because when the west doesn't want to get involved, it is an African solution which is needed. But if there is something to be gained by intervening—economic opportunities, military bases, oil, etc.—then you will see a huge interest to intervene on the part of the west.

Eritrea still has a long way, but is on the right track

Eritrea still has a long way to go to eradicate poverty. However, if we stick to our principles of self-reliance and human resource development, we will continue to embark on the right track to real, sustainable development. Programs being conducted to promote food security are showing very positive and promising developments. Putting special attention on agriculture is an integral part of national development, as more than 75 percent of our population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods.

There is still a long way to go to reach full development, including meeting the demands for increased production and effectively utilizing changes that will affect the entire social, political, and institution structure of rural society. We still need to continue to embark on human resource development as this is also very important to eradicate poverty. But most importantly, we have to work together to win the battle to eradicate poverty. As times are challenging due to threats to our national security, our unity and hard work is needed more than ever.

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