Sudarsan Raghavan
The Miami Herald
February 20, 2004

Nairobi, Kenya: In their financial histories, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo share something in common: billions of dollars in international loans that vanished into the coffers of their former dictators, Saddam Hussein and Mobutu Sese Seko.

Now, Africa advocates want to know why the United States cannot lobby governments to reduce debt owed by Congo and other African countries as it did for Iraq, which has seen much of its $116 billion debt erased after lobbying by former Secretary of State James Baker. Africa’s debt totals at least $333 billion.

“It’s an outrageous double standard,” said Salih Booker, the head of Africa Action, a Washington-based lobbying group. “The administration has sent James Baker around the world basically arguing to the creditors of Iraq that when the despot fell, his debts disappeared with him. But the U.S. is not prepared to make the same sort of case with Africa.”

Dozens of activist groups across the United States are making the same case. Organizations such as the Philadelphia-based American Friends Services Committee are planning marches and rallies to press the administration to push for debt relief for Africa.

“Our campaign’s call for cancellation of odious and illegal debt is no different than President Bush’s current pleas to Iraq’s creditors,” Imani Countess, the coordinator of the group’s Africa Program, said in a statement.

Bush administration officials draw a sharp distinction between Iraq and Africa, however.

“The economic reconstruction of Iraq is an important aim of our national security goals for the region,” said Tony Fratto, a spokesman for the Treasury Department. “It’s important to the world that Iraq become a responsible stabilizing force in the region instead of a destabilizing force.”

Sub-Saharan Africa’s total external debt, which was $203 billion in 2001, the most recent year for which statistics are available, is about a quarter of Latin America and the Caribbean’s $765 billion debt, according to the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Brazil, with three times Congo’s population, owed $226.4 billion.

Mexico, twice as populous as Congo, was almost 14 times deeper in debt at $158 billion.

Unlike Iraq, which owes countries, Africa’s main creditors are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The two multilateral lending agencies have long argued that if they forgive Africa’s loans, it will be more difficult for them to collect on loans to poor nations in the future.