(October 18, 2004) African governance has been "polluted by western intrusion," James Wolfensohn, the head of the World Bank, said on Friday.

(September 30, 2004) On the eve of a G7 finance ministers’ meeting in Washington, a new report released by the United Nations claims that unless debt owed by the poorest African nations is forgiven, those countries stand no chance of achieving the world’s development goals by the target date of 2015. According to the report, the US$22.2 billion Africa received in aid in 2002 was lower than the $26.6 billion received in 1990. Most of the benefits of aid, said the report, are lost through debt servicing, which amounted to $22 billion in 2002.

(September 28, 2004) As the U.S. Senate hearing on corruption in multilateral development banks continued this week, chair Senator Richard Lugar drew attention to the Lesotho corruption trials and the difficulties poor countries face when they try to prosecute corruption.

(September 22, 2004) Hours before Prime Minister Paul Martin is expected to make Africa a central part of his first address to the United Nations, his government announced that it has cancelled the debts owed Canada by three more African countries.