AfricaBlog

Poverty in Angola

Walter in Denver has some quick thoughts on poverty in Angola that are worth the time to read and consider.

Which reminds me, again, that poverty and wealth in any given country have little relationship to the natural resources present. As one might suspect, Angola has a national oil company, Sonangol. That government officials and oil company executives are both living well, then, is no coincidence.

This is why building up African nations is no simple task of throwing money at the governments to distribute. Nope, the problems are larger than that: education, health care, industry, infrastructure, tribalism, and political structures are all poorly developed. Of course, there's also a good portion of the entire continent starving, agriculture as a lost science in many nations, and industries that used to thrive fallen since the technical know-how to maintain them left with the imperial powers.

Read the rest of what Walter has to say. Then follow the links to more interesting commentary.

Posted by zombyboy at December 5, 2003 10:42 AM