SOME OF Africa’s most corrupt and brutal regimes will benefit to the tune of billions of pounds from the agreement reached by Tony Blair and President Bush to write off the debts of the continent’s poorest nations.

Even as the Prime Minister returned triumphant from Washington with a deal that could salvage his hopes of making Africa the centrepiece of this year’s G8 Summit in Gleneagles, the continent’s woeful record on human rights, corruption and good government was already casting a shadow over his plans.

Ethiopian police shot and killed 22 demonstrators in central Addis Ababa yesterday for protesting against fraud in recent elections. Hospitals in the capital said that a further 100 were injured. The opposition leader was last night placed under house arrest, and the EU issued a condemnation.

The violence was blamed on the Government of Meles Zenawi, a member of Mr Blair’s Commission for Africa, the body entrusted with promoting the continent’s recovery.

There were also renewed fears that Ethiopia and Eritrea may be about to embark on a new round in their bloody battle for control of disputed areas along their border.

Such conduct fuels public fears that aid to Africa merely props up corrupt, authoritarian or incompetent governments and rarely reaches the people most in need.

A recent YouGov poll showed that 83 per cent had no confidence that money given by the West would be well spent, and 79 per cent thought corruption and incompetence were to blame for Africa’s problems.

Ethiopia is one of the 23 countries earmarked to have its debt cancelled under an agreement with Washington that would wipe away about £10 billion owed to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other lenders. It is likely to receive a large chunk of an additional £374 million in US aid announced by Mr Bush for famine relief in the Horn of Africa, as well as £70 million in food aid from Britain pledged by Mr Blair.

Ethiopia desperately needs assistance from the world’s richest nations to alleviate its debt, feed its people and help its economy recover. But, like other African states due to benefit from the G8 summit, it also has a government with a decidedly mixed track record in the treatment of its people, its neighbours and the running of its administration.

Mr Blair insists that the aid will be linked to good governance and the elimination of corruption. But surveys of the 23 nations expected to have their debts written off suggest that they have a very long way to go.

Seven of the 23 made the top 50 of the world’s most corrupt countries in this year’s annual Transparency International report, which measured corruption in 145 states around the world.

Chad was rated the fourth most corrupt country in the world. The same report placed Cameroon in 17th position and estimated that the West African state had lost about one quarter of its annual budget through illegal logging, because of kickbacks to corrupt government officials.

Human rights abuses are also a major concern. Mauritania, an Islamic republic on the western fringe of the Sahara, was accused in this year’s Amnesty International report of using torture against suspects and of arresting scores of political opponents after two coup attempts against the Government.

The authorities are also accused of ignoring the continued practice of slavery and forced labour.

Guinea, also on the list of debt-relief candidates, is run by President Conte who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1984 and has ruled the West African country with an iron grip ever since.

Nevertheless, some nations have succeeded in overcoming civil strife, dictatorship and corruption to become models of the African renaissance that Mr Blair so wants to encourage.

Ghana, a former military dictatorship, now has a democratically elected government and a good record on human rights and fighting corruption.

Mozambique, which suffered a devastating civil war and natural disasters, has emerged as a model of reform and has become a magnet for foreign investment. These issues will form part of the debate taking place ahead of next month’s summit. The final details of which countries will be eligible for debt relief will be worked out this weekend when G8 finance ministers from America, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia gather in London.

Aid groups insist that all the nations chosen for debt relief can be carefully monitored so that money saved from paying off creditors will be spent on hospitals, schools and other projects.

They insist that the package on offer is only about 10 per cent of what is needed and that 62 of the world’s poorest nations deserve to have their debts completely written off.

Anna McDonald, campaigns director for Oxfam, said: “The world's poorest countries need full cancellation of their debts now to pay for the hospitals, the medicines, the schools that will enable them to pull out of poverty in the long term.

“Millions of campaigners around the world are demanding a more ambitious agreement from G8 finance ministers this weekend and a major increase of aid from G8 leaders at Gleneagles.”

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