Doing Penance in Sudan
October 9, 2007In Sudan, the FT reports that China will provide the al-Bashir government with a new loan for $200 million, which will constitute two-thirds of a planned Sudanese compensation payment to the war-devastated region of Darfur (full text here):
If the loan from China is provided specifically for compensation, it would mark a significant departure for a country whose financial support to African countries is normally provided for trade and infrastructure projects.
Significant departure, indeed. It seems to me that characterizing Chinese aid to Africa as earmarked for “trade and infrastructure projects” is a generous description. For example, providing an interest-free loan to build a new presidential palace in Sudan would hardly seem to count as either trade or infrastructure. No matter; China’s growth projects in Africa start to look a lot better in light of a peace-facilitating, stabilizing loans such as this one. Kudos to China for stepping up to the plate.
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Africa, Diplomacy, Sudan | 
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Posted by Ben Landy
