Africa/Global: Foreign aid sabotages reform (Opinion)

We braved the chilling cold, snow and rains of London for three days of meetings and briefings of the Commission for Africa, set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair. We were 16 "senior" journalists from Africa sponsored by the British government to interest us in the commission's work. Like so many previous initiatives to deliver Africa from its state of permanent crisis, Blair's effort, in spite of good intentions, is bound to deliver little or nothing because it is not breathing fresh ideas into the debate on Africa's development predicament.