Mali

[Productivity]

So who could even find Mali on a map? Are some nations destined to be poor for the rest of their existance - certainly Mali seems to be proof of this, despite being one of the few relatively well run states in the area, it seems destined to poverty. These are the countries that need aid, not blanket give aways - give it to those who can actually use it.

From The Economist, London.

A DROUGHT had already scorched the southern edge of the Sahara desert before locusts burst out of the oases around Kidal in Mali last year, settling on cereal crops there and nearby in even more destitute Niger. As a result of a meagre harvest, the cost of millet went up by 30%, sorghum by 50% and maize 60%. In both countries, state and village granaries are low or empty. Officials in Mali's capital, Bamako, reckon that more than 4m in the two countries risk starvation, 1.1m of them in Mali.

The damage locusts did to the scrub grasses on which livestock depend has been even more devastating. Hundreds of herdsmen and tens of thousands of cattle have withered and died on futile treks in search of pasture. Survivors in Mali, whose population is 11m, have gathered in unusually large numbers in the Gourma region, east of Timbuktu, raising tensions there and overgrazing land that, but for the Niger river that sweeps slow and brown in a life-giving arc through Mali, would already be desert. Mali's 1.7m nomads, already among the poorest in the world, have been particularly hard hit. They used to trade a goat for a sack of millet, which now costs four goats.

Mali's minister of finance, Abou Bakar Traore, can only shake his head sadly. His country is the fourth-poorest in the world, according to the UN, and getting poorer. Brought in from the private sector and with a clean reputation so far, Mr Traore does not know what to make of promises made at the meeting of the eight rich countries' leaders at Gleneagles in Scotland earlier this month. "I haven't seen anything about debt relief," he says. "Not a single piece of paper."

Mali is still paying interest on its debts. Even if they were forgiven, Mr Traore thinks the benefits would be offset by the high oil price and low price of cotton, Mali's main export. Transport costs in his landlocked country have risen by 15%-plus due to higher fuel costs; civil war in Cote d'Ivoire, to the south, has further raised costs since it has blocked off the route to Abidjan, the usual port for Malian trade. Road and rail links west to Dakar, in Senegal, are ropy, so Mali's lorry drivers face a grinding round trip of 2,000km (1,200 miles) or more through Benin or Togo to get any goods on to the world market.

There are some positives. Mali is run better than most other countries in the region. The European Union, a big donor, likes President Amadou Toumani Toure. A former general who introduced multi-party democracy in 1992 after seizing power in a coup and then stayed out of politics for a decade afterwards, he is still fairly popular, since he seems keener on the welfare of his people than on filling his own wallet. Bamako, sleepy but safe and fairly well run, looks nothing like the capital of the fourth-poorest country in the world. For all the challenges of isolation, drought and famine, the country is peaceful and socially cohesive. Marriage across Mali's tribes is quite common. Except in its desert areas, civil strife is rare.

That may be the country's strongest, and perhaps only, card. As a moderate Muslim country, Mali could have a useful role in helping to find and close down Islamist terrorist camps in the Sahara. Its army is playing its part in a Pentagon Trans-Sahara plan, to be funded with $500m over seven years, to train some 3,000 African commandos for desert and border operations and to link forces in various countries with secure satellite communications. Algeria, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia are also involved, with Libya perhaps to be added if its relations with the United States improve. Mali hopes that helping to catch terrorists might shame America's administration into slashing the subsidy of $3 billion or so it gives its own cotton growers (many of them Texan) and which helps keeps Mali (and Niger) so poor.

[Don Corleone]

So who could even find Mali on a map? Are some nations destined to be poor for the rest of their existance - certainly Mali seems to be proof of this, despite being one of the few relatively well run states in the area, it seems destined to poverty. These are the countries that need aid, not blanket give aways - give it to those who can actually use it.

From The Economist, London.

Mali is the land of Timbuktu. In pre-colonial days, I believe it was the richest of all of Africa's kingdoms, sub-Saharan or otherwise. It is a shame, in many ways, they listened to us on agricultural methods, as they clearly knew what they were doing prior to our arrival.

But yes, DGB, you are 100% correct. If we have cash in our pockets, we must do what we can to help these people, and the people in nearby Niger. There is no mincing words on this. A horrible famine is literally shelling the flesh off of every living soul. If anybody wants me to post photos of children too famished to live, I will be happy to. Now, reach in, till it hurts, and give.

[Samurai Waki]

too bad for Mali. It seems like they are far ahead of most other African Countries in terms of politics. Don you know any good charity sites for the famine relief?

[Ironside]

Mali is the land of Timbuktu. In pre-colonial days, I believe it was the richest of all of Africa's kingdoms, sub-Saharan or otherwise. It is a shame, in many ways, they listened to us on agricultural methods, as they clearly knew what they were doing prior to our arrival.

Well actually did its finest day end a little bit earlier. They lost most of thier power during the 1600:th century. But you're correct that it was a very rich empire, mostly due to trade IIRC.