A new report released by Oxfam International suggests that conflict in Africa has cost the continent about $284 billion between 1990 and 2005.  During this same period, Africa received $279 billion in foreign aid from major donors.  The report states that the continent is losing $18 billion a year to conflict and that the average war shrinks a country’s economy by 15 percent.  Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote in an introduction to the report: “The sums are appalling: the price that Africa is paying could cover he cost of the HIV and AIDS crisis in Africa, or provide education, water and prevention and treatment for tuberculosis and malaria…Literally thousands of hospitals, schools, and roads could have been built.”

For more information, please see:

CNN – African wars cost billions – 11 October 2007

USA Today – Wars cost Africa nearly $300B – 11 October 2007

Bloomberg – Wars Cost Africa Economies $284 Billion in 15 Years, Oxfam says – 11 October 2007