Brodeck's Report, By Philippe Claudel

Liberal hackles may rise when a former executive at Goldman Sachs publishes a polemic claiming that Africa's "cycle of dysfunction" is mainly caused by aid. But this knee-jerk reaction may be mitigated when you learn that the author is a young black woman from Zambia.

Moyo's case gains strength when you learn that $10 billion of aid money is siphoned off from the continent each year. Zaire's Mobutu is estimated to have stolen $5 billion. Despite receiving $1 trillion in development aid in the past half-century, much of Africa is going backwards. When aid peaked, poverty in Africa rose from 11 to 66 per cent. Moyo urges the West to copy China's direct investment: "Investment money is not as easy to steal."