Defining morality: dfid and the Great Lakes

Abstract

This article examines the work of the UK government's Department for International Development (dfid) in the Great Lakes region of central Africa. It traces the formulation of policy and compares it with dfid's operations in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 1997 to 2001. Drawing on research from the region and the UK, the article argues that dfid's ‘new humanitarianism’ offers little new, and that the spoken poverty agenda is misleading. It concludes that, while dfid's moral terminology suggests that there is a framework for response, in fact dfid defines what is ‘good’ and redefines events—including its own activity—to fit with it.

Notes

This article draws on my forthcoming book, Not Breaking the Rules, Not Playing the Game: International Assistance to Countries at War (London: Hurst).

1 See, for example, World Bank, World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

2 Critical literature on aid in conflict dates from the late 1980s, but the publication of the Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda (1996) was particularly influential as it was written from within the aid ‘industry’. See, J Borton, E Brusset, A Hallam, S Collins, J Pottier, D de Lame, A Chalinder, J Shoham, L Lee, R Connaughton, T Ishoyet, J Telford, F Goetz, G Shepherd, L Hilsum, B Jones, D Turton, L Jackson, N Shellard & A Walsh (1996) The international response to conflict and genocide: lessons from the Rwanda experience Study 3, Humanitarian Aid and Effects, Copenhagen: Steering Committee of the Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda.

3 M Duffield, Global Governance and the New Wars: The Merging of Development and Security, London: Zed Books, 2001.

4 dfid, Eliminating World Poverty: A Challenge for the 21st Century, White Paper on International Development, London, 1997, p 5.

5 dfid, Departmental Report, London, 1999.

6 C Short, ‘Principled aid in an unprincipled world: relief, war and humanitarian principles’, speech to the echo/Overseas Development Institute conference, London, 7 April 1998.

7 News from dfid, 2 November 1999.

8 dfid Press release, 11 December 2000.

9 dfid, Statistics on International Development 1995/6 – 1999/2000, London: Government Statistical Service, 2000, p 160.

10 Interview, Kigali, 6 April 2001.

11 Quotations by Clare Short and dfid are from Hansard, 1998 – 2002.

12 Human Rights Watch (hrw), World Report, New York: hrw, 1999.

13 ‘Oxfam outraged by Clare Short's comments on aid agencies’, Oxfam News Release, 4 June 1998.

14 hrw & M McClintock, Uprooting the Rural Poor in Rwanda, New York: hrw, 2001, p 67.

15 Ministry of Local Government and Social Affairs, Community Development Policy, Kigali, c2000, p 12.

16 P Uvin, Aiding Violence: The Development Enterprise in Rwanda, West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press, 1998, p 25.

17 Quoted by irin, 20 September 2000. Available at www.irinnews.org.

18 Swedish International Peace Research Institute (sipri), Yearbook 2000, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, p 297.

19 International Crisis Group (icg), ‘Scramble for the Congo: anatomy of an ugly war’, Africa Report, 26, Brussels: icg, 2000, p 26.

20 dfid, ‘Meeting dfid's fiduciary requirement when providing direct budgetary support’, draft, London, 2000.

21 Oxfam, Save the Children & Christian Aid, ‘No end in sight: the human tragedy of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo’, 2001, p 3. Available at http:www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/conflict_disasters/downloads/noend_drc.pdf.

22 Interview, Kinshasa, 28 May 2001.

23 S Nour, ‘Between hope and the “objective factor”: the Democratic Republic of Congo after Kabila's death—realism and paradigm shift as prerequisites for a sustainable resolution of the Congo crisis’, GTZ Kinshasa, 2001, p 2.

24 DRC Programme Forecast and Expenditure Spreadsheet: FY2000/01 as at 24 April 2001.

25 Quoted in irin, 10 August 2001. Available at www.irinnews.org.