Wars in Africa drain $18 billion, report estimates

Africa’s nearly two dozen wars in recent decades have robbed the continent of about $18 billion a year that could have helped one of the world’s poorest regions build stronger economies, says a report to be released today.

“This is money Africa can ill afford to lose,” Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf wrote in an introduction to the report by the British charity Oxfam and two groups that seek tougher controls on small arms, Saferworld and the International Action Network on Small Arms.

“The sums are appalling: The price that Africa is paying could cover the cost of solving the HIV and AIDS crisis in Africa, or provide education, water and prevention and treatment for tuberculosis and malaria,” Sirleaf said. “Thousands of hospitals, schools, and roads could have been built.”

On average, the economies of African nations racked by war shrank by 15% and the damage generally worsened the longer a war lasted, the report says.

The report got its figures by estimating what growth might have been in countries if they had not suffered conflicts. During Guinea-Bissau’s 1989-99 war, for example, projected growth was 5%, but the economy decreased 10%, it said.

“This methodology almost certainly gives an underestimate,” the group said in a joint statement.

Compared with peaceful countries, war-battered African nations have “50% more infant deaths, 15% more undernourished people, life expectancy reduced by five years, 20% more adult illiteracy, 2.5 times fewer doctors per patient and 12.4% less food per person,” the report estimates.

The report looked at 23 nations that had wars between 1990 and 2005, estimating the cost at a total of about $300 billion.

The report did not include Somalia, which has been in a state of anarchy since 1991 but for which there are no statistics.

The group blamed the availability of small arms such as assault rifles for fueling the conflicts. It said about 95% of the arms used in African wars are from outside the continent.