Aid to Somalia?

[GreengagePie]

We have pensioners losing their winter fuel allowance, veterans rough sleeping, NHS collapsing, economy tanking and now Labour are sending money to Somalia.
£25million in next 5 years for "Green Urban Growth" (whatever that is).

These are the guys guilty of Piracy on the High Seas!

According to the International Maritime Bureau, a piracy reporting centre based in Malaysia, some 54 crew members and passengers have been killed worldwide since 2006.
The economic losses are also enormous.

AIBU in thinking this isn't exactly a priority?

devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/programme/GB-GOV-1-300797/summary#

Not sure that the piracy connection is relevant but I agree that it is a total waste of taxpayers money.

Labour need to be very careful here. On the back of Trump and USAID, people will be crawling all over this kind of stuff before the next election.

I agree. Fuck everyone else. Fuck asylum seekers. Fuck the starving. Fuck the environment. Fuck the disabled. Fuck everyone.

Close the borders.

Foreign aid is taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries.

I agree. We need to look at exactly what our tax money is spent on. Audits are common place in the public sector.

If we cannot afford to fix schools, roads and give the elderly on 15k a year help towards heating we are far too poor to help other countries.

I do also wonder how many rich people are getting money via these aid schemes!

Sorry replied to wrong post

Not sure how genuine you are, but i do believe charity begins at home, once that's sorted we can save for a rainy day.
Whatever, Somalia No! Never!

I think the government doesn't know that we know this.

I see the Russian bots are out again.

So dull.

Doesn't anyone consider that maybe if the countries that generate desperation (piracy / small boats / dangerous immigration) weren't so fucked, maybe the violence/disease/asylum seekers that then turn up and affect our nice liberal country might not leave?

It is entirely in our interest for Somlia to be safer and more prosperous. Its a much cheaper way of helping the UK than dealing with the fall out on our own shores.

With all that's been happening with USAID, I am starting to question the true purposes of all so called foreign aid and where it all really goes. I find it very odd that so many developed economies would be so interested in sending billions abroad without pursuit of some kind of agenda and purpose. Particularly since it so often seems to be done at the expense of their own citizens when so many of the said citizens are struggling to make ends meet.

When I was at uni, I remember hearing only great and amazing things about USAID. I remember even applying to work for them because it seemed like such a good place to work for for all those, let's put it this way, good and noble intentions. I am completely stunned to find out about their involvement in all those regime change operations around the world, sponsoring specific agendas and narratives in foreign media etc, etc. I don't want to sound all conspiratorial but it does make you wonder how many more of this type of organisations do the same sort of thing in the world under the same banner of good intentions.

Excuse me, I'm not a bot - Russian or otherwise !
So Чушь тебе!

Of that list in your first paragraph, Winter Fuel Allowance alone costs the government £2 billion a year. Not sure which of those problems you think £25 million will solve.

We sometimes suspend aid to countries where the government instigates or condones criminal behaviour (usually in the context of war crimes). Piracy doesn't fall into that category. It would be like a country severing ties to the UK on the grounds that gangs operate county lines here.

If you improve living conditions in Somalia, they might not want to become pirates.

Some of which then makes it's way back to rich people in rich countries.

How are some people so naive that they still believe "foreign aid" is about charity?

@PensionConfusion24 Of that list in your first paragraph, Winter Fuel Allowance alone costs the government £2 billion a year. Not sure which of those problems you think £25 million will solve.

Taken alone, very little, but just another dollop of unnecessary Foreign Aid that helps rack up the bill to £8.3billion.

Foreign Aid is just a legal route to corruption.

My family background is from a regular top 20 country that receives UK Aid. I go there almost every year and it is common knowledge the aid goes into the pockets of the dictators who lead the country under the guise of 'democracy'
You can see for yourself, there is no way 53m USD was spent in that country in 2022 alone. Absolute joke.

Foreign Aid buys power and influence and facilitates corruption. That's all.

Don't you think it's interesting that many of the countries who may be about to lose USAID grants aren't complaining?

I suspect quite a few are relieved that the US will not longer be buying destabilising rent-a-mobs and they may be able to get on with the business of running their own countries without the threat of a foreign power deciding they need regime change if the government of another country finds it more convenient.

I personally think every penny of tax payers money should be accounted for and justifiable as to how it helps their own country. Anything else should be voluntary.

@FOJN - do you not think they aren't complaining because they need to maintain relations with an insane and capricious US White House?

We spend a fortune on anti-piracy patrols - lifting Somalis out of poverty so that they don't continue turning to piracy out of desperation is money well spent. Best to get have them onside rather than let them fall further into the hands of China (ironically it is illegal fishing by Chinese fleets that drove them to piracy in the first place).

Foreign aid is diplomacy by other means - and diplomacy is always preferable to conflict.

THISSSSS! STOP ALL FOREIGN AID.

No, no I don't.

I don't think you understand how destructive our "charitable" endeavours overseas are. We are like the fucking mafia.

Plenty of credible journalists have been writing about it for years. I got my introduction from Greg Palast in "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" which was published in 2002.

Indeed! So far, the only complaints I've seen or heard about this and Trump's exec orders have been coming from Ukraine, which said that more than 90% of their media has been basically funded by the US, which also makes you wonder just how sovereign and independet their narrative has been given that this has been the case! It's really quite unbelievable!

This.

The corruption is so visible it's embarrassing.

I whole heartedly agree diplomacy is better than conflict. However poorer countries never have good leaders because the leaders want to pocket the aid. That is why they want to lead at any cost.

If all Foreign Aid stopped then the developing countries might have leaders who actually want to help their own people.

Or how about the UK/US implement the Aid themselves. Send paid builders from the UK to build the infrastructure. E.g. build a school and send paid UK teachers to support and train poorer countries. Or send people to teach them how to improve tourism etc. Has anyone seen the beaches in Somalia, it's like the Maldives! Actual tangible help, not money transfer into the leaders personal bank accounts.

It's so depressing. As long as there is Foreign Aid, these countries don't stand a chance.