EU aid money for Africa may harm, not help, analysis finds

Oxfam report finds €3.9bn largely spent without public oversight on projects from 2015 to 2019

A boat approaches migrants from Libya aboard a dinghy in the mid Mediterranean Sea. AP

European aid money set aside for development in Africa may be hurting the people it is intended to help, an analysis by Oxfam suggests..

The report, released Thursday, found that the €3.9 billion (Dh15.78bn) for projects from 2015 to May 2019 were largely spent without public oversight, with decisions based on political reasons rather than need or effectiveness.

The EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa was set up in 2015 at the height of a wave of migration to Europe from across the Mediterranean and through Turkey.

More than a million people surged into Europe, prompting a backlash that included the rise of anti-migration policies across the continent.

The fund is due to be replaced by a new mechanism at the end of 2020.

The findings reflect an AP investigation that found EU money intended to stem migration from Libya, one of the largest recipients of trust fund money, was being diverted to the people responsible for abusing migrants.

“There’s no one tracking the money beginning to end,” said Raphael Shilhav, one of the report’s main researchers.

Mr Shilhav questioned whether that would be possible, given the vast number of organisations and countries involved.

The Oxfam report singled out Libya as a particularly problematic country.

The EU has come under criticism for the money and co-operation it provides to the Libyan coastguard, which AP and others found has deep ties to human trafficking and rights abuses.

But even in countries without Libya’s problems, the report found that the EU money can cause problems abroad even as it appears to resolve political issues within Europe.

European priorities, Mr Shilhav said, are not necessarily the same as African priorities.