Wars in Africa have cost as much as the hundreds of billions of dollars the continent has been given in international aid, according to a new report.

But while it called for global controls on the arms trade and said "many African governments feel let down by the international community", analysts said that African leaders were more to blame for armed conflict than anyone else.

Oxfam and two arms-control NGOs found that the economic impact of conflict in Africa was "a shocking $284 billion [£140 billion]" from 1990 to 2005.

"This is almost certainly an underestimate," they added.

"This is a massive waste of resources, roughly equivalent to total international aid from major donors in the same period," the report, Africa's Missing Billions, said.

The money was enough to pay for Africa's desperate needs for both education and clean water and sanitation, or the devastation of HIV/Aids, it added..............

Cost of wars in Africa 'equal to all aid money' - Telegraph

__________________
IMMIGRATION - time to say ENOUGH!
EUROPE - back to British independence!
LAW AND ORDER - crack down on crime!
ECONOMY - British workers first!
EDUCATION - discipline, standards, achievement!
AGRICULTURE - quality before quantity!
HEALTH - first-class healthcare for all!
FOREIGN AID - time to spend our money on our own people!
TRANSPORT - time to invest!
PENSIONERS - pensioners before asylum seekers!