Sweden's African Wars: 'Sweden finances wars in Africa,' says a new book by a Swedish journalist and writer, Bengt Nilsson. Like a bomb blast, the book, published in September 2008, unveils how Swedish aid is diverted to fund wars in Africa. Moussa Awuonda reports from Stockholm.

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AFRICA/SWEDEN

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Sweden's African Wars: 'Sweden finances wars in Africa,' says a new book by a Swedish journalist and writer, Bengt Nilsson. Like a bomb blast, the book, published in September 2008, unveils how Swedish aid is diverted to fund wars in Africa. Moussa Awuonda reports from Stockholm.

Whenever the controversial role of Western aid to Africa is debated, there is always a tendency to make an exception for a set of donors. The Nordic countries, namely Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, belong to a league of countries whose aid policies and practice in Africa are often lauded. Their aid budgets normally reach the 0.7% of the target earmarked by the UN. Indeed, some of the Nordic countries exceed this by allocating 1% of their gross national product (GNP) to help developing countries, mostly in Africa.

Governments receiving Scandinavian aid talk of the...

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