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Advisers to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Africa commission wrote, "From the start, ideas about development generally overlooked the role of religion … in Africa." However, "Africa's development in the 21st century will be shaped largely by religion."

The One Campaign is an outgrowth of Bono's successful 2002 Heart of America tour that took him to Wheaton College, among other places. The One Campaign takes its name from its goal for the United States to spend an additional 1 percent of the federal budget on non-military overseas aid. Right now, non-military overseas aid represents about 0.75 percent of the federal budget. The goal is 1.75 percent.

At June's G8 meeting, the antipoverty campaigners won commitments to wipe out $40 billion of debt for 18 nations, alongside promises of more aid. In coming months, there will be renewed focus on these three areas:

1. More debt relief. Most poor nations are unable to pay back decades-old debts. These debts prevent governments from funding education, building new roads, or improving drinking water supplies. If bad debts are forgiven, the argument goes, the countries gain a fresh start and will borrow money more wisely and use it better.

For example, in exchange for $6 billion of debt relief, Zambian officials promised that they will no longer imprudently take out loans. However, in August the finance minister told Zambia's parliament that the nation is now out from under tight loan restrictions. This speech hints at trouble ahead if more borrowing is done recklessly.

2. New aid. Loans are not enough to jump-start all African economies. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, a Bono adviser, says new aid will help poor African countries escape the "poverty trap," moving their economies from subsistence to prosperity with carefully targeted grants.

"In many places in rural Africa," Sachs said, "the farm households live pretty much in economic isolation. There are no roads to the villages."

The massive new aid for medical relief is the easiest to deliver and has immediate impact. The typical rate of infant mortality in the richest one-fifth of countries is four out of every 1,000 births. In the poorest one-fifth of countries it is 200 out of every 1,000 births. Mali is one of the poorest nations on earth, and 41 percent of its children do not live past age five.

3. Fairer trade. Many think the long-term answer is freer trade between rich and poor nations. African farmers are shut out of many export markets because of farm subsidies in the United States and Europe. Developed nations also limit the import of refined goods. Africa can export raw cotton, cocoa, and coffee to America, but faces high tariffs if those goods are processed.

Despite evangelical enthusiasm, critics say that corruption will undermine all these new efforts.

After British forces saved Sierra Leone from the terror of machete-hacking rulers, they took nearly full control of the country. Today, England is the largest donor to the nation. But corruption is so rife that 95 percent of donated medicine is stolen. A satire on corrupt, greedy officials, the song "Fat Belly Boys" ("Bor Bor Belleh") is popular on radio broadcasts.

Nigeria is widely recognized as one of the world's most corrupt nations. President Olusegun Obasanjo estimates that "corrupt African leaders have stolen at least $140 billion from their people in the decades since independence."

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October 2005, Vol. 49, No. 10