Band Aid’s good work still in evidence today

MEDIA reports (March 8) which claimed large sums of money raised in the early 1980s by Bob Geldof’s Band Aid were siphoned off to buy weapons in Ethiopia have met with a furious response from the anti-poverty campaigner.

The reports alleged that up to 95% of the aid that went into rebel-held areas of Tigray province in 1985 was used to buy arms. These hugely damaging claims have been rejected in robust terms by Geldof who said there was “not a shred of evidence” to support them.

Self Help Africa was established in the immediate aftermath of the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, and while we do not work in Tigray, we did receive a major grant from the Band Aid Trust at that time.