Geldof challenges BBC over diverted aid claim

CLAIMS that aid money sent to Ethiopia was spent on weapons are “palpable nonsense”, Band Aid founder Bob Geldof said yesterday.

The Band Aid Trust said it will complain to Ofcom and the BBC Trust about a BBC report that alleged millions of pounds raised for famine relief was spent on weapons by a rebel group in north Ethiopia.

Speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, Geldof said: “Produce me one shred of evidence and I promise you I will professionally investigate it, I will professionally report it, and if there is any money missing I will sue the Ethiopian government for that money back and I will spend it on aid.

“There is not a single shred of evidence that Band Aid or Live Aid money was diverted.”

A broadcast on the BBC World Service reported claims that 95% of the $100 million (€69.76m) in aid which went to the province of Tigray in 1985 was used by rebel forces to buy weapons.

The BBC report featured interviews with two former rebels who made the allegations.

A Christian Aid spokes- woman said they planned to support the complaint to the BBC Trust.

Paul Brannen, head of advocacy at the charity, said: “In this age of rapid and international communication, it is more important than ever that the BBC independently verify all its facts before transmitting a story as potentially damaging as this one.”

Andrew Whitehead, the news and current affairs editor at the World Service, said the BBC “stands by” its report.

Writing in The Editors blog on the BBC website, Whitehead stated: “It presents evidence, compelling evidence, that some of the famine relief donations were diverted by a powerful rebel group to buy weapons.”

Whitehead defended World Service’s Africaeditor Martin Plaut, who made the documentary.

He referred to Plaut’s experience in Africa and the fact he reported on the 1980s Ethiopian famine.

He also wrote: “He has spent almost a year gathering material and doing research for this documentary – and the BBC stands by his journalism.”

Whitehead admitted the two former rebels quoted are “at odds” with their old leader, now the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, but said: “They are credible voices.”