Obama Heads to Africa

On the heels of the G-8 summit, President Obama is making his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa since he assumed the presidency.

The G-8 leaders have earmarked $20 billion to help poor African farmers boost their productivity.  That may sound like a lot of money, but it really isn't.  A good portion of that figure had already been tagged to go to the continent anyway.  And many countries are far behind in paying the money they had already promised to give four years ago.

Also, if you compare the more than $48 billion President Bush set aside for Africa during his administration to this $20 billion cumulative donation from some of the richest countries in the world; their promise seems very small indeed.  It almost seems a nice symbolic gesture.  If history is our guide, this is a promise many countries may never keep.

Make sure to tune in to special coverage of the President's trip to Africa on the CBN Newschannel and Christian World News next week.