Western Media: Africa Loses Faith in West as It Was 'Abandoned' in Wake of Ukraine Crisis

African countries have lost confidence in Western powers after they turned a blind eye to the continent's humanitarian crises while continuing their unprecedented support for Ukraine, AFP reported Wednesday.

According to the French publication, citing the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Western aid to Ukraine jumped from less than a billion dollars a year to more than $16 billion in 2022 in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Western backers of Ukraine argue that the aid is essential to shore up a "country whose collapse would send shockwaves across Europe and beyond," according to the report.

The publication quoted a French government official as saying that during a joint meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington in April, African countries "expressed fears of a double standard on international aid."

The Ukraine crisis "lays bare the real face of the great powers in their action with regard" to Africa, AFP quoted a Beninese diplomat as saying ahead of a conference in Paris on poverty and climate finance. The unnamed diplomat added that Africa was being "abandoned."

The spigot of aid to Ukraine has been open since February 2022, with allies of the Kiev regime amassing more than $150 billion in pledges, most of it in the form of military equipment. In another development, the European Union's executive commission earlier this week proposed a further $50 billion in aid for "embattled Kiev," the publication noted.

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In addition, Western countries are expected to spend up to $411 billion on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction.

"You see these enormous sums which at one time were considered an impossibility and which these days are considered possible," foreign minister of Niger, Hassoumi Massoudou, told the news agency, adding that such aid to the East European country showed that the "resources and mechanisms" that could also be used to support the least developed nations in Africa are available.

The report pointed out that Western nations are facing criticism for failing to provide the annual climate change funding of $100 billion pledged during the 2009 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

The G20's commitment to rechanneling $100 billion in IMF special drawing rights from developed to vulnerable economies is also unfulfilled. "Loss and damage" funding for poor countries impacted by climate change is still uncertain, despite it being a pivotal point at COP27 in Egypt.

"There's a crisis of confidence" between donors and developing countries, stressed Elise Dufief, a researcher at France's Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). "When you see the crisis in Ukraine or North American banks which go bankrupt, the response comes very quickly."

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The Western publication also quoted an unnamed Zambian government official as saying that the Ukraine crisis had highlighted the need for African nations to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on Western support.

"There are conflicts in northern Congo, conflicts in Sudan and other parts of Africa, but the support Ukraine is getting from western countries is unprecedented," the Zambian official reportedly stated. "The West has focused on supporting European countries. It’s time the African Union organized the African countries."