Aid and Conditionality: The Case of Belgium, with Particular Reference to Burundi, Rwanda and Zaïre

The recent emphasis on conditionality seems to suggest that in earlier periods development aid was given vvith no strings attached. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it is more correct to say that aid has alvvays been subject to a battery of conditions. What has changed, therefore, is not the principle of conditionality as such, but the nature of this conditionality. This applies as much to Belgium as to any other donor country.