Aid to be cut from 16 countries as UK pledges to target war-torn nations

Overseas aid will be better targeted after British funds are cut off from 16 countries currently receiving UK cash, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said yesterday.

Russia, China, Angola and Vietnam are among those that will see their aid budgets phased out between now and 2016.

The government will also save more than 50 million by cutting aid to four United Nations aid organisations which fail to spend taxpayers' money wisely, Mr Mitchell announced. Britain would instead spend more on aid in war-torn countries, such as Afghanistan and Somalia.

"Aid can perform miracles, but it must be well spent and properly targeted," he told MPs in a statement to the Commons

It was "no longer acceptable" for British taxpayers to fund the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, UN-Habitat, the International Labour Organisation, and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

But Mr Mitchell faced claims that the government was putting Britain's security concerns ahead of aid priorities.

World Development Movement head of policy Julian Oram said: "What we are concerned about is the focus on a smaller number of countries, which actually takes money away from some of the world's poorest countries, like Niger, Angola and Cambodia, and channels it into countries where there is deemed to be a higher security risk to the UK. The securitisation of aid is a real concern under the outcomes of this review."