Band Aid or Gun Trade?

There's been a war of words between 'Saint Bob' Geldof and the BBC over the story that alleges that far from 'feeding the world', at least some of the monies raised by the Band Aid campaign were spent on Guns and Bullets to feed the wars that were a constant factor in Ethiopia at the time.

As a cynic, I am hardly surprised by the allegations as there have been similar stories about western charities monies being syphoned off through fraud or misappropriation in Africa before, so why wouldn't Eritrean warlords have been able to fool a bunch of musical 'Luvvies'?

The story has hung about for a few days, so it may have some legs as the BBC are showing no signs of retracting in the face of the Geldoff tirade. A few years ago, they would have collapsed under his frown, but his star has waned and the BBC obviously feel more able to stand their ground inspite of the challenge to its truthfulness.