Editor,Aid has become the opium of the poor and has blinded many of our countries to the fact that those who give it want something in return – sometimes something the recipient is not prepared to give. But, like all addictions, it also stunts our capacity to take charge of our own affairs, as we opt instead for the easier (but more expensive longer-term path) of handing our own fate to the "gentle” care of third parties.You can’t claim to be independent even as you remain dependent in such a critical area as paying your own way. Yes, it is difficult to kick any addition cold-turkey, but in our case it is not as if we have a choice. We really must get off the aid gravy train and stand on our own feet. Only then will we be taken seriously rather than beggars.Mwene Kalinda, Mwene Kalinda

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"It’s now only the donor taking decisions over the recipient. And that’s against the principle of aid”. Not at all, there is no principle to follow when giving aid, nobody should feel obliged to give aid....aid is not a salary, aid is no debt the donor owe, no you give aid because you feel like giving aid, it is not a responsibility. What Africans need is to erase this view from their head, we shouldn’t expect aid, in fact I think we should start refusing aid. We should use our brains to solve the challenges we face in Africa, and demanding aid should be removed from ways to solve our problems.If we have to demand aid it should be the last thing we do when we are unable to address our challenges. I say that colonisation is much better than aid, if we can’t solve our challenges here in Africa, it is better to ask Europeans and Americans and all those powerful countries to come in Africa and take over officially and re-colonise us; at least that way we will be able to learn from them because they will be on the spot so we can watch them work, instead of giving us money.Rwanyonga, Kigali(Reactions to the story, "DRC crisis: Rwanda’s rebuttal was ignored”, The New Times, December 6)