"Stop all development aid to African governments. A trillion dollars have not helped. Aid has only corrupted Africa and made it inert."

The Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo is an African voice in a debate dominated by white men. Her critics say she is nothing but a media hype.

Her book, Dead Aid, could be found in The New York Times best sellers list early this year. Time magazine included Moyo (40) among the 100 most influential people on earth. African leaders ask for her advice. Everywhere she goes she creates a sensation, including in the Netherlands, where her book has just been published in the Dutch translation.

Jan Willem Gunning, a professor of development economics at the Free University of Amsterdam, was Moyo's promoter at Oxford. Gunning calls Dead Aid "a media hype" and "a very naive story", but he is less concerned about the book's negative impact.

Gunning: "It is good that Moyo's African voice is being heard, because until now the debate has been monopolised by white men like me." He thinks readers will see Dead Aid for what it's worth. "My students browse through it to stay up to date, but they are not fundamentally changing their opinion because of it."

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