The impact of Live Aid on famine relief has been debated for years. One aid relief worker stated that following the publicity generated by the concert, "humanitarian concern is now at the centre of foreign policy" for western governments. Geldof has said, "We took an issue that was nowhere on the political agenda and, through the "lingua franca" of the planet – which is not English but rock 'n' roll – we were able to address the intellectual absurdity and the moral repulsion of people dying of want in a world of surplus." In another interview he stated that Live Aid "created something permanent and self-sustaining" but also asked why Africa is getting poorer. The organisers of Live Aid tried, without much success, to run aid efforts directly, channelling millions of pounds to NGOs in Ethiopia. It has been alleged that much of this went to the Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam – a regime the UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wanted to "destabilise" – and it is also alleged some funds were spent on guns. The BBC stated in 2010 there was no evidence money had been diverted, while the former British Ambassador to Ethiopia, Brian Barder, states, "the diversion of aid related only to the tiny proportion that was supplied by some NGOs to rebel-held areas."