Tonga misses access to billion dollar US aid fund

"...…if Tonga restored the political rights enjoyed by its citizens before 2003 when it was above the median, it might qualify for access to tens of millions of dollars in US aid funding." Tonga has been dropped from a list, announced on July 20, of the world's poorest countries that the United States will allow to become candidates in 2005 for a new multi-billion dollar aid fund.