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France says world was late to help starving Niger
boston.com ^ | July 30, 2005 | Matthew Green

Posted on 07/30/2005 9:12:44 PM PDT by Panerai

France blamed a food crisis gripping its former colony Niger on a late response by the entire international community on Saturday, saying it was not the only country responsible for aiding the world's poor.

It said it would triple food aid to 4.6 million euros ($5.6 million) this year for Niger, where starvation threatens the lives of tens of thousands of children and has left millions of adults hungry after drought and locusts destroyed crops.

Aid workers have blamed donor nations -- including France -- for failing to heed appeals from U.N. agencies and the government for food aid since November.

"I'm happy to see that France is the biggest donor, but other countries must do the same," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after flying in to northern Niger for a brief visit to a mud village where France had sent boxes of medicine.

"There shouldn't just be big declarations made at summits and big concerts with nothing behind them," he said.

Live 8 concerts around the world four weeks ago aimed to put pressure on leaders meeting at a summit of the Group of Eight rich nations into helping Africa.

He said French President Jacques Chirac had been the only head of state to bring up the subject of Niger at the G8 summit in Scotland this month. Douste-Blazy said donor governments had been slow to respond to warnings of an impending crisis in Niger.

"When the international community hears appeals like these, it doesn't react," Douste-Blazy told Reuters at the village of Kalfou, about 500 km (300 miles) northeast of the capital Niamey, where traditional praise-singers banged drums.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: africa; dosomethingaboutit; france; hunger; niger; passingthebuck; poverty; whine
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To: river rat

Another african country that can't take care of itself and needs white help....What a shockeroo!!!!!!


21 posted on 07/30/2005 10:27:35 PM PDT by fishbabe
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To: Panerai
It said it would triple food aid to 4.6 million euros ($5.6 million) this year for Niger,

That's the total of their wine profit for the year. They will be giving the aid in euros because it is only the French buying the wine.

22 posted on 07/30/2005 11:58:57 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Government is running amuck)
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To: everyone

Wasn't there a Drudge headline recently where it stated something to the tune of "220bn has been seized by corrupt Nigerian leaders over the past 40 years...which is equal to the entire sum spent on Africa by the United Kingdom in the past 40 years". So I guess what France is saying, that as a corrupt country themselve, they must assist other corrupt countries.../rolls eyes


23 posted on 07/31/2005 1:18:48 AM PDT by Elathan
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To: Elathan

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/25/wnig25.xml

There you go, found it!

Yeah, you go France, through more money at a corrupt government...way to go! You should be soooo proud of yourself, thinking you are helping the needy. /rolls eyes


24 posted on 07/31/2005 1:21:27 AM PDT by Elathan
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To: Panerai

"I'm happy to see that France is the biggest donor, but other countries must do the same," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after flying in to northern Niger for a brief visit to a mud village where France had sent boxes of medicine."

I'm confused.....I thought they were STARVING and needed FOOD.


25 posted on 07/31/2005 5:17:37 AM PDT by DH
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To: zimdog

No democratic republic has ever suffered a famine. Socialism and kleptocracy is what starves people.


26 posted on 07/31/2005 5:38:00 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Free Sirhan Sirhan, after all, the bastard who killed Mary Jo Kopeckne is walking around free)
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To: muir_redwoods
French President Jacques Chirac had been the only head of state to bring up the subject of Niger at the G8 summit in Scotland.

What a humanitarian that Jacques is.....

27 posted on 07/31/2005 6:49:01 AM PDT by alisasny (We get 4 more years, you get OBAMA...: ))
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To: muir_redwoods

well, niger is a democratic republic.

my point is that the shortage of food was caused (in the short term at least) by a plague of locusts last august and september. government policies may have exacerbated the problem, but niger isn't a socialist kleptocratic state. mainly because there ain't much to steal in niger.


28 posted on 08/02/2005 9:29:38 AM PDT by zimdog
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To: inquest

the hammer and sickle isn't exactly flying high over niamey


29 posted on 08/02/2005 9:30:31 AM PDT by zimdog
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To: zimdog
but niger isn't a socialist kleptocratic state. mainly because there ain't much to steal in niger.

That's mostly a chicken-and-egg argument. There are natural resources in Niger (uranium, coal, and petroleum), but with the exception of the first, there's been little to no development of them. Not having the political conditions for a thriving private sector will to that to you.

30 posted on 08/02/2005 10:09:33 AM PDT by inquest (FTAA delenda est)
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To: Panerai

Fruck you Fance. It was your freakin' colony. You don't have these problems in formerly British colonies.


31 posted on 08/02/2005 10:11:11 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: inquest

fair enough, but that speaks more to the sins of past governments than the current one.


32 posted on 08/02/2005 10:13:44 AM PDT by zimdog
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To: Panerai

Is there anything France touches that doesn't turn to sh!t? (Africa, IndoChina, Haiti...)


33 posted on 08/02/2005 10:15:02 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: inquest

Give me a team of mercenaries and I'll solve the famine problem in Niger. The problem is leadership, not lack of food.


34 posted on 08/02/2005 10:17:27 AM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: Panerai

Dammit! I thought Bolton went to the UN to solve all these problems, and look here, he can't even solve the Niger problem in his first half day! He's got no juice, because he doesn't have the blessing of Ted Kennedy, Reid, and Kerry!


35 posted on 08/02/2005 10:24:06 AM PDT by aShepard
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To: zimdog
my point is that the shortage of food was caused (in the short term at least) by a plague of locusts last august and september.

U.S. farmers have to deal with drought, insects, and West Nile viruses. So...why isn't there famine here in America?

All of the problems in Africa are caused by tin-pot dictators and U.N. meddling.

36 posted on 08/02/2005 10:27:48 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (If there was a problem, yo! I'll solve it!!)
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To: zimdog
Perhaps, but when it comes to countries like this, the burden of proof is on them to show that they've truly reformed.
37 posted on 08/02/2005 10:31:19 AM PDT by inquest (FTAA delenda est)
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To: inquest

perhaps, but when you say a country is a kleptocracy, you have to prove things are being stolen.


38 posted on 08/02/2005 10:38:18 AM PDT by zimdog
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

America is a huge country and US farmers work in different climates. Its rare to have simultaneous droughts in California, the Great Plains, the Ohio Valley and the Southeast.

However, we have an excellent irrigation and transportation infrastructure and so while a drought will drive up prices, food is still available. In Niger, most agriculture is rain-fed and there are very few reservoirs for irrigation. Being just south of the Sahara desert, its underground aquifers are weak.

If you look in your history books, you'll see that famines happened every 10 or 20 years on the East Coast in the 18th and early 19th century. Better roads and better shipping allowed for interstate commerce that made weak crops an economic issue, but not a famine issue.


39 posted on 08/02/2005 10:52:50 AM PDT by zimdog
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To: Panerai
France blamed a food crisis gripping its former colony ...

The fruits of eurotrash colonialism are again being brought to the fore.

Aid workers have blamed donor nations ...

And the American middle class taxpayer is again left holding the bag.

40 posted on 08/02/2005 11:04:20 AM PDT by Freebird Forever (AMERICA FIRST !!!)
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