Posted on 05/02/2002 9:59:10 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials are scrambling to cope with what could become the worst humanitarian crisis since President Bush took office: a potentially catastrophic famine in drought-stricken southern Africa that threatens 5 million people with starvation.''What's unfolding in southern Africa is very big,'' Roger Winter, the assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development's humanitarian assistance bureau, said in an interview Tuesday.
''Even though we don't have in hand all the information we need, we have in hand enough to know that we have to respond big-time,'' Winter said.
The looming disaster also could have political ramifications for Bush. For many foreign aid advocates, how aggressively his administration responds will provide the first practical test of whether Bush will keep his word to boost U.S. assistance for needy countries.
Bush's commitment this year to spend as much as $10 billion more on U.S. developmental aid by 2005 -- roughly double current spending -- was praised by aid advocates. But activists want to see how the administration reacts to a real crisis.
''People have been encouraged by a lot of the speeches and rhetoric that Bush and people around him have used to talk about poor and hungry people,'' said Tom Freedman, an adviser to President Clinton who now is a visiting fellow at Resources for the Future, a Washington think tank.
''Now we have a concrete case. And there's a lot of folks who have their fingers crossed that the action will live up to the rhetoric,'' Freedman said.
Judith Lewis, regional director of the United Nations World Food Program, said in a telephone interview from Kampala, Uganda, that she had just returned from a tour of the afflicted region, where relief efforts are centering on food shortages caused by a severe drought in six countries: Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The United Nations feeds 2.6 million of the 54 million people in those countries. Lewis said she believes the aid will have to at least double because of food shortages already being felt.
Lewis said the famine in the region is ''certainly the worst we've seen since 1992,'' when a drought left 18 million people without sufficient food. Lewis said she hopes the world will not lose sight of the crisis because of the war on terrorism. ''We just have to get people to turn back to Africa because there are a lot of competing crises,'' she said.
Experts say conditions are particularly bad in Malawi, with Zambia and Zimbabwe close behind. Zimbabwe declared a state of disaster Tuesday.
U.S. officials blame President Robert Mugabe as much as the drought for food shortages in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe recently won a questionable re-election that has plunged the country into chaos.
U.N. teams are still conducting a survey of the region, and Lewis said a plan of action won't be proposed until early June.
But U.S. officials said they already are responding, even in Zimbabwe, despite their unhappiness with Mugabe. Winter said the Pentagon, State Department, CIA and other agencies met April 11, and reports on the famine have gone to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Bush.
Winter said Washington is providing food assistance -- a shipment of 35,000 metric tons is on the way and 40,000 metric tons are ready for shipment. That's enough to feed approximately 375,000 people for a year.
''President Bush has said there will be no famines on his watch,'' Winter said. ''We take that very seriously.''
Aid groups point out that the famine is a natural disaster, which Bush's pledge did not address. He promised new foreign aid for long-term poverty reductions in countries that show progress and spend the money responsibly.
But aid advocates say more money is needed to avert short-term crises, such as famines, if some struggling countries are ever able to achieve long-term gains.
''The U.S emergency response frequently is generous, and we hope it will be here because there can't be long-term development for people who are in the middle of a famine,'' said Bill O'Keefe, government relations director for Catholic Relief Services.
Bush's actions on the famine also will be seen as a pivotal factor in how high Africa ranks on his foreign policy agenda.
Though last year's terrorist attacks and the resulting war in Afghanistan have diverted attention from U.S. policy on Africa, activists say they are generally pleased with Bush's approach. Both Powell and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill have visited the continent.
''I give them reasonable marks . . . on a scale of one to 10, maybe a six or seven,'' said Melvin Foote, president of the advocacy group Constituency for Africa.''
Foote said Jendayi Frazier, the Africa specialist on Bush's National Security Council, recently told the group that Bush plans to visit Africa next year.
This crap just makes my head explode.
Teach a man to fish, and he'll spend all day at the lake drinking beer....
I watched a pig farmer down the road from me for a few years. When pigs make him money he treats them like gold. Best feed, best conditions, lots of investment in facility improvement, etc... When the input exceeded output(such as the past few years), he had his son shoot the sick ones because a vet visit was an economic drain. Instead of balanced feeds, rotten moldy feeds which were free for the hauling became the daily ration. USDA agents(an aide agency) came around gladly offering loan programs, grants, funding sources etc... Now the farmer has become aide dependant. The pigs live in the horrible conditions because they are still an expense. The farmer lives in great conditions because the bullet is still cheaper than the doctor, rotted feed is all that the pigs get, and filthy diseased conditions are what the pigs are quatered in.
I bet pig farming in Africa transcends species.
No, sending them food would be a major error. We have to allow them to suffer for their mistakes. Stupidity should be painful, that is how you learn. After about a hundred million Africans starve to death or get eaten by their neighbors perhaps then they will be ready to consider the idea that rule of law and property rights are important.
If one does not behave in a way that allows for the protection and creation of wealth, one loses the right to cry because one lacks the benefits of wealth.
"you'd be talking about your president......"
As opposed to your would-be president Mr. Gore?
I guess a lot of people forget that we want Africa to be on OUR side, instead of that of China or the terrrorists. Letting mass starvation occur will not help the USA, that's for sure. Plus, if we have the resources to help, it would be very wrong to let millions of innocent people suffer because of their corrupt and evil leaders.
I imagine you are correct, and we will see aid done in a far different manner than before. I guess a few people forgot about the Millenium Fund, and how the money does NOT go to governments which oppress their people, at President Bush's insistence. We will probably give aid in food and technical assistance (like well-drilling).
Nice try, no chance...
You couldn't pay me to vote for bush or gore
Again, if we send ONE PENNY of aid over there then we are saying that murdering farmers is just fine, stealing farms is dandy, mob rule is OK by us. Sorry, not going for it. If the pansy fairy left wingers wanna get upset with me, they can just have their little hissy fit and then go back to their kneepad duties. What are they going to do, cut my hair badly? Misarrange my furniture? Suggest a really bad wine with my dinner?
Exactly. It’s easy to get carried away and go down the “F’em , they caused this, let ‘em suffer” road, but in fact, the majority of people who are suffering in all these countries have little if any culpability in the situation.
Take Rhodesia for example, it’s completely obvious to anyone who followed the March election that the vast majority of Rhodesians support the MDC rather than the ruling ZANU PF. However, there really isn’t much they can do about it with Mad Bob aligned with the others in the African Dictators Union. They have no realistic chance of overthrowing their dictator.
As you said though, giving aid will only prop up the dictatorship and prolong the suffering. It’s a horrible situation and no rational person can be comfortable standing by idly while millions die an agonizing death, however, there simply isn’t anything that can be done to help them.
This blood is all on Mad Bob’s hands.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
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