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.
However, it looks like another "meals on wheels" and nationbuilding mission, complete with UN involvement. I reject these roles as legitimate US foreign policy.
Destabilization of the most corrupt regimes would certainly be supported by a lot of Europe, at least in the case of Zimbabwe.
I also think there is an opportunity to control resources in those countries through purchase of shares in their mining industries with food aid...sort of an investment, if you will.
The current method of giving aid provides no long-term results (at least positive ones). I favor doing something that gets Africa on the road to being able to take care of itself and exploit its potential.
I was about to say thats the whole problem
except the litany of problems in Africa seems to be endless.
No one wants to invest in Africa because not only is labor, transportation, supply chains etc., completely unreliable, but theres no guarantee of rule of law. In fact, chances are any investment made in one of these countries will just be repatriated to war veterans or some other flunky of the dictator.
Owl_Eagle
Guns Before Butter.
Let's seize that money, buy food, and get our soldiers to distribute it to the people.
Can't speak for the other countries, but Mugabe's policies are the problem in Zimbabwe. May he achieve the same fate as Mussolini.
Knowing you to be an intelligent and thoughtful person by your insightful posts, I have to ask if you've forgotten the lessons of The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick.
American governmental largesse contributed through thugs like Mugabe is going to be used AGAINST America, not for us.
We have the resources to help everybody - but who are we obligated to help? And how? The best thing we could do for Zimbabwe, if we assume intervention is right, is to launch a sufficient invasion force to take out his entire government and summarily execute the "war veterans" who are robbing, killing and raping Zimbabwe. Once some kind of government was established, as opposed to a "thugocracy", meaningful food aid could be given.
Giving food aid while the racist Marxists are in power will only strengthen their hand and prolong the country's agony.
"Nice try, no chance..."
"You couldn't pay me to vote for bush or gore"
Oh, a Libertarian eh? Like that's any better!
I have not forgotten the lessons of The Ugly American but other countries use that reputation to their advantage. The trick is how to outfox them and save some lives.
The colonial powers left Africa a couple of centuries too early.
As an Africa Watch junkie, I can tell you that Mugabes policies are the problem in all these countries. Rhodesia used to be a major exporter of food to all the countries that are embarking on this horrific famine. Now, due to his racist, marxist, syphilis fueled insanity, the entirety of Sub Saharan Africa is suffering.
On the bright side, its the first opportunity for many of us to have a front row seat to the anatomy of a famine.
Owl _ Eagle
Guns before butter.
In my opinion, yes it is better.....
Furthermore, and most importantly, sending even a dime of
our (US) hard earned income to africa is wrong.
There is nothing compassionate or conservative about our leaders taking
what does not belong to them and giving it to anyone who has not earned it.
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