[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 38 (Tuesday, April 12, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: April 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
{time} 1210
TRAGEDY IN ANGOLA
(Mr. EMERSON asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute, and to revise and extend his remarks, and include extraneous
matter.)
Mr. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, the chairman of the House Hunger Caucus,
our distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hall], has
just returned from a factfinding mission to Angola. This morning,
Chairman Hall reported to the Hunger Caucus and shared some very
troubling observations about the plight of that land. He has written a
brief piece, the Paradox of Suffering in Angola, which appeared in
today's Christian Science Monitor. It is a trenchant summary of his
experiences and observations, and I commend it to the reading and to
the consideration of all of our colleagues.
The article referred to is as follows:
[From the Christian Science Monitor, Apr. 12, 1994]
Paradox of Suffering in Angola
(By Tony P. Hall)
As civil war approaches its third decade in Angola, a
generation of children has been lost. No matter how many
sites I visit to urge solutions to humanitarian disasters, it
is the images of hungry children that haunt me the most.
In Angola, the paradox of starving and malnourished
children is especially insane. Angola is a green and fertile
nation with thousands of miles of temperate Atlantic
shoreline and has a vast supply of oil and diamonds. River
valleys and rich savannas are made even more valuable by a
relatively low population and density rate. There are no
desert droughts in Angola. The nation is free of the
geographical calamities affecting Somalia and Sudan.
It is Angola's leaders who perpetuate the senseless tragedy
affecting its 3.3 million people.
I took the Congressional Hunger Caucus and my new
nongovernmental organization (NGO), the Congressional Hunger
Center, to Angola because of reports from the United States
State Department that hundreds were perishing daily from
hunger and disease. Thousands of malnourished orphans were
scavenging for food in city trash heaps and across mine-
infested grain fields. I read of children scooping up
handfuls of dirt tinged with powdered milk that had sifted
from sacks of relief food.
I found scenes like these in Angola--and something more.
Amid the jammed refugee camps, the dusty therapeutic feeding
centers, and the putrid marketplaces, I found well equipped
and healthy soldiers from both sides of the civil war who
were seemingly unmoved by the misery at their feet.
Even more disturbing than this spectacle is the disgraceful
example of personal comfort set by the leaders that the
militiamen esteem. A palace-ensconced president and
temperamental ministers, preoccupied with political
positioning and perpetuating war, bring pain and injustice
to their people. Years of destructive conflict in Angola
have caused massive displacement, disrupted agricultural
production, destroyed infrastructure, and paralyzed the
economy.
Food aid is necessary in Angola, and the international NGOs
and multilateral organizations that work there are truly
angels of mercy. But this temporary help is not the lasting
answer for Angola. Serious international pressure must be
leveled on the rulers who ignore cease-fire agreements and
continually dash Angola's hope for normalcy. Their jockeying
for power, land, oil, and diamonds while children receive
inadequate health care, lack basic education, and even
starve, is inexcusable.
The leaders are greedy; further they have enabled the
purveyance of weapons--including land mines. Universal
condemnation of their actions is essential to ending hunger
in Angola.
The bright news from Angola is the cooperation exhibited by
dozens of dedicated NGOs and various offices of the United
Nations. Honorable mentions are due to World Vision, the
International Committee for the Red Cross, Doctors Without
Borders, Concern, Catholic Relief Services, and the Office of
Foreign Disaster Assistance.
I also was impressed by the relatively new UN Department of
Humanitarian Affairs, which is responsible for the overall
coordination of humanitarian relief to people subsisting
under the eyes of warring factions. The World Food Program
has proved invaluable in supporting and delivering relief in
Angola, and the NGOs have been exemplary in distributing
life-saving commodities.
There appears now to be only one obstacle preventing Angola
from moving from relief to rehabilitation--Angola's leaders.
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