[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 17, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S14691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       CRASH OF THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME AIRCRAFT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on Friday, November 12, a United Nations 
World Food Programme airplane carrying 24 people crashed in northern 
Kosovo, killing all on board. The plane departed Rome bound for 
Pristina, Kosovo--the wreckage was found only 20 miles from its 
destination. The passengers, mainly humanitarian aid workers, were on a 
routine flight run by the World Food Programme.
  The World Food Programme is the world's largest international food 
aid organization that provides food aid to 75 million people worldwide 
through development projects and emergency operations.
  The WFP fights both the acute hunger that grips a family fleeing 
civil conflicts and the chronic hunger that slowly gnaws away a life. 
Hunger afflicts one out of every seven people on earth. 800 million 
people are malnourished. Starvation threatens at least another 50 
million victims of man-made and natural disasters. In 1998, the WFP 
delivered 2.8 million tons of food to 80 countries. These projects are 
enormous undertakings, and are sometimes not without human costs.
  The WFP has lost more employees than any other UN agency in work-
related accidents, illnesses or attacks. Fifty-one people since 1988 
have lost their lives while in service to those who would otherwise go 
hungry. Among the 24 people who died in the most recent tragedy were 
doctors, a civil engineer, aid workers, a volunteer chemist, police 
officers and non-governmental organization workers.
  As we begin to plan our Thanksgiving meals, let us pause a moment to 
reflect on those who dedicate themselves to the eradication of 
starvation. Let us remember our dear friend and colleague, Congressman 
Mickey Leland, who died in a plane crash 10 years ago while leading a 
mission to an isolated refugee camp in Ethiopia.
  And as we talk about the United Nations, let us not forget who the 
U.N. is made up of--humanitarian aid workers who devote their lives, 
often at great risk, to easing the suffering of others.

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