[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 119 (Thursday, September 19, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8914-S8915]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Madam President, I rise today to call attention to the 
tenuous food security situation in sub-Saharan Africa.
  The United Nations estimates that 14.4 million people are in need of 
immediate food aid and humanitarian assistance in southern Africa, 
where drought and poor harvests have combined with manmade factors--
including economic mismanagement and politically-motivated disruption 
of agriculture in Zimbabwe--to create deadly conditions for the people 
of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho. This 
food crisis is striking a population already devastated by HIV/AIDS, 
compounding the difficulty of African families' struggle for survival. 
I have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the causes of 
the food shortage and the obstacles to successfully addressing it in 
the hopes of gaining greater clarity as the relationship between 
natural and manmade obstacles to food security in the region.
  In the Horn of Africa, food shortages are again threatening the well 
being of millions. As the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea struggle to 
recover from a costly war and severe food shortage in 2000, many have 
had no opportunity to reestablish their own economic security. Large 
numbers of people are living on the margin, and are extremely 
vulnerable to food shortages. In Angola, the brutal civil war is 
finally over, but the legacy of that conflict and of years of neglect 
has left hundreds of thousands malnourished and seeking assistance. And 
in West Africa, disturbing reports suggest that the people of 
Mauritania and Senegal are also threatened by food shortages linked to 
drought. Sadly, from Burundi to Liberia, populations living in conflict 
zones also suffer from resulting food shortages.
  As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on African Affairs, I know that 
our interests throughout the sub-Saharan region are many, from 
promoting democracy and development to combating terrorism and other 
international criminal activity. None of those aims can be vigorously 
pursued when populations are weakened and governments distracted by 
desperate hunger and humanitarian catastrophe. I also know that our 
foreign policy agenda today is a crowded one, and that many crucially 
important issues compete for resources and attention.
  There are some baseline conditions that we must strive to maintain if 
other elements of our policy are to have a meaningful impact around the

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world. Basic food security is one of those baseline conditions. We need 
strong partners, and the strength of the region is being sapped every 
day by hunger. Working with others to fight off starvation, and then to 
help strengthen food security systems to avoid future crises, must 
always be a priority. I will work with my colleagues and the 
administration to ensure that the United States finds a way to give 
food security issues throughout sub-Saharan Africa the attention that 
they deserve, and I urge my colleagues to support efforts to address 
the problem in the region.

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