[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 115 (Thursday, July 28, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5665-H5666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       U.S. MUST LEAD GLOBAL RESPONSE TO FAMINE IN HORN OF AFRICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, last week, the United Nations declared 
famine in Somalia and reported urgent needs in Ethiopia and Kenya. On 
our nightly TV news and in our daily papers, we are seeing the pictures 
of people dying, of children suffering from extreme malnutrition, and 
of mothers carrying their babies, walking over 100 miles in search of 
food and safe haven.
  Tens of thousands of people in Somalia have already died. The Horn of 
Africa is suffering a devastating drought, with this year being 
recorded in some locations as the driest or second driest year on 
record since 1951. The impact has been compounded by war, neglect and 
spiraling food prices.
  Currently, some 11.5 million people across east Africa urgently need 
food aid, medical supplies and care. More than 130,000 Somali refugees 
have left their country for refugee camps along the borders of Ethiopia 
and Kenya. They arrive exhausted and physically depleted. News reports 
estimate that about 1,300 Somali refugees arrive in northern Kenya 
every single day. They join already overcrowded camps, and stress the 
ability of the Kenyan Government and humanitarian agencies to provide 
food, water, emergency care, and shelter.
  Working with local partners and NGOs such as Doctors without Borders, 
Save the Children, and Italian Aid, UNICEF will be vaccinating hundreds 
of thousands of children. Dehydrated and suffering from malnutrition, 
these children, especially those under the age of 5, are particularly 
susceptible to the measles, polio, diarrhea, and pneumonia.
  To date, in fiscal year 2011, the United States has provided over 
$450 million in humanitarian aid to the Horn of Africa through USAID's 
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Food for Peace program, 
along with refugee assistance from the State Department's Bureau of 
Population, Refugees, and Migration.
  But much more needs to be done. The next 3 to 6 months will be 
critical. The drought is expected to worsen, at least through the end 
of the year, and then we will wait to see what happens during the next 
cycle of rains. Will communities be able to recover? Will small farmers 
be able to plant new crops or will heavy rains produce floods that 
drive communities deeper into poverty?
  My colleagues need to understand, however, that the current crisis, 
as terrible as it is, could have been much worse. There is good news 
amongst so much tragedy. The last time a drought of this magnitude hit 
Ethiopia, over 14 million people faced starvation. This time, about 4.5 
million Ethiopians are in need of emergency aid. The difference? Since 
2005, the United States and other donors have made significant 
investments in Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Program.
  I saw firsthand several of these programs in 2007. They helped small 
farmers and poor communities diversify the crops they planted, broaden 
their sources of income, create local markets, better manage their 
water resources, and increase the nutritional content of their own 
diets and those of their children. This has enabled over 7.5 million 
Ethiopians to withstand the worst effects of the current drought. These 
families and communities are not part of the 4.5 million Ethiopians who 
require urgent humanitarian aid.
  Mr. Speaker, these programs work. They were models for Feed the 
Future, our current global program to promote sustainable agriculture, 
food security and nutrition. It's how you end global hunger, Mr. 
Speaker. It's the difference between needing to help rescue 4 million 
people rather than 14 million people. It's also the difference between 
investing $6 per person each year so they become more food secure and 
resilient to disasters--or having to invest $250 per person to deliver 
emergency relief that only covers 3 to 4 months.
  It's the smart way to invest our development resources. Mr. Speaker, 
this is why I am so appalled by what happened yesterday in the markup 
of the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill.

                              {time}  1020

  Development, humanitarian, and disaster aid programs were all 
brutally cut. These cuts come on top of the Agricultural appropriations 
bill that devastated our emergency food aid programs.
  With the worst drought in 60 years hitting the Horn of Africa, these 
cuts amount to the United States turning its back on its own strategic 
interests and walking away from our international commitments.
  Instead, we need to increase our emergency response to the current 
crisis, ensure that we have the resources to invest in long-term 
development, and continue our global leadership in ending hunger and 
famine once and for all. We need to do better, Mr. Speaker.

                       [From IRIN, July 27, 2011]

   Analysis: Horn of Africa Aid Must Also Build Long-Term Resilience

       Geneva.--The images of starving children bear grim witness 
     to the extent of the crisis affecting millions of people in 
     the Horn of Africa, but they also symbolize a failure to act 
     in time, say aid experts.
       ``It is a colossal outrage that the warnings went unheeded, 
     that the lessons of previous famines have been ignored,'' 
     says Barbara Stocking, chief executive of Oxfam.
       The crisis in the Horn of Africa, triggered by drought, 
     conflict and high food prices, is affecting at least 11.6 
     million people, with two regions of southern Somalia 
     suffering from famine. And the situation may well 
     deteriorate.
       But the crisis, experts say, could have been mitigated by 
     mobilizing the necessary resources ahead of time. There is 
     increasing evidence that helping people become more resilient 
     to the naturally recurring cycles of drought is far more 
     effective than responding after disaster has struck.
       It is also sound use of donor money, they say. As such, 
     helping farmers find alternative livelihood options, or 
     teaching them to grow drought-resistant crops, is far more 
     effective than providing food aid when the harvest has 
     failed.
       ``We have hard evidence, including from Africa, that we 
     need only five Swiss francs [US$6.20] per capita per annum to 
     build up resilience,'' said Mohammed Mukhier, who heads the 
     Disaster Risk Reduction unit at the International Federation 
     of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
       ``If you take the emergency response and emergency 
     operations, you might need 200 francs [$250] per capita to 
     deliver relief assistance for periods of just three or four 
     months.''
       Humanitarian agencies and donors agreed at an emergency 
     meeting in Rome on 25 July that the response to the crisis 
     must address the immediate needs of the desperate population 
     and help build resilience to avert similar crises in the 
     future.


                             Risk reduction

       Using donor money wisely is particularly urgent in view of 
     the threats posed globally by natural disasters, including 
     increasingly frequent storms, floods and droughts. Advocates 
     of the risk reduction strategy argue that donors can no 
     longer afford to provide funding for disasters primarily 
     after the fact. The cost is rising and compromising regular 
     development investment.
       Yet, warnings of impending disaster in the Horn of Africa 
     went largely unheeded.
       ``Measures that could have kept animals alive--and provided 
     milk, and income to buy food--would have been much cheaper 
     than feeding malnourished children, but the time for those 
     passed with very little investment,'' said Simon Levine, of 
     the Overseas Development Institute. Now, ``it is far too late 
     to address anything but the worst symptoms'', he wrote on the 
     website of the independent British think-tank.
       While massive funding often goes to post-disaster response, 
     funds for preparedness and contingency planning are 
     relatively scarce. Risk prevention is often hard to fund as 
     it does not generate the same kind of media as a high-profile 
     emergency response. Government donors answer to taxpayers and 
     need to demonstrate impact--something that is difficult to do 
     when disaster has been averted.
       With donors mobilized--even if funds pledged still fall 
     well short of the US$2 billion needed--the focus in the Horn 
     of Africa is now on emergency as well as long-term 
     assistance.
       ``Short-term relief must be linked to building long-term 
     sustainability,'' said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 
     ``This means

[[Page H5666]]

     an agricultural transformation that improves the resilience 
     of rural livelihoods and minimizes the scale of any future 
     crisis. It means climate-smart crop production, livestock 
     rearing, fish farming and forest maintenance practices that 
     enable all people to have year-round access to the nutrition 
     they need.''
       Kanayo F. Nwanze, president of the International Fund for 
     Agricultural Development (IFAD), stressed that building 
     resilience in farming and herding communities required a 
     long-term commitment. ``But time--as we can see from the 
     devastating situation in the Horn of Africa--is running 
     out,'' he told delegates at the meeting in Rome.
       The challenge of seeking to avoid future food insecurity 
     crises in the Horn of Africa is daunting. Conflict has 
     severely hampered development and relief efforts in Somalia, 
     and affects the mobility of pastoralists and their livestock, 
     which is key to food security in the region.
       But disaster risk reduction is increasingly seen as a 
     humanitarian imperative, crucial to battling poverty and 
     achieving sustainable development.
       ``Building resilience of farming and herding communities in 
     East Africa requires a long-term, sustained commitment on the 
     part of the region's governments and the international donor 
     community,'' said Kevin Cleaver, IFAD's associate vice-
     president.
       ``The rains will fail. But let us not fail, too.''

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