U.S. pledges Africa food aid

Press, 13 March 1985, Page 11

U.S. pledges Africa food aid

NZPA-Reuter Geneva The United States would supply half the emergency food needed by some 30 million famine victims in Africa, the Vice-President, Mr George Bush, said yesterday. “As we did last year, the United States is again prepared to meet 50 per cent of the emergency food need, which we estimate to be about three million tonnes,” he told a special United Nations conference on emergency relief for the millions of victims of famine, caused by severe droughts and civil wars in 20 African countries. American food and drought aid this year would total more than SUSI ($2.25) billion, in addition to the SUS7BB ($1773) million of previously planned economic aid. He said that he spoke as “one who, for the past week, has stood on the parched earth of Africa and seen some of the results of ecological disaster and human failure.” Mr Bush arrived at Geneva directly from a tour of the most devastated African countries;- including

Sudan, Niger, and Mali. The United Nations has called for SUSI.S billion in new donations for emergency aid this year to help millions of Africans who have been forced to leave their homes to seek food and water elsewhere. American officials said that the contributions announced by Mr Bush would make up part of the American commitment to the United Nations target. Italy has offered almost $2.4 billion in emergency aid over the next 18 months. The United Nations Secre-tary-General, Mr Javier Perez de Cuellar, called the special conference, attended by more than 100 countries, to review the progress so far in mobilising emergency aid. “Thirty million men, women, and children face the grim reality of debilitating malnutrition, starvation and, in many cases, death. Even more are threatened,” he said. “Thousands have already perished. Others are slowly dying, and uncounted more are sick, ravaged by disease born of a slow starvation.”