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Irish Examiner, 11th August 2005
The latest famine in Niger is a result of the indifference of the
country's leaders and the UN's ineffectiveness in the face of a
crisis, writes John O'Shea.
Niger's President Mmadou Tanja made a statement earlier this week
about the plight of his population which, not only defies logic,
but seriously questions his governmentís role in what some
observers believe will be Africa's most acute famine for decades.
Astonishingly President Tanja used these words in a BBC interview
"The people of Niger look well fed, as you can see".
He elaborated by conceding that there were food shortages after
poor rains and locust invasions - but said this was not unusual
for his country.
To the utter shock of his listeners he said that the idea of a
famine was being exploited for political and economic gain by opposition
parties and United Nations Aid agencies.
To say that Mr Tanja's words are shattering is a gross understatement.
Less than ten days ago the President visited a GOAL run food distribution
point in Abbala, and seemed genuinely disturbed by the condition
of his people.
In a speech he told them "If we (the Government) had food
we would give it to you".
He went on to commend the GOALies and what he said was "the
best distribution I have ever witnessed".
Mr Tanja is emphatically wrong to suggest that famine has not gripped
his parched land. Statistics, various reports and eye witness accounts
plus the evidence produced by the camera tell a harrowing picture
of misery and despair.
And they do not reveal the full story!
Sadly, precise details of the extent of this famine and its status
throughout the land are not available to those - the International
NGOs - who desperately want to help.
It has been left by aid workers in the main to search for and pinpoint
where the most acute food shortages are to be found.
Regrettably neither the Niger government nor the United Nations
has performed this vital mapping exercise.
We are told by the United Nations, who finally appear to be accepting
that they have a crisis of gargantuan proportions on their hands
that 874,000 people are in danger of starving to death while an
additional 300,000 are also in near emergency need of food. Most
of the deaths to date according to the UN have been children under
the age of five.
Experienced African aid hands reckon that the current catastrophe
is the worst in Niger's history. Little wonder that President Tanja
is keen to play down its significance.
It has been stated that 3.5 million rural people face severe malnutrition,
famine and the tragedy of dying children.
At the GOAL camp in Zinder, children continued to present in an
emaciated state. Our GOALies can only wonder as to the seriousness
of the situation in distant rural regions.
Anne Maguire, GOAL's Field Director in Niger, and a woman who has
seen her share of famines told me today "We believe the predicament
for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people beyond Zinder
in the countryside is horrific. But we simply do not have the food
nor the personnel to reach them. What is needed in this country
is a massive injection of food and an efficient method of getting
that food to the people.
But most important of all we need the world to bring some urgency
to this appalling tragedy."
President Tanja may also like to know that malnutrition is the
outward symptom of problems faced by Niger. Lack of drinking water,
inadequate sanitation, poor healthcare and the high prevalence of
malaria are systemic wows that intensify the disaster. He appears
to be the only person in the country that is in denial. The crisis
in Niger is acute and is being treated as such by the serious NGOs
on the ground.
But a Third World Government's failure to see the wood from the
trees is not unusual. I have vivid memories of being in Ethiopia
at the start of the world's greatest ever famine and being a witness
to a government which showed not a scintilla of interest in the
plight of six million starving people. Instead the Mengistu regime
was bent on kidnapping every teenage boy or young man who could
fight and rushing them to the battle ground as well as hijacking
every available vehicle. This meant that fighting a famine was an
utterly impossible task for the small international aid community
on the ground.
NGOs in the region and the media are right on this one and it is
for the world to listen to them and not the president of a country
in crisis, whether or not he wants to accept it. The poorest people
in Niger do not have the luxury of debating the finer points of
whether this is a famine or not - they are dying quietly in the
villages.
This fast-developing humanitarian tragedy in Niger represents yet
another shocking indictment of the UN's sheer inability to cope
with the needs of vulnerable populations. They must be held to account
for allowing Niger to sink to the precipice of a prodigious catastrophe.
Sadly, the international community is yet to learn and digest any
lessons from man made and natural tragedies which have traumatised
large sections of the world's population over the past 30 years.
The international community knows that famine will continue to
strike a number of African countries on an annual basis yet we invariably
wait until the TV pictures of emaciated children hit our screens
before responding. Usually it is too little, too late.
It would have cost $1 a day to prevent malnutrition among children
if the world had responded immediately. Now it costs some $80 to
save a malnourished child's life, according to the UN. It is shameful
that the International Community has not learned from its ineffectiveness
in the Rwandan and Darfur theatres of death.
As usual, international governments have chosen the easy option
of writing the cheque, while the difficult task of ensuring that
those most vulnerable and most deserving are supported, is left
to unspecified individuals and groups. The world should not be relying
on agencies like GOAL to race against time to save lives and do
the core job.
What is needed and painfully notable in its absence is the immediate
establishment of a rapid response logistical force which can go
to the scene of a catastrophe and be implementing life-saving procedures
and bring relief to famine affected regions such as Niger. And of
course, this unit must be properly funded. The days of the UN using
the begging bowl must end.
Such a force could save millions of lives each year and allow humanitarian
organisations to get on with the myriad other problems afflicting
the poor such as HIV/AIDS crisis, the lack of clean water, malaria,
poor housing and lack of education and training.
The ability to respond quickly is the key to saving lives. Better
to concentrate on preventing life-threatening situations developing
than to mount humanitarian operations to mop up the result of the
mess. It beggars belief that such a force, a world brigade, has
not been marshaled by the United Nations to date.
The time has long passed for the UN to be brutally honest and inform
the International Community that only the intervention of sovereign
governments on a massive scale will prevent famines. And that call
rests with the Security Council of the United Nations.
As in so many African famines of recent times, the starving women
and children will, in their agony, wonder why yet again so few care
about their critical dilemma. |
