Vol. 408 No. 7
6 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will outline the initiatives he favours in terms of international action to deal with a Government level response to the structural bases of famine disaster and food shortage problems in Africa and elsewhere; and if the Government have taken any action to secure an international conference on such issues.
The underlying causes of famine and food shortages in developing countries are often extremely complex. In addition to natural disasters and crop failures due to lack of rain or plant disease, they can be due to such factors as general under-development and the related problems of low investment and productivity, indebtedness, unsustainably high population growth, desertification and other environmental problems, over-dependence on cash crops to the neglect of food security, and low commodity prices. The countries most affected are generally those classified as least developed.
A significant factor in turning severe food shortages into famines in some countries in Africa at present is the existence of bitter civil conflicts which absorb large amounts of money and effort of the countries concerned, devastate land, create large numbers of refugees and hamper relief efforts.
The Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, in which Ireland participated, took place last September. It reviewed the experience of these countries over the last decade and set out a programme of action for the nineties. This programme stresses that there must be effective macro-economic policies in each country which will accelerate growth and development and take account of the needs of the most vulnerable groups in society. The key to success will be the grasping of control of the development management process by the least developed countries themselves. They must develop their capacities to devise and implement policies, manage aid effectively and enable more citizens to participate in the process. Donors should pay increased attention to these countries, and give particular emphasis to institution building and investing in human development, including support for education, health and the role of women. Particular emphasis should be placed on rural development strategies, and strengthening the environment for private sector development. Special attention will need to be paid also to debt and trade policies which will contribute to the integration of the least developed countries into the international trading system.
This sets a framework for international action and I am pleased to note that the Irish bilateral aid programme, which concentrates on institution building and the development of the capacity of very poor countries to take over and manage their own programmes, fits very well into this structure.
There are other very important initiatives which I regard as particularly valuble, including the special programme for highly indebted low income countries in sub-Saharan Africa operated by the World Bank. The European Community has contributed 500 million ECU to this programme, which is aimed at assisting these countries to restructure their economies, cushion the adverse social impact of economic adjustment and tackle environmental problems.
Ireland and its partners in the Community have discussed in detail the structural problems to which the Deputy refers, with the 69 countries of the ACP group. These discussions culminated in the recently agreed Lomé IV Convention, a comprehensive agreement designed to resolve the long term and structural problems of African and other economies. The main emphasis of the convention is on rural development and food security. At the same time it attempts through trade concessions and stabilisation of export earnings to assist in building self-sufficiency in the ACP economies. The long term structural problems are also addressed through a specific Community programme of support for structural adjustment, in close co-ordination with the World Bank and the IMF, which is contributing to the strengthening of several of these economies.
Some African countries, such as Ethiopia, have long term structural food deficits and need to import a large amount of food every year. In such cases, the provision of food aid in food-for-work schemes on a carefully organised basis can be an important measure in meeting these deficits and in helping developing countries to build necessary infrastructure, in particular to tackle erosion and flood problems which restrict food production. In addition, counterpart funds which are created when food aid is sold on the markets of developing countries are used to create long term agricultural projects as well as to alleviate hardship caused by economic reforms. Discussions within the Community are continuing on how to get the best results from these instruments.
In relation to the civil conflicts which are exacerbating the current food crisis in some countries, we are active in promoting and encouraging discussion in EC fora and elsewhere to put pressure on all parties to give absolute priority to humanitarian needs, in particular access for food supplies. We also continue to give strong support to efforts to stop the fighting and to bring lasting peace to the unfortunate populations of the countries concerned.
On a point of order, is this a deliberate ploy on the part of the Minister to ensure that he does not have to answer the next two Priority Questions? This is quite ridiculous.
Deputies seek information and the Ministers provide it.
——sometimes.
The Chair does not intervene and has no power to intervene.
I am not convinced that the calling of an international conference would be the best approach at this time. I have already referred to the work of the least developed conference last September. The 18th Special Session of the General Assembly which I attended last year, was devoted to international economic co-operation, in particular to the revitalisation of economic growth and development of the developing countries. The eighth session of the UN Conference on Trade and Development will take place next February, and the UN Conference on the Environment and Development in June 1992. We would hope that these conferences will be occasions for constructive dialogue between developed and developing countries on how best to address the fundamental structural problems to which the Deputy refers.
While I am very grateful for the Minister's rather lengthy reply and to him reminding me of what I had read of these previous reports and meetings, my question focuses very specially on two immediate events: the 29 million to 30 million Africans who are dying and the number of deaths that have taken place in Bangladesh in the absence of what was possible by way of providing aid in terms of diet and flood prevention techniques. I would like to ask the following specific supplementary question. Does the Minister not agree that the logistical failure to come to the aid of 29 million to 30 million Africans, is an urgent problem going over and beyond the matters he listed in his reply? Faced with the reality of 29 million to 30 million Africans starving, does he not agree that a new and urgent initiative is necessary? In view of what his answer states, that the African region has been a net exporter of capital over and above all the aid it has received in the past five years, would he agree that this is an indictment of all the efforts he has described, and does he not feel moved to take a further initiative? My question asks what international initiatives he favours. Is the Minister now telling the House that he proposes to wait until the conference in February 1992 by which time 29 million to 30 million people, who could have been assisted, will have died?
The Deputy should be reminded that considerable aid is being given to the 29 million to 30 million African people, who I agree are on the verge of starvation at present. Massive efforts are being undertaken to try to bring help to them as quickly as possible. I agree that what we are doing is not enough and that more will have to be done. I have given the House the reasons in detail everybody's efforts have failed up to now to ensure that we do not have to face this situation.
In view of the Minister's reply may I ask if it is the attitude of the Irish Government to support an international call for debt cancellation? I would ask the Minister to respond to what I have suggested. The African Continent, in which 30 million people are dying — and some will die today — is exporting capital and the measures the Minister described in terms of Africans being told to become more self-sufficient and to put in place macro-economic policies through the IMF, is the recipe for debt. Do the Irish Government favour a different approach towards international indebtedness of the African region? Yes or no?
The time for dealing with Priority Questions is fast running out.
That is not my fault, A Cheann Comhairle.
I will deal very briefly with the last supplementary question from Deputy Higgins. I am sympathetic to exceptional relief being extended to severely indebted low income countries. The Deputy should know that the development committee of the World Bank are currently addressing how these concessional terms could be implemented and what they would involve.
People are dying.
Let us deal as promptly as we can with Question No. 7.
7 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make additional funds available for (1) the millions of people starving in Africa and (2) the victims of the typhoon in Bangladesh.
33 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the tragic loss of life in Bangladesh and in particular the avoidable deaths that have occurred due to the failure of western Governments to provide such technical assistance as would have made dykes and sea walls more secure.
34 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give details of the amount of aid Ireland has sent to the people of Bangladesh to date; and the efforts he has made, at EC level, to have adequate food and assistance sent urgently to these people.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 33 and 34 together.
The Government have been prompt and generous in their response to the emergency situations in Africa and Bangladesh.
We are very concerned about the deteriorating situation in Africa where up to 30 million people are threatened by starvation in several countries in the sub-Saharan region including, in particular, Ethiopia and Sudan. Since the beginning of 1990 the Government have provided over £1.5 million from the disaster relief fund to assist emergency famine relief efforts. This includes an amount of £325,000 which is our bilateral share of the latest European Community initiative to provide up to 600,000 extra tons of food aid to Africa. This is being allocated to Concern and Trócaire to provide food for parts of Ethiopia where food supplies have almost run out and malnutrition levels are rising sharply. In addition, our contribution to the EC budget will rise by nearly £1 million this year to meet our share of the Community-financed part of this initiative. A further contribution of £250,000 has been provided from the Agriculture Vote to the World Food Programme for food aid for Sudan.
In relation to Bangladesh, the full scale of the devastation caused by the cyclone of 30 April is not yet known. Official estimates stand at approximately 200,000 dead and an equal number of people injured. Millions of people have lost their homes and all their possessions and are in need of food, clean water and shelter. Many thousands are suffering from diarrhoeal diseases brought about by polluted water and malnutrition. There has been widespread devastation of crops, livestock and infrastructure in the affected areas.
The response from Ireland to this tragedy has been substantial. The Government's initial response was to allocate £200,000 on 2 May and it has since raised this to £275,000. Irish non-governmental organisations are involved in providing relief programmes valued at over £2 million.
I participated in discussions on the provision of a special European Community relief programme at the Foreign Affairs Council on 13 May. I am pleased to note that agreement has been reached on the provision by member states of 60 MECU bilaterally for relief operations. Ireland's share of this is the £275,000, to which I have already referred. The European Commission has already allocated 10 MECU and has also devised an action plan under which it will provide an extra 20 MECU for food aid and reconstruction.
In so far as international efforts to provide for adequate flood control in Bangladesh are concerned, the Community is one of 15 major donors which are supporting the implementation of the comprehensive flood action plan prepared by the World Bank and covering the period up to 1995. This plan involves initial expenditure of 130 MECUs on a large number of pilot projects and studies. The Community has so far contributed 14.5 MECU towards these. It is hoped that these studies will give rise to further investment projects totalling 400 MECU.
Other assistance provided by the Community in this sector for Bangladesh includes over 25 MECU to assist with rehabilitation work following the 1987-88 floods and 4 MECU in 1987 for cyclone protection and flood control measures. In the climatic and geographical conditions which prevail in Bangladesh, where disasters such as this are likely to recur, the emphasis must be on preventive action on an appropriate scale. The Irish Government strongly support European Community participation in these programmes.
Deputy Jim O'Keeffe, a brief question as time is well nigh exhausted.
I will be very brief as I would like to get a response to my other question also. In view of the scale of the horror in Bangladesh and also in Ethiopia, Sudan, Mozambique, Angola and Liberia, does the Minister not agree that the response at official level from the Irish Government is absolutely miserable, that he is trying to confuse the issue by bringing in the EC contributions, and that there is now a strong case for a supplementary Estimate to be introduced in this House which would enable us to discharge our international obligations in common humanity?
I do not agree with what the Deputy has said. No one can fail to be moved by the scale of the African needs, and we are doing our utmost to help. We cannot solve the problems alone but need to work with other countries, particularly our Community partners. Ireland's contribution to the latest Community initiative is £1.3 million. Surely that is a clear indication of the seriousness of our commitment to the famine victims in Africa.
It is like Queen Victoria's £5 to the Irish Famine.
We must now proceed to other questions.
