Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 8 Apr 1992

Vol. 418 No. 5

Written Answers. - Economic Aid to African Countries.

Proinsias De Rossa

Question:

34 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the crisis situation in the Horn of Africa, where an estimated 23 million people are believed to be at risk from food shortages; if he will outline the Irish response, if any, to the crisis; if the Government intend to respond to the recent appeal made by the UN Secretary General for donations from the international community of $621 million over the next six months; if Ireland will be responding to the appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

John Connor

Question:

36 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in relation to the widespread drought all over Africa, now confirmed as the worst in 50 years with 23 million people at risk of famine, he will outline the action, if any, he has taken at EC level to ensure that at least 800,000 tons of emergency food aid is agreed to and sent for distribution to the worst affected areas; his views on the fact that only 25 per cent of the food aid requested from the Commission by the European NGOs as absolute emergency has been granted.

Michael D. Higgins

Question:

59 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will outline the initiatives the Government are prepared to take in relation to the current threat of famine in Africa; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Andrews)

I will reply to Questions Nos. 34, 36 and 59 together.

The Government are very concerned about the serious situation in the Horn of Africa, where an estimated 23 million people are believed to be at risk from food shortages due to drought and conflict. Ireland is doing what it can to confront this problem both on a bilateral and a multilateral basis, in particular through our EC participation through which we have contributed both long term and emergency food aid. In 1991 the EC committed the equivalent of over £80 million worth of food aid to the Horn of Africa.

The Horn of Africa has also been the biggest single beneficiary of Irish Government relief aid, which since January 1990 amounts to nearly £2 million. This includes a total allocation to date of £240,000 from the Government's disaster relief fund to the appeal by the UN Secretary-General for the special emergency programme for the Horn of Africa. Ireland also participated in the EC contribution to this appeal, which amounted to over $7 million.

The beneficiaries targeted have been refugees and displaced persons, of whom there are many millions throughout the Horn of Africa. However, the problems are not restricted to the Horn of Africa alone. There is an emerging crisis in many countries in the southern part of Africa due to unprecedented drought and crop failure which will need to be addressed. It is estimated that about 40 million people are threatened by famine. Some of the countries worst affected are Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

While the situation is still being fully assessed, present estimates indicate that an inflow of some seven to ten million tons of food will be needed for the whole of Africa in 1992, including both commercial imports and food aid.

As a response to the massive scale of the crisis the EC Commission has presented a special food aid programme to provide 800,000 extra tons of cereals or equivalent for Africa and for other countries in the world threatened by large food shortages such as Cambodia, Peru and Afghanistan which are threatened by large food shortages. Ireland welcomes this initiative.

The costs involved in such an operation will be very high, of the order of £170 million. This will have to be met by extra Community funds necessitating revisions of the Community budget and arrangements are being made to achieve this as quickly as possible. The assistance given to NGOs so far is intended to enable them to keep the food pipeline open pending the launch of the special programme.

The Commission will be inviting EC member states to provide additional bilateral funding. By way of immediate response, we have allocated £150,000 from the disaster relief fund for relief operations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.