Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jun 1992

Vol. 421 No. 8

Written Answers. - Aid for Southern Africa.

Mary Flaherty

Question:

199 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that severe drought is adding to the refugee problem in Southern Africa; and if he will outline the action, if any, which is being considered to respond to this crisis.

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Andrews)

The Government are very concerned about the situation in Southern Africa, where an estimated 40 million people are under threat of starvation following one of the worst droughts of this century. The situation is compounded by the presence of huge numbers of refugees fleeing civil war and famine. The combination of drought and civil conflict has had a devastating effect on crop production. Most of the countries in the region are in urgent need of food supplies.

Ireland has contributed almost £1 million to disaster relief this year. Much of this has been directed towards the Horn of Africa. However, since January Ireland has allocated a total of £300,000 from the Disaster Relief Fund to Southern Africa. In June, £100,000 was allocated to Tanzania and £50,000 to Lesotho in response to the Consolidated UNSADCC Appeal for Drought Emergency in Southern Africa. This was additional to an earlier allocation of £100,000 to the UN World Food Programme for their supplementary feeding programme in Zambia and an allocation of £50,000 to Trócaire for emergency food programmes in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

The crisis in Southern Africa has also brought a swift response from the European Community. Of the 800,000 tonnes of cereals which have been allocated to Africa and other regions of the world under the Special Emergency Programme, 350,000 tonnes are destined for the countries of Southern Africa. Ireland's contribution to this operation is estimated at £1 million. This contribution, through the European Community, is additional to the amounts we have contributed directly as outlined above.