asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs why the EEC Commission and Council of Ministers decided to channel EEC aid in EI Salvador through a United States voluntary agency despite the presence on the ground of a number of highly respected and experienced EEC agencies.
Written Answers. - EEC Aid for EI Salvador.
304.
As a result of the tragic events in E1 Salvador the Commission of the European Committees has, within the past two months, approved the granting of 400,000 Ecu (IR£277,000) in emergency financial aid and 2,000 tonnes of emergency food aid in cereals to the people of EI Salvador. The financial aid and 1,050 tonnes of the food aid is being distributed via the International Committee of the Red Cross, with the remaining 950 tonnes going through the Catholic Relief Services. In addition the Council of Ministers on 28 April adopted a regulation cancelling direct food aid in milk products, destined for the EI Salvador Government under the Communities' 1980 programme, and reallocated it to the ICRC and the CRS for distribution in EI Salvador.
These two organisations are the only bodies which have licences to import food aid into EI Salvador and both were able to give guarantees that they would organise the distribution of the aid on a nondiscriminatory basis—that is in areas controlled both by Government and opposition forces.
According to the latest information available from the Commission, the CRS intends to distribute its share of the aid in close co-operation with the Salvador Ecumenical Association Humanitarian Aid Services (ASESAH) of which both CARITAS and the Green Cross are members. In fact, according to the Commission, the main channels for distribution on the ground will be the European inter-church agencies.