Briefs
FrontLines - April 2009
U.S. Aid to Nicaragua Delayed
Managua, Nicaragua—Washington declared March 12 that it is delaying $64 million in development aid to Nicaragua for three more months pending the resolution of an election dispute.
U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan said the aid could be canceled if no solution is found.President Daniel Ortega’s leftist Sandinistas won a majority of the mayor’s posts in November but the opposition argues the vote was fraudulent and the government did not allow international observers. The money is part of a $175 million Millennium Challenge Corporation compact
for Nicaragua that was awarded in 2005.
Angola Floods Affect 125,000
About 25,000 people lost their homes in southern Angola flooding caused by three weeks of non-stop heavy rain, the Red Cross said March 13. It estimated
about 125,000 people were affected across Cunene province by the floods. The BBC’s Louise Redvers said more rain fell in December than during the five months of the previous rainy season.
Homes and livestock were swept away and many people were cut off as flood water covered
roads and fields.
Kenya Drought, Food Shortages Affect Millions
Nairobi, Kenya—Kenya’s drought and food shortages are expected to last until March 2010, seven months longer than previously projected, said a joint Kenya-U.N. report posted online March 19.
It is estimated that as many as 2.5 million people face acute food shortages for the next year because they live in areas hardest
hit by the drought—semiarid southeastern regions and parts of central Kenya.
The report was posted on the Web site of the Kenya Food Security Steering Group, which is made up of officials from government
ministries, U.N. aid agencies, USAID, Britain’s Department for International Development, and NGOs.
Another 7 million people need some form of food assistance
because they are affected by AIDS, cannot afford high food prices, or were forced to flee their homes during last year’s deadly election-related violence, said the report.
Philippines Military Pulls Back to Save Hostage
Manila, Philippines—The Philippine military agreed March 19 to pull back from a jungle stronghold of al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf extremists in exchange for a pledge of freedom
for one of their Red Cross hostages, officials said.
The move came after Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad threatened to kill the three Red Cross workers—two Europeans and a Filipino—he has been holding for more than two months if the military launches a new attack on his group near Indanan township on southern Jolo Island, said Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross.
“He told me he’ll behead one of the hostages if the new fighting
erupts,” said Gordon. “If the military will carry out an assault, he’ll kill all of them.”
Hunger Number One Risk to World’s Health, Says Kerry
Observing that over 850 million
people worldwide go hungry,
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at a recent committee hearing that “one in seven people on Earth goes hungry every day. We must do more to alleviate this crisis and the suffering it causes.” In his statement, he added that “While other threats often command our attention, hunger and malnutrition remain the number one risk to health worldwide—a risk that will be exacerbated by two relatively new driving forces in today’s world: the global financial crisis and global climate
change.”
“Hungry people are desperate
people, and desperation often sows the seeds of conflict and extremism,” added Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the committee’s ranking Republication.
Kerry noted that food insecurity
in Africa is worse today than it was in 1970, with one in three people suffering from malnutrition. “Conflict, poor governance, and HIV/AIDS have all reduced basic access to food,” he said. “Now drought—aggravated by climate
change—makes the situation
even more desperate.”
Lugar and Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) have introduced the Global Food Security Act of 2009, designed to improve crop yields, trade relations, and scientific cooperation and to authorize new funding sources to alleviate poverty.
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