Bush Sends $770 Million Dollars To Third World in Food Aid

Thank you, “sir.”

George W Bush has offered $770m (£390m) in international food aid to help ease the effects of surging food prices that have sparked riots in some countries.

The US president said he was asking Congress to approve his request.

The White House has come under intense pressure to step in as high food and petrol prices have squeezed poor families both at home and abroad.

The global crisis has sparked rioting in several developing countries, with the threat of worse to come.

“We’re sending a clear message to the world that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come,” said Mr Bush.

‘Silent tsunami’

The new money would come in addition to some $200m the US president released for emergency food aid two weeks ago, but Mr Bush warned that “more needs to be done”.

“In some of the world’s poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food,” he said.

“The American people are generous people and compassionate people. We believe in the timeless truth, to whom much is given, much is expected.”

Food price increases, dubbed by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) a “silent tsunami”, have sparked riots in some countries, including Haiti, Cameroon and Indonesia.

The UN has warned that high prices are expected to continue despite increased production.

‘Unprecedented unrest’

Earlier this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon set up a task force to tackle the global food crisis.

He said the priority was to feed the hungry by closing a $755m (£380m) funding gap for the WFP this year.

Mr Ban said the world faced “widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale” because of soaring food prices, and urged donor countries to make more money available now.

The WFP believes 100 million people are currently going short of food.

It says only 62% of the $755m it needs to feed them has been pledged so far, and, of that, only $18m has actually been received.

Mr Ban said it was essential to support farmers in poor countries who were producing less because of the high cost of fertilizer and energy, and to this end he said the task force hoped to:

    * Offer $200m financial support to farmers in the worst affected countries to boost food production.
    * Set up a $1.7bn programme to help countries with a food deficit to buy seeds.

The task force, which Mr Ban will chair, will be made up of the heads of UN agencies and the World Bank.

Source

2008-05-03