Newspaper Page Text
November 30, 1984/The Maroon Tiger/Page 2B
35 Million Starving In Africa, U.N. Says
GENEVA, Switzerland —more
than 35 million people living in
all parts of drought-ravaged
Africa are desperately hungry,
and their plight is the “worst
human disaster in the recent
history” of the continent, a U.N.
report said last month.
Around the world, more
appeals and promises of aid were
made for Ethiopia, where an
estimated 6 million to 7 million
people are in danger of starving.
But the International Red Cross
warned that "similar horror
pictures” are possible in other
part of Africa.
Despite a massive relief effort
by national governments and the
international community, there
is no end in sight for the silent
suffering of what is undeniably
the worst human disaster in the
recent history of Africa,” said a
report from the office of the U.N.
Disaster Relief Coordinator.
U.N. officials said they had no
estimates of the number of
deaths caused by the drought
and resulting famine. Much of
Africa has been afflicted by
droughts for the past 15 years.
The report said 27 African
countries urgently need food
and that in 18 of the worst hit
countries “over 35 million peo
ple are in desperate need of
help.” Between 20 percent and
30 percent of those affected are
children under 5, it said.
The report cited food shor
tages in all areas of Africa, but
said the situation was most
severe in eastern Africa, par
ticularly Ethiopia and Somalia.
Red Cross officer Gill Whit
tington said the problem in
Ethiopia was largely due to the
“poor response” to appeals for
aid made earlier this year.
However, she said, “We have
the food. 1,000 tons just arrived
by sea. We have the land
transport to move it into (the
stricken province of) Wollo.
What we need now are pledges
of aid that will keep a steady flow
of food coming into the country
throughout 1985."
The Red Cross said aid to
Ethiopia will be doubled in
November and quadrupled dur
ing 1985, but it warned that the
situation is also “rapidly becom
ing intolerable” in Chad, where
the drought has been accom
panied by a civil war.
Paul Dahan, a Red Cross
officer who just returned from
Chad, said thousands of children
and adults have already died
there adn that 200,000 people
displaced by drought are “mov
ing around the country in a
desperate search for anything to
eat.”
“Parents are abandoning their
children because they cannot
feed them any longer,” Dahan
said.
In Rome, the head of the U.N.
Food and Agriculture Organiza
tion called for urgent food
contributions to Ethiopia and
other African countries.
Edouard Saouma said that
despite increases in world cereal
production this year, food crises
have increased, especially in
Africa.
Senegal Searches for Solutions
In Senegal the Sahel drought only made
an already difficult situation worse.
Young people in school in the capital,
Dakar, dropped out to support their strug
gling families in parched rural villages.
Senegal suffers a 47% unemployment rate,
and many of the unemployed are under
age 25. Many of the youth are trained for
jobs that do not exist, so "underempli^-
nent" compounds the problem
The YMCA and Church World Service
have combined their efforts with the
government of Senegal to combat this
problem head-on. An integrated Urban-
rural development project designed to
train village youth in agricultural methods
is encouraging them to stay in the villages.
City youths who are dropouts are given
training skilfs which they can put to use
in Dakar either as self-employed artisans
or in intermediate level industries and
shops. The project, with strong govern
ment Support, monitors the locbl market
needs and trains workers with skills pegged
to the market.
The training for women is in sewing,
batik and embroidery. Men are taught
building trades and general mechanics.
Eventually trainees in urban workshops
will make tools needed for the rural pro-
ects. In addition these rural projects'will
send produce to the urban marketplace.
The United Nations reports that
increasing migration from rural areas to
cities complicates the already difficult
task facing developing nations of striking
a balance between the need for agricul
tural workers to atflin agricultural self-
sufficidhcy and the need for skilled work
ers for new. urban-based industries.
Based on the Senegal project's success
since it began in 197$-. the government has
provided land for an enISfged training cen
ter with the projection that it will become
one of the major development projects in
the country.
Through the urban-rural development
project, young Senegalese are discovering
a sense of self-worth and accomplishment
which life on the streets cannot provide.
They are also contributing vital skills and
resources to a country .vvith a harcf-pressed
economy.
INTRODUCING
THE
G. HEILEMAN
BREWING CO.
IS PLEASED TO
PRESENT Kevin Ross
AS YOUR OLD STYLE
COLLEGE REPRESENTATIVE
Kevin can make your next campus get-
together a great success Call us for information
on promotional ideas, draught beer, equipment
or clothing
cali, 758-0526 or 681-2800 ext. 206
Hf II EMAN BREWING CO l A CROSSE Wl AND O ThER f,lT IE
Help Us Break It
Please donate Money, Old Clothes,
Canned Food to Oxfam America.
Bring Your Contribution to SGA Building on November 30, 1984
between 12:00 and 1:00 pm
J