LeiLani Dowell of FIST, Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of the Pan-African News Wire and Monica Moorehead, Managing Editor of Workers World Newspaper, at a study forum on African history in New York City on July 11, 2008. (Photo: John Catalinotto).
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Despite anti-terrorism and resource extraction, food deficits persist
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
In the Sahel region of West Africa the threat of famine has caused the dislocation and suffering of millions in Niger, Mali, Chad, eastern Cameroun, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and other states. This region, located south of the Sahara, has been hit by drought and crop failures over the last several months.
In Niger, the worst affected country, it has been reported that between 7-10 million people are experiencing serious food deficits. In Chad another 2 million are in need of assistance with large-scale crop failures and the death of livestock.
The military government in Chad which came to power in a coup on February 18, has initiated an ambitious campaign to distribute food to one million people. This effort would still leave the majority of hungry people in the country without the aid that is so desperately needed.
According to the United Nations in April, international donors have only supplied a third of the $190 million in assistance that is needed to prevent widespread famine in the region. (Angop, May 17) On May 19, ministers responsible for agricultural, livestock development, trade and humanitarian affairs in West Africa held a meeting in the Togolese capital of Lome to plan a course of action aimed at food distribution and to address the needs of the civilians displaced by the crisis. (News 24, May 19)
A recent report issued by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has its headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, indicated that in the 2009-10 harvest year there was a significant fodder production shortfall in the pastoral areas of the eastern sections of the region. The report also indicated that the region has seen an overall 2 percent decrease in cereal production with Niger leading the other states experiencing a reduction of 31 percent. (News 24, May 19)
ECOWAS provided assistance to Niger in April through a $550,000 grant. However, much more is needed to acquire and effectively distribute food to the growing numbers of people who are threatened with starvation.
The European Union announced in early June that it would give an additional $29 million to the region. Last year the regional organization pledge $24 million in assistance to the Sahel region. (VOA, June 2) These humanitarian programs are aimed at supplying food to 7 million people in Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria.
The situation is the Sahel is having a monumental impact on children. According to a report issued by the Charities Aid Foundation,
“Families with young children in Niger are being forced to travel up to 1,000km due to a worsening food crisis in the West African country. Rachel Palmer of Save the Children in Niger said that the crisis is forcing children to beg for food, while Niger already has the highest rate of child deaths in the world.” (CAF, June 3)
Crisis Reflects Failure of Capitalist Agricultural
This is not the first time that the Sahel has been impacted by drought and consequent food deficits. During the early 1970s, the mid 1980s and in 2005 there was drought, locust infestations, sudden floods that brought about food deficits and the dislocation of population groups in the region.
Agricultural and livestock production constitute almost 50 percent of the economy in Niger. Similar conditions exist in other states throughout the Sahel where the lack of rainfall can create monumental social crises that extend beyond the respective governments’ ability to effectively resolve in a timely fashion in order to prevent famine.
International aid agencies that are based in western imperialist states are often left to appeal for increased funding from their governments to provide assistance to African countries that are still dependent upon revenue generated from exports of natural resources and agricultural commodities to these same former colonial powers and the United States. The prices for these exports are largely determined by the ruling classes within the industrialized countries who themselves are facing the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Nonetheless, when the impact of this unequal distribution of economic power is reported in the corporate media outlets based in Europe and the United States, there is hardly any emphasis placed on the root causes of food deficits and famine. With the capitalist countries undergoing huge budget deficits, rising unemployment and the cutbacks in social spending, there is less attention paid to the impact of the global economic crisis in the former colonial countries.
According to the head of the World Food Program operation in Niger, Richard Verbeeck, “When there is an emergency, usually the flow of contributions is more quick. The level is different. Now if we turn to longer-term development activities, it is sad to say that the interest is going down, and the investment in longer-term activities is not the same or what should be expected.” (VOA, May 19)
However, there has never been any real interest on the part of the imperialist states to provide the necessary assistance for African states to become self-sufficient in agricultural production and food distribution. Despite the fact that Niger is a major source for uranium mining which is utilized for nuclear technology supplied to the capitalist countries, the country’s people remain largely poor and underdeveloped.
At present Niger is listed as the world’s third largest source of uranium and is slated to double its production over the next two years. France’s government-controlled nuclear energy firm, Areva, recently signed a contract with the country’s leaders to conduct uranium mining in the Imouraren region in the north of Niger. This contract with Areva will make Niger the second largest producer of uranium in the international market.
The uranium extracted from Niger supplies nearly all of the raw materials for the running of 50 nuclear plants providing electricity to French households. Also other countries such as Spain, Canada, South Korea and South Africa have expressed an interest in uranium sources in Niger.
In addition, there is also mining taking place by China’s National Uranium Corporation, which signed an agreement with Niger in 2007 to extract 700 tons of uranium per year from the Azelik region in the north. The People’s Republic of China has increased its investments and economic cooperation with various African states over the last several years.
The deposed President Mamadou Tandja had sought alternative political and economic relations with the progressive states of Libya in North Africa and Venezuela in Latin America. It was rumored that Tandja had been discussing greater economic cooperation with Iran, which is under threat by the United States, Israel and various western imperialist states.
Military Aid, Not Agricultural Assistance
In regard to the role of the United States, the Pentagon has been escalating its military involvement in West Africa. In Mali, there are joint military training exercises taking place with the United States under the guise of fighting the growing influence of “Islamic extremism” in the Sahel and Maghreb regions of the continent.
In an Associated Press report on June 5, it states that “The U.S. is trying to help nations bordering the Sahara and the arid Sahel region to contain a growing threat of terrorism. More than 200 U.S. Special Forces and 500 African troops trained together in May, in the latest of several large military maneuvers over the past few years.” (AP, June 5)
This same report goes on to say that “Intelligence officers estimate there are some 400 Al-Qaida extremists based in the vast emptiness north of here, up from about 200 just a year ago. They worry that the militants are teaming up with smugglers carrying cocaine across the desert to Europe and with the restless nomad tribes of the Sahara.”
Consequently, the U.S. ruling class is more concerned about advancing its own strategic interests in West Africa rather than seriously addressing the monumental food deficits affecting millions of people. An official visit to Africa by Vice-President Joe Biden was scheduled to take place during the week of June 7. However, according to media reports he will stay clear of the current crisis impacting the Sahel region.
CNN reported that the Vice-President will make “several stops, including South Africa where he will represent the United States at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup. Among other engagements, Biden will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on June 7 ‘to discuss a full range of bilateral and regional issues’, according to a White House statement.” (CNN, June 7)
Therefore, the African continent must rely on its own resources in the long-run to solve the problems related to agricultural production and food distribution. It is quite obvious that the western states have no interest or desire to tackle such issues since it does not fit into its overall political objectives. Only when Africa breaks the chains of imperialist dependency can a genuine program for economic and social development come into being.
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