Briefs
FrontLines - May 2009
Somali Pirates
Attempt to Hijack
U.S. Food Aid Ships
U.S. food aid worth $5.3
million made it safely to port
in Kenya last month after four
Somali pirates boarded the
U.S.-registered merchant ship
Maersk Alabama April 8, and
then held its captain hostage
on a lifeboat for several days.
U.S. Navy SEALS killed three
of the men and took the fourth
into custody.
The Maersk Alabama
steamed on to Mombasa,
Kenya, while the hostage situation
unfolded. The ship carried
vegetable oil, corn soy
blend, wheat, and dehydrated
vegetables bound for Kenya,
Somalia, and Uganda. Some 7
million people receive U.S.
food aid in the three
countries.
Just days after the Maersk
Alabama incident, pirates
unsuccessfully attempted to
board another U.S.-flagged
ship, the Liberty Sun, which
carried $12.7 million in
USAID food aid to the region.
No one was injured and the
Navy escorted the vessel to its
destination in Kenya.
The attack on the Maersk
Alabama was believed to be
the first time that a ship carrying
U.S. food aid has been
boarded. However, piracy has
been rampant in the Indian
Ocean off the coast of
Somalia in recent months,
with most ship owners paying
hefty ransoms for their ships
and crews.
USAID delivered $290
million worth of food in 2008
to alleviate hunger in Somalia
and Kenya—USAID’s two
largest food programs.
Global Aid Rises
to $120B
World development aid last
year rose to the highest dollar
level ever recorded—$120
billion—despite the economic
crisis—and U.S. assistance
led the world with $26 billion
of that aid.
Assistance to the world’s
poorest nations increased 10
percent in 2008 to $120 billion,
equivalent to 0.3 percent
of donor nations’ gross national
income, said the 30-nation
Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development
(OECD).
Last year, the United States,
Germany, Britain, France, and
Japan were the biggest donors by
volume in net overseas development
aid. The United States’
donation represented a 16.8 percent
increase in real terms. That
figure includes all forms of
development assistance, including
disaster and debt relief programs,
that the United States
gave to any entities in developing
countries.
Aid from all European
countries together totaled $70.2
billion.
The OECD called for an
additional $10 billion to $15
billion to achieve 2010 international
development goals.
India Gets Biggest
Share of Aid for
Water and Hygiene
NEW DELHI—Although India
is emerging as a financial and
technological power, it still
receives almost twice as much
development assistance for water
and sanitation as any other country,
according to the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and
Development.
A report slated for publication
in May says India accounts for
13 percent of all water aid, while
Iraq—the next biggest recipient—
gets 7 percent, the
Financial Times reported April 7.
India receives about $830
million a year in water and sanitation
aid, more than double
the amount provided to China.
New Delhi’s biggest backer is
Tokyo, which supplied $635
million of assistance from 2006
to 2007.
South Asia has the lion’s share
of children dying from diarrhea
and disease. An estimated 400
million people live on less than
$1 a day.
UNICEF, the U.N. children’s
fund, says that less than half of
India’s 1.2 billion people have
access to a lavatory. Defecation
in the open poses a serious
health risk and is responsible for
high mortality rates among
children.
Haiti’s Hurricanes
Caused $1B in
Damage
UNITED NATIONS—Last year,
hurricanes that hit Haiti killed
800 people and caused $1 billion
in damage. They were followed
by a drop in money transfers from
Haitians working abroad caused
by the global financial crisis, the
top U.N. envoy to the Caribbean
nation said April 6, according to
the Associated Press.
Hedi Annabi told the U.N.
Security Council that continued
humanitarian aid is critical to
provide food, education, and jobs.
He expressed hope donors
would provide funds for immediate
road rebuilding and steps to
lessen the impact of future hurricanes;
and for longer-term investments
to improve ports and electricity
and revive the private sector,
especially the garment industry.
Donors Pledge $1.2B
for African Transport
LUSAKA, Zambia—International
donors and lenders on April 6
pledged $1.2 billion to improve
road and rail links between eight
southern African countries to
reduce transport bottlenecks and
costs along the main trading routes
through South Africa, Zimbabwe,
Zambia, Tanzania, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Malawi,
Botswana, and Mozambique.
Delays at borders, taxes, and
poor quality roads raise prices
for shipping and damage trucks.
International lending institutions
and donor governments
promised $1.2 billion toward the
project—with half coming from
the African Development Bank
over the next three years, said
the Associated Press.
The World Bank pledged $340
million, with additional support
from the European Union and
Britain. Washington made no new
commitments but has already
pledged more than $500 million
to rehabilitating roads and other
infrastructure in Tanzania and
Mozambique, USAID representative
Franklin Morris said.
2008 Deadliest Year
for Aid Workers
LONDON—Violence in
Somalia and Afghanistan
helped make 2008 the most
dangerous year on record for
aid workers, with 122 killed
while carrying out their work, a
report showed on April 6.
Some 18 were international
aid workers but the overwhelming
majority were local staff.
Aid work is now more risky
than U.N. peacekeeping as
attacks become increasingly
politically motivated in some
countries, researchers said,
according to Reuters.
There has also been a dramatic
increase in kidnappings over the
past three years. Altogether, 260
humanitarian workers were
attacked in 155 serious incidents
in 2008—compared with 27 incidents
in 1998, according to figures
compiled by the Center on
International Cooperation (CIC)
in New York and the Overseas
Development Institute in London.
“We were surprised,” said
CIC fellow Abby Stoddard, who
co-wrote the report.
“The numbers are quite startling
and certainly the fatality
rate exceeds that of U.N.
peacekeepers.”
Most violent places were:
Somalia, where 45 aid workers
were killed; Afghanistan with 33
deaths; Sudan with 19; Pakistan,
five; Democratic Republic of
Congo, four; and Sri Lanka,
Chad, and Mozambique, which
saw three deaths each.
Southern Africa Hit
by Worst Flooding
in 50 Years
With more than 100 people
dead, an area 1,500 kilometers
wide, from Namibia in the west
to Mozambique, faces rising
waters from several rivers, the
BBC reported April 8.
The Red Cross has managed
to reach a small fraction of the
more than half a million people
affected. It appealed for helicopters
and boats to reach isolated
communities.
Nearly 100,000 people have
already been made homeless and
the flood waters are expected to
remain for at least the next four
to eight weeks.
The Red Cross said it had only
reached about 35,000 people
across the region with basic
humanitarian aid, like mosquito
nets, tarpaulins, and water
purification sachets. It said
heavy rain was continuing to
fall in the Democratic Republic
of Congo and northern Zambia.
This would wash more water
down the Zambezi basin and
could flood east to Malawi and
Mozambique, it added.
USAID Targets
Reproductive
Cancers in
Georgian Women
In the wake of International
Women’s Day March 8,
USAID launched a Global
Development Alliance called
“The Survive Project” to
reduce morbidity and mortality
from cervical and breast
cancers in Georgia.
As part of the partnership,
NGOs, businesses, foundations,
government entities, and primary
health care providers will take a
key role in educating clients and
the public about cervical and
breast cancer. Additionally,
Georgian women will learn about
risk factors, symptoms and benefits
of early detection, and will
be educated about seeking out
screenings and adopting proactive,
healthy behaviors.
At the signing, Bureau for
Europe and Eurasia Acting
Assistant Administrator Ken
Yamashita said, “Survive’s focus
on women’s right to health, right
to quality care, and freedom
from stigma fits perfectly with
the timing of International
Women’s Day. This partnership
values women as productive contributors
to society and the economy,
and targets some of their
primary health problems.”
Cervical and breast cancer
incidents have risen dramatically
over the last decade, and is a
major cause of mortality and
morbidity among adult Georgian
women.
Although there are almost
twice as many cases detected in
North America as in Georgia,
only one fifth of cases are fatal
compared to about half in
Georgia. The disproportionate
mortality risk for Georgian
women is attributed in large part
to delayed detection.
From news reports and other sources. ★
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