Tsunami: Concerns, Contradictions and Essential Reading
THE LATEST:
Nearly 160 000 people have been killed by the Tsunami that hit Asia and parts of Africa on December 26. In Africa, up to 300 people are believed to have died, with northeastern Somalia the worst hit. Up to 1,500 buildings and 40 villages in northeastern Somalia were damaged by the tsunami and The United Nations is assisting 12 000 people.
THE CONCERNS:
HIV/AIDS advocates are worried that the massive outpouring of concern for Tsunami victims will suck funds away from much-needed HIV/AIDS relief efforts in Africa. They argue that the outpouring of money for the Tsunami shows that the cash has always been there but that the international political will to solve one of Africa’s most acute problems is lacking.
Apart from HIV/AIDS, there are also worries that the global attention received by the Tsunami will upstage what was supposed to be a focus on Africa in the year 2005 and take away from an urgent need to focus on the development challenges facing the continent.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair has declared that 2005 will be a year of action for Africa as the UK assumes presidency of the European Union and G8. Now the fear is that Africa will be pushed into the wings by the Tsunami disaster.
THE CONTRADICTIONS:
This week the Paris Club of creditor states approved a moratorium on the debt payments of the countries worst hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami, to free up money for reconstruction. Together the countries owe $272bn and pay about $23bn a year in servicing these debts. “That part of it is ugly," Stephen Lewis, U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa is reported to have said. The argument is that Africa has long been lobbying for the cancellation of its debts which take money away from much needed spending on areas like HIV/AIDS, health and education, the neglect of which claim more lives in the long term than the Tsunami disaster. Requests for debt cancellation – despite some initiatives like the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative – have largely been ignored. Now, however, within a matter of weeks, the G8 countries have shown that it is possible to solve the debt crisis.
Critics also question why the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and the DRC, where the International Rescue Committee reported late last year that nearly four million people had died as a result of conflict since 1998, have not received the same kind of attention from the international community.
ESSENTIAL READING: EDITORS CHOICE
“The hypocrisy, narcissism and dissembling propaganda of the rulers of the world and their sidekicks are in full cry,” writes John Pilger. “Superlatives abound as to their humanitarian intent while the division of humanity into worthy and unworthy victims dominates the news. The victims of a great natural disaster are worthy (though for how long is uncertain) while the victims of man-made imperial disasters are unworthy and very often unmentionable.” Read ‘The other, man made disaster’ at http://pilger.carlton.com/print
LINKS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4148397.stm
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/c1285c9d886d539b477e05f9c…
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hiv.cfm
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04357797.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/story/0,15671,1389369,00.html
http://www.halifaxlive.com/artman/publish/sudan_011005_563539.shtml
http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/?lid=167