This is from The Guardian. Thought you folks would find it very useful in the
current debate about the role of the "International Community" in relief
efforts in humanitarian catastrophes especially in Africa. By the way Saul I
concur with you on the South Africa bit. The South Africans were indeed
chivalrous in the face of such an out of the way tragic catastrophe and at a
time when the rest of the world were watchers. Hamjatta.
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All week the public's frustration has been mounting at the flat-footed
humanitarian response to the catastrophe in Mozambique. Technology could
bring us agonising pictures of the drowning of a nation, but we were asked to
believe it was too difficult to get more helicopters into the country. At the
start of the week, the world had left it to a pitifully inadequate five South
African helicopter crews to attempt the Herculean task of saving thousands of
people.
Divisions between the ministry of defence (MoD) and the department for
international development (DfID) have been simmering throughout. On Thursday,
Number 10 waded in (a sure sign that they saw a public relations disaster in
the making) to announce that a vessel had set off for Mozambique with the
much needed helicopters; the problem was that it would take them a week to
get there. Then yesterday morning, the Whitehall row erupted into the public
domain. Clare Short, appearing on early morning radio, could not contain her
resentment at her MoD colleagues, accusing them of offering helicopters at
too high a price and too slow a delivery. She had shopped elsewhere, she
said, and chartered helicopters in South Africa. Those who have watched the
scenes on television this week with a gathering anger will know how she
feels, and sympathise. The government's response has looked chaotic, weak and
divided. The public has responded to the emergency appeal by raising £4m in
24 hours, Yet here were cabinet ministers fighting over a mere £2m.
No one in government comes well out of this episode; and that, it has to be
said, goes for Clare Short too. The MoD and its secretary of state, Geoffrey
Hoon, are cast as the obvious villains of the piece: their crime - and it is
one - was to propose charging DfID the full cost of the helicopters (which
included fixed prices such as pilots' salaries) rather than the marginal cost
incurred in Mozambique. That offence looked even worse after it emerged that
the treasury had expressly reassured them that normal charging could be
waived given the scale of the crisis. Defence forces in other countries (for
example, Belgium) do not charge full costs in humanitarian operations; nor
did the MoD do so for their assistance in either Kosovo or the Turkish
earthquake. Rightly, the government and the Commons' international
development committee announced yesterday that they will investigate this
long-running grievance between the two departments.
But Ms Short may come to regret her outburst. Her negotiations with Mr Hoon
exposed her inadequate political skills. She will not have helped her chance
of support in cabinet by breaking the principle of collective government in
showing disloyalty to a colleague. Worst of all, she has undermined the
credibility of the government's relief operation. Instead of getting kudos
for having spent over £6m (more than many other countries) and for having
finally organised the helicopters (though arguably they will be too late to
be useful), the government was being lambasted yesterday. The running story
all day was of a government row. The Tories pitched in with claims that
political infighting had cost lives.
The crucial issue here is the speed and effectiveness with which the
international community responds to catastrophes. This is not a matter of
logistics but of political will and this week has given a depressing glimpse
into the petty penny-pinching rivalries and public relations preoccupations
of the politicians, and how the generosity of their electorate put them to
shame.
hkanteh
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