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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