
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1994                   TAG: 9404200021
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FAMINE THREATENS IN AFRICA

The 10 nations of the Horn of Africa face the possibility of a major famine with 21 million people at risk from drought and conflict, a U.S. aid official told Congress.

"We face a serious test of how well we have learned the lessons of recent years," said Lois Richards, acting assistant administrator for the Agency for International Development.

Early detection of a severe drought in southern Africa in 1991 and 1992 averted disaster for 18 million people, and officials are hoping to achieve the same result in the Horn of Africa, Richards told the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations Tuesday.

"Early warning systems have alerted us of the possibility of a serious drought," said Richards, who is in charge of AID's Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance. "At the same time, many countries in the region are embroiled in ethnic conflict, some bordering on civil war."

Last month, senior U.S. aid officials met in Nairobi to work on a regional strategy, she said, adding that $44 million in new emergency food aid has been approved for the region.

Sources of additional aid are being explored, she said, including the tapping of wheat reserves. International donors, such as the World Food Program, also are expected to step up assistance, Richards said.

"This drought could be a very serious problem. The countries involved are food-insecure in the best of times. . . . We are concerned by the real possibility of a major famine."

At the same time, Richards said, aid officials are continuing efforts to promote long-term development throughout Africa.

"Only with progress toward democracy and improved governance will they be able to manage the conflicts which inevitably result from the complex process of national development," she said.

Since the devastating African droughts of the 1970s, the U.S. government has spent $3.5 billion on disaster relief, emergency feeding and refugee relief, Richards said.

Nonetheless, she said, a better job must be done so that more aid can go to development and less to relief.

by CNB