THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300401
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 66 lines
The United States has a ``moral obligation'' to help head off future humanitarian disasters like the one now plaguing central Africa, U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb said Tuesday.
One way to do that, he said, is to reverse the cuts in African foreign aid enacted last year by the Republican-controlled Congress.
``Reducing aid to Africa reduces our ability to be a catalyst for change on the continent,'' he said. ``Turning poverty into prosperity takes time and money. We risk undermining the successful but fragile democratization of Africa, as well as free market reforms, by sending the message that we care less about Africa.''
Robb, a Virginia Democrat, was the featured speaker at an ``international dialogue'' between Africans and African Americans sponsored by the office of international programs at Norfolk State University.
Renewed ethnic violence has sent hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees scattering from refugee camps in Zaire in recent days.
``There are in excess of 12 million refugees in Africa presently, with another 12 million souls at risk for future humanitarian assistance,'' Robb said.
Despite the persistence of some despotic regimes, Robb said, ``the winds of democratic change'' are blowing strongly in Africa today. With the rise in democratic institutions, he said, comes economic development and a resulting increase in living standards.
``Despite the success, however, African nations do not have the wealth to remake their economies in one fell swoop,'' Robb said. ``That is why continued U.S. financial support is so crucial - not in the sense of Africa being a charity case, but rather with the goal of helping it to build a sturdy economic foundation, country by country, allowing the continent as a whole to eventually become more self-sustaining.''
He scored the GOP-controlled Congress for cutting the Development Fund for Africa assistance from $805 million to $675 million last year. The money is used to support sustainable development programs. Food aid and funding for Peace Corps missions in Africa also have declined, and direct bilateral assistance to the region is barely holding steady.
Robb said he supports fiscal restraint, ``but double-digit percentage cuts are too harsh, and reflect a misguided interest in isolating ourselves from the community of nations. . . .
``It makes sense to spend a dollar now to prevent human catastrophe later.''
Several African and African-American scholars echoed Robb's remarks in a panel discussion after his speech.
Patricia Frazier, a professor of political science and economics at Norfolk State, said the cutback in aid to Africa is attributable in part to a loss of leadership positions by black Democrats in the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress.
African Americans need to look out for the interests of Africans when they go to the polls, Frazier said.
``We should see our agendas as being one and the same, not separate,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Two Rwandu Hutu children ask for high protein biscuits being
distributed by aid workers Tuesday at the Mugunga camp, the largest
refugee camp in the world. In a speech Tuesday at Norfolk State
University, Sen. Charles S. Robb stressed the necessity of U.S.
financial support in Africa. by CNB