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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Jul 12 2011 - 08:01:23 EDT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/188746.html
'US led Somalia to devastation'
Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:38AM
Press TV talks with Richard Becker of the ANSWER coalition, from San
Francisco, to discuss with him the African food crisis.
Following is a rough transcript of the interview
*Press TV:* There was a consensus reached at the EU in terms of how much aid
they should be giving, this was back in 2008 at the height of the global
financial crisis, and they made a pledge of one billion euros to developing
countries. There have also been other pledges by world powers. Why isn't
this translating to anything on the ground because we're not looking at any
improvement especially with what is occurring in the Horn of Africa, which
is the focal point of where the need is?
*Richard Becker:* Time after time, both in regard to the EU and to the US,
the pledges of aid are not borne out by the delivery of the aid. This has
been the case in Haiti; it's been in numerous countries in Africa. There are
the conferences that take place where the grand proclamations are made, but
the mainstream media in general do not follow up on what actually happens.
I would like to point out that the shortfall of the World Food Program's 477
million dollar budget was equaled by the first two days of just the US war
in Libya. The entire budget of the World Food Program what it needs to feed
these millions of people who are suffering horrifically -- that 477 million
dollars -- equals about one day and a half of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan combined.
And I think there's another aspect of this, too. How did Somalia come to be
in the situation that it is today? More than thirty years ago, the US pulled
the last stable national government that Somalia had, headed by Mohamed Siad
Barre, into an alliance to make war against Ethiopia.
The purpose of this war was not only to bring down Ethiopia and the
government in Ethiopia at the time, but it was part of the US strategy, the
global strategy, of fighting against what it perceived as allies of the
Soviet Union. As soon as the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991 and even a
little bit before that as it was disintegrating, the US government's
interest in Somalia evaporated. And it left Somalia in an absolutely
devastated state.
The contribution of the US geopolitics to the crisis that exists today in
Somalia is traceable to that period that was reinforced by the staged
intervention in 1992 and early 1993 that was rehearsed several times over --
the humanitarian intervention idea to sustain the Pentagon -- and it has
been sustained by the US intervention both directly and by having Ethiopia
then intervene in Somalia to prevent a resolution of the civil war. This
aspect of it cannot be overstated.
*Press TV:* When we talk about a conceptual approach, you have people
starving, let's get money to them… What is the disconnect there? I know I'm
making it sound very general... Of course, there's politics and agencies
involved and challenges in ways of getting the food to the people, but there
are people dying. Why can't there be a way to save these people in a quicker
way?
*Richard Becker:* Well, there has to be. There has to be an emergency
immediate aid. I completely agree with that. I would say another problem
though with the food aid that comes in, in the times when there is not a
crisis or when the crisis is receding, as happened in Somalia in the mid
1990s, was that it proved to be a disincentive to grow when the drought
ended because it was undercutting the price for farmers.
So, this whole conceptual way of approaching development reliant on NGOs and
this kind of intervention… I would agree it often proves to create more
problems than it solves.
I want to respond to your point about RTP (the Right to Protect). The RTP
argument is a new form of justification for imperialist intervention and it
is used very very selectively as you were suggesting. The Right to Protect,
as in the case of Libya, the bombing of Libya that's now been going on for
114 days and it has hit many many civilian areas, that is to protect
civilians is a very good example of how the RTP is selectively used to
justify this kind of military intervention while at the same time there
seems to be no RTP initiative or desire on the part of the same officials
who are making the argument about Libya, when it comes to people starving by
the millions in the Horn of Africa.
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