[House Hearing, 112 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
USAID'S LONG-TERM STRATEGY FOR ADDRESSING EAST AFRICAN EMERGENCIES
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,
AND HUMAN RIGHTS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 8, 2011
__________
Serial No. 112-95
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
68-243 WASHINGTON : 2012
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office, http://bookstore.gpo.gov. For more information, contact the
GPO Customer Contact Center, U.S. Government Printing Office.
Phone 202-512-1800, or 866-512-1800 (toll-free). E-mail, gpo@custhelp.com.
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
DAN BURTON, Indiana GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
ELTON GALLEGLY, California ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DANA ROHRABACHER, California Samoa
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California BRAD SHERMAN, California
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
RON PAUL, Texas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
MIKE PENCE, Indiana RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri
JOE WILSON, South Carolina ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
CONNIE MACK, Florida GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas DENNIS CARDOZA, California
TED POE, Texas BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio ALLYSON SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut
DAVID RIVERA, Florida FREDERICA WILSON, Florida
MIKE KELLY, Pennsylvania KAREN BASS, California
TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina
ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York
RENEE ELLMERS, North Carolina
VACANT
Yleem D.S. Poblete, Staff Director
Richard J. Kessler, Democratic Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas KAREN BASS, California
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri
ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
WITNESSES
Ms. Rajakumari Jandhyala, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau
for Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development.......... 5
Ms. Katherine Zimmerman, Gulf of Aden Team Lead, Critical Threats
Project, American Enterprise Institute......................... 31
The Honorable Kent Hill, senior vice president of international
programs, World Vision......................................... 40
Ms. Shannon Scribner, humanitarian policy manager, Oxfam America. 49
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
Ms. Rajakumari Jandhyala: Prepared statement..................... 9
Ms. Katherine Zimmerman: Prepared statement...................... 33
The Honorable Kent Hill: Prepared statement...................... 43
Ms. Shannon Scribner: Prepared statement......................... 52
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 72
Hearing minutes.................................................. 73
The Honorable Russ Carnahan, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Missouri: Prepared statement...................... 74
The Honorable Kent Hill: Material submitted for the record....... 75
Ms. Shannon Scribner: Material submitted for the record.......... 81
USAID'S LONG-TERM STRATEGY FOR ADDRESSING EAST AFRICAN EMERGENCIES
----------
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,
and Human Rights
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 o'clock
p.m., in room 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon.
Christopher H. Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Smith. Two months ago, this subcommittee held a hearing
on Somalia that revealed the extent of the suffering from what
witnesses agreed was the worst drought in the Horn of Africa
since the 1950s. Our hearing today is in part a follow up to
that July 7th hearing in order to examine the U.S. Agency for
International Development's long-term strategy to address the
humanitarian crises in East Africa such as the current
devastating drought. The need for this continued focus on the
region is apparent, given the on-going very disturbing reports
that we are receiving about Sudanese attacks on its Blue Nile
state that will drive residents into South Sudan and reports of
theft of international food aid.
We know that an estimated 13.1 million are in need of
urgent humanitarian assistance, and every month that number
goes up. The United States to date has devoted a total of
$604.6 million in humanitarian assistance funding for the Horn
of Africa. At the same time, our Government has devoted $370
million in Fiscal Year 2011 to help the newly-independent
Government of South Sudan respond to the crisis largely caused
by the Republic of Sudan's attacks that have sent people
streaming into this young nation.
The drought in East Africa apparently is part of a
persistent weather trend in the region. But there is
disagreement on the extent to which La Nina or El Nino, two
weather phenomena, will affect weather patterns in East Africa
over time. The current La Nina phenomenon which began in August
2010, resulted in wetter than normal conditions in Australia
and parts of Asia from December to February, and drier than
normal conditions over equatorial East Africa over the same
period, leading to the current drought in the region. But while
drought is one reason for food shortages, it is exacerbated by
stagnating agricultural development and unsustainable forms of
livelihood.
In our July 7th hearing, Nancy Lindborg, Assistant
Administrator in the U.S. Agency for International
Development's Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian
Assistance, raised the issue of the long-term need for changes
in livelihoods in the region. She quoted a local cattle herder
saying, ``We are seeing the end of the pastoral lifestyle as we
know it.'' In countries across the region, Ms. Lindborg
testified, nomads are without water and pasture and unable to
migrate safely. Many of them are left without assets or income
and as they migrate out of rural areas to urban areas, they
strain an already stressed situation. There are nomads in
Africa from Western Sahara to Sudan. If weather conditions have
conspired to end what in some cases are livelihoods developed
over millennia, who will work with these pastoralists to
develop new ways of surviving?
Part of our humanitarian strategy, therefore, must involve
working with African governments on developing viable
strategies for helping nomads transition into new livelihoods
that fit their skills and are sustainable in often resource-
poor conditions. In the long run, donors will be increasingly
less likely to continue to support the people suffering through
repeated droughts in the same areas. We must break this cycle
now and help them to find durable solutions for the future.
In Somalia, the hardest hit country in the region, the
terrorist group al-Shabaab has obstructed the delivery of
humanitarian assistance and directly threatened aid agencies.
It also has interrogated aid workers and accused them of spying
for the West or proselytizing. Maritime piracy and the
hijacking of aid shipments has also hindered the provision of
aid. By late 2009, threats against humanitarian workers and
attacks against aid compounds had driven many international
groups out of al-Shabaab controlled areas. Most of the
remaining groups left southern Somalia in 2010.
The result has been an estimated 2.2 million people in
southern Somalia, representing some 60 percent of those who
remain in the country, in need of aid, but currently out of
reach of most aid agencies.
We face serious questions about how to meet the desperate
needs of people like those living in areas controlled by al-
Shabaab. We want to prevent terrorist organizations from
benefitting from humanitarian aid, but we must balance this
concern with our deep desire to keep alive those needing food,
water, and medicine.
There has to be a solution that not only prevents aid from
going to terrorists, but also prevents the terrorists from
perpetrating further violence against their own people by
denying them access to life-saving food assistance. We don't
want food being used as a weapon as we learned so bitterly
during the Mengistu regime.
Meanwhile, our Government is helping the new Government of
South Sudan to effectively respond to the expectations of the
population for essential services and improved livelihoods, as
well as containing the conflicts that are likely to erupt. This
new government is learning to handle the normal business of
establishing a government even as an estimated 371,455 people
have migrated from the north to South Sudan as well as to the
Blue Nile in Southern Kordofan States in the Republic of the
Sudan and the disputed area of Abyei since October 30th of last
year.
Apparently, continuing attacks in Southern Kordofan and now
Blue Nile State will only continue the flight of thousands of
people into South Sudan. Given its troubled relationship with
the Republic of Sudan to the north, our assistance to the new
government must build its capacity as a democratically-elected
institution and help enable it to avoid and address such
crises. Empowerment should be our focus as we will help this
new government take its place among the world's nations.
Drought and other natural disasters and man-made
catastrophes due to conflict have been a persistent story in
East Africa. In an era of limited resources, we must encourage
adapted lifestyles, develop strategies for delivering aid in
conflict areas and enable our partner governments to manage
crises more successfully.
I look forward to hearing from our distinguished witnesses.
I thank them in advance for taking the time to be here to share
their expertise and their recommendations. And I would like to
yield to my friend and colleague, Mr. Payne, for any time he
would like to consume.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for calling
this very important hearing, what is surely the worst
humanitarian crisis facing the world today. Prior to our
recess, we had several meetings dealing with this issue,
however, we are continuing to see the crisis continue. This
crisis is indeed the worst in a generation affecting food
security for more than 12 million people across Somalia,
Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya.
Many of us remember the famines in Ethiopia in that region
for many years. Back beginning in the '60s when they started to
come at about a 10-year frequency there was the drought of the
'60s, early in the '60s, then in the early '70s and the drought
in the '80s. And then we went into Somalia in the early '90s
and we all recall the ``Blackhawk Down'' incident which ended
that particular era when we went in to try to feed the
children. Back in the '70s cycle, I went to Wollo Province with
French and German pilots to deal with the '73 drought and out
of the city of Dessie in Wollo Province in Ethiopia when we saw
millions of people who were mobile and we had to locate them by
planes and then drop food to wherever we could find them. We
called it the Mobile Million. We saw that we needed to do
better planning.
Once again, we see the situation is continuing and the
international community was very slow to respond then,
resulting in more than 1 million deaths in that cycle. Then, of
course, we started to do better planning and we started to
project when famines would come and we try to preposition our
supplies and actually probably this situation would be even
much worse, as bad as it is, had it not been for some
prepositioning by USAID and the U.N. predicting that this
drought was coming.
We now face the worsening humanitarian disaster that will
take even more lives. The scope and scale of today's crisis is
virtually unpredecented. As crops have failed and livestock
have died, food prices have soared in the past year. In
addition, poor infrastructure and security and internal unrest
have compounded the problem facing the region. Somalia, where
drought conditions have exacerbated the long-term complex
emergency, is the country hardest hit by the disaster and
Islamic insurgency led by al-Shabaab complicates the delivery
of international aid to famine-struck areas.
On July 20, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for
Somalia issued a famine declaration into regions of southern
Somalia. Now all south and central regions of Somalia are in
the midst of this famine, including regions that used to be the
breadbasket of the country like the Juba Valley. Nearly half of
Somalia's population, some 3.7 million people have been
impacted. Over 2.4 million located mostly in the south-central
region have fled their homes in search of food and water.
Nearly 900,000 of these men, women, and children have fled into
neighboring nations, greatly straining their already
insufficient resources.
The road to camps in northern Kenya and eastern Ethiopia
have been described as roads of death. Thousands of women,
children, and elderly are left on the side of the road unable
to continue, resting on those who have already died. Those
fortunate enough to reach the camps find filled beyond capacity
with horrendous sanitary conditions and a lack of food. The
international community have recognized the magnitude of the
crisis. The World Food Program is currently feeding 8 million
people with more to be accessed in the coming weeks. The U.N.
Central Emergency Response Fund has granted $51.3 million for
the region. The Organization of Islamic Conference met last
week and pledged $350 million to Somalia. The African Union
matched this amount with $300 million coming from the African
Development Bank.
The United States has contributed over $604 million in
humanitarian assistance so far this year, with nearly 70
percent of it going to emergency food aid. Despite these
considerable efforts by the international community to respond
to the crisis, there remains a significant funding shortfall.
The U.N. has issued an appeal for $2.5 billion, U.S. Funding to
date has been approximately $1.1 billion, leaving $1.4 billion
short.
The needs of these affected are expected to increase in the
coming months with emergency conditions expected to persist
well into 2012.
First, we must make every effort to get the life-saving aid
to these people who are desperately in need, especially those
who are trapped inside al-Shabaab-controlled territory in
southern Somalia. I join with my colleague, Steve Cohen, and
other members in sending a letter to the State Department
requesting that licensing restrictions be lifted for NGOs
desperately trying to access to most hard-to-reach areas, those
under al-Shabaab control. The licensing restrictions were
lifted, but it is still unclear whether the aid is reaching
those living in the al-Shabaab-held territories.
As the United States and the international community
attempt to pull these populations back from the brink, long-
term investments are needed such as risk-reduction strategies
and helping communities that diversify their livelihoods adapt
to climate-change conditions and build resilience to face
inevitable future crises.
In July, I introduced H Res 361 calling attention to the
crisis encouraging the United States and other donors to take a
long-term strategic approach to addressing the root causes of
the crisis and urging all parties to allow assistance to flow
to the most vulnerable populations. The resolution has more
than 50 cosponsors and many of our colleagues have been deeply
concerned and vocal on the issue including our chairman, Jim
McGovern, Jo Ann Emerson, Rosa Delauro, Steve Cohen, Barbara
Lee, Maxine Waters, Gwen Moore, and Leader Pelosi and many
others. Yet, in the face of the graphic depictions of starving
women and children, many in Congress have proposed deep cuts to
our international affairs budget that could cripple the ability
to provide even basic emergency responses.
Levels of funding proposed by the House Appropriations
Committee will make it difficult to meet both short and long-
term needs and emergencies today as long as the preventative
programs we need to put in place. I know that Chairman Smith is
also concerned about this issue and we hope to work with him
and his colleagues to ensure that adequate funding in spite of
our difficult times here are put forth to deal with the crisis.
In regard to South Sudan, I was very pleased to be at the
independence celebration in Juba and have followed closely the
development in South Sudan. Of course, we're still concerned
about Abyei; the disputed territory, Southern Kordofan, where
belligerants are still at each other, and the south Blue Nile.
We have to resolve these issues so that Sudan can move forward
and we have to remember that Darfur still remains unresolved.
Thank you to our distinguished witnesses for joining us
today. I certainly look forward to your testimony. Thank you. I
yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you. The Chair recognizes the vice
chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this
important hearing. I'm going to pass so that we have time to
get straight to the witnesses. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Carnahan, the gentleman from Missouri.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to submit
my opening statement for the record, too, so we can get on to
our witnesses and again, thank you for holding this important
hearing today.
Mr. Smith. Thank you. I'd like to now introduce our first
witness, Ms. Jandhyala, who has served as the USAID's Deputy
Administrator for Africa since October 2010. In that capacity,
she oversees the Offices of Sudan Programs and East African
Affairs. Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Jandhyala worked as a
senior advisor and head of the Peace and Security Division in
the Department of State Office of the United States Special
Envoy to Sudan. Ms. Jandhyala is an expert on national security
with a focus on war to peace transitions and public policy
reforms in countries affected by conflict. The floor is yours.
STATEMENT OF MS. RAJAKUMARI JANDHYALA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU FOR AFRICA, U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Ms. Jandhyala. Good afternoon Chairman Smith, Mr. Payne,
and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to
speak with you today about East Africa. It is always an honor
and pleasure to have the opportunity to discuss our work in
Africa. I request the chair recognize the written testimony.
Mr. Smith. Without objection, your full statement will be
made a part of the record.
Ms. Jandhyala. Thank you. As many of you have mentioned,
the worst drought in over half a century has left 12.7 million
East Africans in need of emergency humanitarian assistance.
Under the leadership of President Obama and Secretary Clinton
and our Administrator Shah, the U.S. Government in coordination
with the international community is delivering emergency food
assistance to help local populations in the worst affected
areas of Ethiopia, Kenya, and parts of Somalia.
The assistance immediately concerns about local food,
nutritional support to malnourished children, water, and other
essential services to save lives.
East Africa has two faces, a face of conflict, security,
and corruption is one many know best. But there is another one
of hope, progress, and promise. And we try to balance in our
work how to manage both at the same time. Recently, Deputy
Administrator Don Steinberg, Assistant Administrator Nancy
Lindborg, testified on the complexities of providing and
delivering assistance in humanitarian crises such as this when
we're dealing with both conflict issues, local tensions within
the communities, and the cross border issues of on-going
military situation.
Today, I'm here to discuss with you about our continued
development engagement in the region which has helped many
people experiencing rising incomes, improved health, and better
educational opportunities for their children. USAID's on-going
work, bolstered by strong policy and diplomacy, serves as a
crucial force to lessen the severity of the humanitarian crisis
we're facing. Our work has a long-term view to the region's
development in order to work with our host country governments,
regional organization and the broader international community
with the focus on health, agricultural productivity,
environmental steward stewardship and conflict mitigation with
the emphasis on empowering people to participate in democratic
processes in their country.
Recognizing the potential of 342 million people in East
Africa, USAID is investing $3 billion in development assistance
in FY2011. While this is a significant amount, it's far less
than what we might need to spend in future humanitarian crises
in absence of our concerted support for development. Our belief
is that long-term food security and stability is key to
lessening the impact of recurring crises such as the one we're
facing today. Our focus is to strengthen early warning systems
in the region, build resiliency, as mentioned by the chairman,
in communities through livelihood support, safety-net
investments, and implement measures to help populations and
communities adapt to climate change and prevent conflict over
resources by underlying issues of fragility that gives rise to
violence.
Most importantly, we hope to unlock the enormous potential
of African agriculture as the driver of prosperity through Feed
the Future initiative that the President has announced. And our
continued engagement with the governments at national and local
levels to advance a reform agenda that takes into consideration
how to prevent future disasters and how to mitigate the impact
on their populations.
We see a difference in the impact of the drought in
Ethiopia and Kenya on one hand and Somalia on the other. More
than 40 percent of Somalia's 9.8 million people are in crisis
and the famine is expected to only get worse. It expanded to
three regions this week and we're seeing a very different
situation in Ethiopia and Kenya. One sees a need both in the
Ethiopia and Kenya to be sure, but also one of resilience. Just
6 percent of their combined population is at risk while the
situation is great in Somalia and we do expect it to
deteriorate.
Ethiopia serves as an important example of USAID's
development assistance working in hand with the humanitarian
which has helped to generate the resiliency that mitigates the
severity of the humanitarian shocks that they could have been
experiencing during this crisis. Since 2003, the number of
Ethiopians in need of emergency assistance has dropped to
almost two thirds. The Government of Ethiopia has developed
comprehensive economic and agriculture plans which the U.S.
Government is supporting. For instance, the government's
Productive Safety Net program that addresses chronically food
insecure populations has helped 7.5 million survive the current
crisis and avoid having to sell off their livestock asset base
at the moment.
Kenya reflects another factor that exacerbates our effects
of the drought: Erratic weather, degraded land, and high cost
of energy. USAID is helping the country adapt to some of these
changes and the communities, the pastoral communities of
northern Kenya deal with the food insecurity that they are
facing as well.
We're focused on better management of water, land, and
natural resources that allow them to adapt to these changing
situations and also engaged in the markets in the productive
region.
Through global climate change, USAID and its Kenyan
partners are exploring innovative ways for new energy systems
and have a high cost of applications in rural areas for those
who have limited access to electricity. Although Somalia has
lacked a functioning central government for over two decades,
Somalians have been remarkably resilient to difficult
circumstances. I was recently in Somaliland a few weeks ago and
the enormous effort of people there to provide for themselves
with the assistance that they have received shows a great
commitment on what we can do in terms of when there is
stability.
In other parts of Somalia, we have a USAID transition
initiatives to bridge between immediate humanitarian assistance
and longer term development programs. In areas of relative
stability, our assistance has helped nearly 200,000 children in
schools; 41,000 communities have access to water; and nearly
10,000 youth and livelihood programs. We continue to look for
opportunities for relative stability to empower the population.
USAID focuses on these issues in Somalia because where we
find opportunities with communities, we're able to build
community cohesion and security for those communities, when
they've invested in their communities and see that there is a
future.
I would like to turn to the other part of our work which is
countries like Sudan which are emerging from conflict and I
would like to acknowledge it was a pleasure to have the
opportunity to travel with Mr. Payne to the inauguration on
July 9th for the emergence of the new country.
USAID has been present in Sudan since 1958. Since 2005,
after the signing of the CPA, we've worked in South Sudan to
help the ministries establish a new government, deliver social
services, work with local populations to mitigate conflict and
in the post-independence era, we hope to continue our
commitment and we are implementing a 2-year transition strategy
that has an overall goal of increasing stability in the post-
CPA period in South Sudan. That does not take away from the on-
going commitment we have made to encourage both parties to
continue to negotiate and resolve the outstanding issues that
are still remaining from the CPA.
We see South Sudan's development policy challenges
revolving around five key issues: Transparency, accountability
and reconciliation for good governance; human capital
development, given the enormous need head; sound, natural
resources and revenue management based both on the oil and non-
oil potential that rests with the country; delivery of social
services, and creating an enabled environment for private
sector investments. We're working with the international
community to build a broad coalition so that the government can
build confidence with its own population that it can deliver on
their aspirations. The U.S. Government is committed to
continuing to work with the Republic of the South Sudan in
efforts to build a new country and deliver the needs of its
people.
As we assist the government, we are also working to plan an
international engagement conference for South Sudan that allows
us to hear from them their development vision and their
priorities and how they hope to move forward in the next few
years.
Mr. Chairman, this year USAID celebrates 50 years of
generosity of the American people. We believe we can make the
world a better and safer place, if we use our wealth,
expertise, and our values and invest wisely. Each of the
countries I've discussed today presents a combination of hope,
accomplishment and a challenge. And the region itself is a
balance of all of that at the moment.
The United States' overall investment goes far beyond the
immediate and we continue to work with you and look forward to
having a discussion on East Africa today and in the coming
months. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Jandhyala follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
----------
Mr. Smith. Ms. Jandhyala, thank you very much for your
testimony and for the very detailed, extended testimony you
have provided. It gives us a great deal of information and the
subcommittee certainly needs that.
Let me ask you just a couple of questions. In our July
hearing on Somalia, the USAID made it very clear that FEWS NET,
the Famine Early Warning System, made it clear that there was a
famine perhaps, or a drought certainly, on its way as early as
last year. We knew that, and our Government wasn't able to
preposition food, but in your opinion was the handoff of that
information to taking action done as swiftly as it could or
should have been? Or were there gaps somewhere that we could
learn from so if there were gaps it doesn't happen again?
Ms. Jandhyala. We have worked over the last year with our
FEWS NET colleagues, our international partners, tracking the
situation. And I think we've done an enormous, we've put in an
enormous effort into reaching out to, informing host country
governments, partners in the region, the U.N. agencies, to see
how we can jointly work together on this. I'm sure there are
some things that we can improve on. However, our biggest
constraint continues to be working with host country
governments and advancing and working with them to strengthen
and respond to their populations.
Mr. Smith. We seem to have been taken by at least some
surprise by the severity and pervasiveness of the famine. Was
it more than what the FEWS NET and some of the analyses that
went into what might be coming their way? Or did we just miss
something?
Ms. Jandhyala. I think the failure of the rains in the
first October, November, that was recognized. And then the
recent poor rains in June, July has intensified the problem
that we've been dealing with. But it is a difficult situation
that we're having to deal with.
Mr. Smith. I guess what I'm getting at is: Was there
anywhere along the chain of command where good, actionable
information might have been missed about the severity of this
drought? And if there wasn't, please say so.
Ms. Jandhyala. As far as our colleagues tell us that we
were able to take that information and turn it into an action
plan and to preposition, to inform, to educate and seek access
immediately to get to those areas and find creative ways such
as voucher programs to see how we can be creative in how we
deliver assistance in this circumstance.
Mr. Smith. Now on the voucher programs, have you found that
empowering people, particularly with work so they can buy
locally-grown foodstuffs, is preferable to just bringing food
in? Is that one of the reasons why some of it was stolen in the
first place because it was in competition with local merchants?
Ms. Jandhyala. It's a multi-track process. One is
delivering food. The other is vouchers. So we're trying to find
as many different ways that we can minimize the impact of this
crisis on the population. And sometimes, our visibility into
what's going on in these communities also restricts us on how
we track this. So we're working on a monitoring system with our
partners on the ground.
Mr. Smith. Is there an analysis about whether or not more
vouchers are needed, rather than less?
Ms. Jandhyala. Currently, we have $8 million in our voucher
program and we've launched it, so we're now assessing with our
teams. How do we expand it, what are the consequences of this
program, vis-a-vis other types of assistance we're delivering,
and if there's room for improvement in how we roll this, expand
this type of activity out.
Mr. Smith. When will those kinds of decisions be made?
Ms. Jandhyala. We're in discussion at the moment, so we
should come back to you and your staff within the next few
weeks.
Mr. Smith. Let me ask you about licensing. I think everyone
on this committee is very concerned about the fact that non-
U.S. supported NGOs who have people on the ground, partners
with whom they can collaborate with have not--they've been
given a general verbal ``you won't be prosecuted,'' but why
hasn't that translated into a durable statement of something in
hand where the NGOs will not be fearful of prosecution, and who
would make that decision? And will it be made, in your view,
soon? Because it seems to me we're losing an asset on the
ground to feed hungry people because of a concern that somehow
we might be aiding and abetting al-Shabaab.
Ms. Jandhyala. I think we're committed to trying to get as
many different partners to take part in this effort to minimize
the impact with the population. We are committed and our
colleagues at the State Department and Treasury are currently
working to see how we can review the situation on a case-by-
case basis and I think we can provide additional information in
the coming weeks. These discussions are on-going at the moment
in the administration regarding.
Mr. Smith. Is the problem the Treasury Department? Are they
the ones who are objecting to USAID's requests? It seems to me
with this drought and its consequences growing worse by the
moment, why wouldn't you want to just get this done today, for
example?
Ms. Jandhyala. The discussions are ongoing at the moment
amongst all of us, USAID, Treasury, and State, and we're trying
to balance what's the impact. Even if we move forward, what are
the issues of access and security. So we'd be able to give
additional information as these conversations conclude.
Mr. Smith. I guess what I'm trying to get at is where is
the bottleneck? Is it at Treasury? Is USAID actively advocating
for the provision of those licenses to these NGOs? Especially
since they are people on the ground who know the risks and are
indigenous Somalians in most cases, willing to get that food.
But there may have to be some collaboration, some contact with
al-Shabaab, and they fear prosecution. It seems to me that you
take that off the table, and you talked about opportunities a
moment ago, a new opportunity for relief will find its way to
those people.
Ms. Jandhyala. I think our State Department colleagues have
spent a lot of time with the diaspora community as well as our
leadership trying to identify where the opportunities exist and
what kind of a process we need to put in place. And I think the
discussions are ongoing.
Mr. Smith. Okay, but again I'm trying to get at where the
bottleneck is. Is it Treasury?
Ms. Jandhyala. I couldn't say, sir, because we're still
continuing the discussions.
Mr. Smith. I do think there is a great deal of support,
certainly on this subcommittee for ensuring that those licenses
are granted ASAP and I would say today with an exclamation
point.
Ms. Jandhyala. I'll take that----
Mr. Smith. Please do.
Ms. Jandhyala. I will.
Mr. Smith. I would think that a call from the Secretary of
State to whoever may be the bottleneck in Treasury, if that's
where it's at could undo a huge long pipeline of discussions
that could mean more dead or severely hurt people. So please
take that back and if you could apprise us soon as to what you
find out.
In his testimony, Kent Hill of World Vision says that U.S.
response to the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years
is only 60 percent of what it was for the 2008 drought in the
region. My question is where is the missing funding? According
to what the U.N. has said is needed, there is about a $1
billion funding gap. I know in past crises, I've been here 31
years and no matter who is in the White House and at State
Department, at USAID, money is often in something as
catastrophic as this is, drawn down from multiple spigots as
you're doing and from multiple accounts.
Is there going to be an effort to draw down additional
dollars and hopefully get it back to those sources later, to
meet this emergency crisis? I mean $600 million, we're all
happy and grateful for that, but it seems that there needs to
be more.
And secondly, if I could, I know Saudi Arabia has stepped
up with some $60 million. I might be wrong on that number. But
is there a move to try to get our Persian Gulf allies who might
have much more persuasion with al-Shabaab leaders to use their
diplomatic efforts to open up more areas so people get food and
medicine?
Ms. Jandhyala. On the first issue about funding, there will
be a mini summit on the Horn of Africa at the sidelines of UNGA
in the next 2 weeks. And part of that discussion is discussing
about the current status of the appeal that's been put out by
the U.N. agencies.
The other issue is also what our partners in the region,
Turkey has stepped up. The OIC partners have stepped up, Saudi
Arabia. So what we're trying to see is how can the U.N. harness
all of these funding sources to account for what the gap is. So
there is currently an on-going assessment that we're working
with our U.N. partners to assess where the funding gaps are,
given that the nontraditional partners have also provided
leadership and providing their own funding to the situation.
So we can come back to you once we have a better picture on
that gap analysis and then we're able to adjust our funding
accordingly. But we wanted to really work with and take
advantage and leverage all these other funding partners that
traditionally have provided leadership and stepped up in the
situation. I know Turkey is wanting to work with us to see how
we can coordinate programs. AU is working with us. We really
try to see what the actual picture of the gap is because for us
it's not the funding at the moment. It's access and security.
But even if it is funding, how do we account for all these
other nontraditional partners and how do we take advantage of
theirs and see how we can use their money in areas that we
can't use our monies and sources of funding. That's the
discussion we're having with our U.N. colleagues at the moment.
Mr. Smith. Finally, in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee
camp, what is being done to ensure that sex trafficking, sex
for food and other kind of gender-based violence is hopefully
being stopped, and where there is a violence, where have those
who have committed it been held to account and the victims
given assistance?
Ms. Jandhyala. I know that our colleagues at PRM at State,
our own gender advisor, Carla Koppell, has been out there and
we're working--the coping mechanisms that the people in the
refugee camps has led to some behavior, frustration and leading
to some of the protection issues that we're dealing with. So
what we have done is to see how we can work with the UNHCR and
the Kenyan Government and other partners to see how better we
can put a protection and see how we can deal with the gender-
based violence. That is a priority for us.
As you know Deputy Steinberg of the Agency has made a
commitment to this and we are currently working to see what
systems, what policies and what programs we need to put in
place into those camps to address that. It's a major worry for
us and given that it leaves this population much more
vulnerable than other situations we've seen around the world.
Mr. Smith. I would ask--I probably didn't phrase it as a
question, but do you anticipate further drawdown from various
accounts to exceed the $600 million on the near term? And how
much do you anticipate would be needed over the next several
months?
Ms. Jandhyala. I think for now we're working with our $600
million that we have pulled in from. Once we have this
conversation with the U.N. and the partners we'll explore to
see where the needs are and then come back and really explore
what flexibilities and what support we might need from you to
allow us to do that as well.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. We certainly have a
question in regard to the licensing. I would also like to have
it clarified. The meeting that was held several days after we
adjourned, the Administrator Raj Shah attended it and many of
the NGO groups were there, CARE and Oxfam and most of them. But
the concern at that time about the whole question of licensing,
and as we know the agencies take a lot of risk, first of all,
to have an interest and still try and I just have to commend
people who put their lives in harm's way. The World Food
Program since 2008 has lost 14 workers, have been killed trying
to deliver life-saving food and aid to Somali civilians, so we
do have some very heroic people. I've met some of them on my
last trip to Mogadishu about 2 years ago when I visited there
last. But them then to worry about the license or whether their
agency is going to be held liable if some of the food falls
into the hands of al-Shabaab, to me, really is putting a cart
before the horse. I mean it's bad if al-Shabaab did get control
of some of the food as we have heard.
However, I think there was too much holding back or not
enough clarification to agencies who were willing to put
themselves out there in harm's way, but worried about the legal
consequences if some of the food they had fell into the hands
of some of the bad people. You know, it seems to me that the
overall goal should have been saving the children, saving the
women, saving the people in need.
However, it seems like, Mr. Smith asked, it was Treasury
fooling around with whether a license could be issued or not
issued. And can you explain is that issue clear and can the
NGOs and PVOs work without worrying about if indeed something
fell in the hands of some less than desirable groups, that
they're going to be held accountable and prosecuted?
Absolutely. I mean they were fearful at that meeting, it was
unclear. It was several weeks ago. And I think that many lives
would have been saved if we didn't fool around about a license
and some fool falling into the hands of the wrong people.
Children were dying while we were trying to debate in court was
legal, what was not. Should we allow it? We were on the Voice
of America, there was a program 3 or 4 weeks ago where NPR, did
any food fall in the hands--the chairman made it clear and
myself that it's unfortunate if some falls in, we hope it
didn't. However, the basis goal is to try to save lives. And so
I just wonder if that issue has been clarified.
Ms. Jandhyala. Mr. Payne, I agree with you. Our commitment
is about saving lives. After recently coming from my recent
visit, it can't be anything other than our commitment to save
lives. We're approaching this on two tracks, as I mentioned
earlier. One is everything who receives U.S. funding is covered
by the license. The other is those who are not being funded by
U.S. Government, that's the ongoing discussion at the moment.
So we're encouraging as many people as possible to work
with us to see how we can take advantage and efficiently
maximize in working with us in that regard. The ongoing
discussion about the second track, non-U.S. Government funding,
those discussions are being had at the moment.
Mr. Payne. We were just chatting. People need to be assured
with a legal document in hand. Agencies are still reluctant to
know whether they are going to be, like I said, not only cited,
but prosecuted and fines and penalties and I don't know if it
probably goes as far as imprisonment. This seems to me that
sometimes it's great to have lawyers around, but I think that
we really, and I'm not blaming you. I'm sure you would love--
that's what you do, you give food out. You're not trying to
hold it in. However, perhaps we have the wrong agency here. We
really need to see if we can get through this red tape.
We have currently as it's been indicated, $604 million. Now
how does the DART team in the countries there? Are they a
separate entity and how is that operating?
Ms. Jandhyala. We have the DART team in Nairobi and Addis
and their primary function is to identify and coordinate with
other partner response agencies so they work with on three
functions, how efficiently to get our resources out there, find
creative partners who can help us deliver the assistance, work
with host country systems to see where we can bring greater
efficiency to their services and lastly, to work with partners.
It's a real rapid, real time team that's on the ground trying
to build better management of the situation.
Mr. Payne. And how has the fundraising with the other
countries, I think we mentioned that the Arab League finally
came in with something. We know we did $604 million. Where did
the other nations, any other large donors?
Ms. Jandhyala. The United Kingdom, which is one of our
other partners, currently is providing $115 million. The EU has
committed to $300 million. So we're trying to find how best to
pull all of our resources together to impact this.
Each of us has our own restrictions, our own programs, so
we're working--and the World Bank has committed to $500 million
for disaster recovery and development. So in the next week or
2, we're trying to bring all of us together and look at not
only about the emergency, but also the long term recovery
efforts where maybe we should start doing some things now that
lend to a greater resiliency and recovery in the coming months.
Mr. Payne. Now at the Dadaab camp, what is the current
population? Two years ago--there's a lot of people now, but I
understand that the growth has grown by maybe 25 percent, 20
percent since that time. What is the current estimated number
of people actually in the camp? And I assume that many of them
can't actually physically get into the camp, so are they in the
surrounding areas? And how are they serviced? Are they serviced
as if, in fact, they were in the camp with rations, etcetera?
Ms. Jandhyala. The camps right now are hosting about
440,000 refugees, more than 116,000 which have arrived since
January. Approximately 1500 new refugees are arriving on a
daily basis. So our colleagues at the State Department are
closely working with the Kenyan Government about opening up the
new site, the new refugee camp to relieve some pressure off the
original camp.
The services are being delivered in some ways trying to
help WFP and others, loosen some procedures up, so that the
food and the immediate services goes to these populations. So
there is a full effort now to maybe be creative in a way that
we not just view it as a physical camp, but led by needs and
services, rather than saying somebody who is in the camp,
because expecting 1500 people a day in, it's hard for people to
say where they belong and in which physical location.
Mr. Payne. Just a final question or two. A number of
Somalis have gone into Ethiopia which is really great that
they've opened their borders. However, as you know, in the
Ogaden region of Ethiopia the Somalia population is at odds
with the central government. I have spoken to just recently,
just today in person, one of the ONLF representatives who
allege that in the Ogaden region there is difficulty and less
than a uniform delivery of relief supplies.
Have you heard of any complaint of this nature at the State
Department, to your knowledge or at USAID?
Ms. Jandhyala. I'm not aware of anything, but what I could
do is check with our colleagues in Ethiopia, our mission in
Ethiopia and our State colleagues and come back to you with
some additional information on that.
Mr. Payne. I really would like to have you follow up on
that. And finally, I spoke to the second person in charge in
Eritrea a week ago and asked about the situation there. Of
course, as you know, they indicate that they have had a bumper
crop last year and they also purchased expecting a problem this
year. And I have been asked to come and visit if time
permitted.
Have you had any conversations with the Government of
Eritrea? There had seemed to be a lack of communication with
the government. I know there sometimes has been some
difficulty, but hopefully, there will be some ongoing
conversations between the officials of Eritrea and the U.S.
Government. What is your assessment? I was told that if they
needed help, they would indeed be in touch with us. So I can
just take it at that word.
Ms. Jandhyala. We don't have an AID mission in Eritrea.
However, the European Union is a big partner of the Eritrean
Government, so a lot of our visibility into the humanitarian
situation has been through our partners who have presence and
programs there. What I could do is talk to our State colleagues
and our colleagues, partner colleagues at the EU to see where
we can get additional information on the crops, the situation
about the food.
Mr. Payne. I have one last question. In regard to South
Sudan, there was a donor, a conference, I was really unclear,
but Ambassador Steinberg was going to have a bit to do with.
And of course, Ambassador Steinberg is an outstanding person
and usually does a great job on his projects. However, I was
wondering what happened to the conference that was scheduled to
begin about 2, 3 weeks from now?
Ms. Jandhyala. We're committed, the President made the
commitment to this International Engagement Conference for the
new country to come to Washington and meet a variety of
partners that could help them in implementing their development
vision.
We had talked to them about coming as a new government with
a new cabinet and they appointed their cabinet and installed
their cabinet last Friday. So we thought between now and then,
UNGA, which is in the next 2 weeks, that they would not really
have the time necessary to cohesively come with the policy
vision. And we wanted them to succeed at the conference and
wanted to give them an additional time to engage us on their
development vision.
Mr. Payne. Thank you, we look forward to that.
Ms. Jandhyala. We hope to have all of you participate as
well.
Mr. Payne. Great. And also, there still seems to be some
confusion in parts of State Department about South Sudan not
being on sanctions. So maybe you could bump into anybody over
at State, tell them it's a new country, and not a part of
Khartoum any more.
Ms. Jandhyala. I'll carry that message, sir.
Mr. Payne. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Carnahan.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Ranking Member
again for leading us today. Thank you for being here and for
the work that you do.
I wanted to follow up. My colleague from New Jersey, Mr.
Payne's question about Deputy Administrator Steinberg, when he
recently returned from the region, he indicated that emergency
humanitarian response must put women front and center in the
process assuring that they address not just the victims of the
current emergency, but make them part of key solutions going
forward. He further stated that the U.S. is involving women as
planners and officiaries and recipients on programs including
relief to pregnant women and projects to prevent and respond to
disturbing reports of sexual violence.
I want to commend the administration on making these
priorities and with women and children disproportionately
vulnerable to malnutrition, disease, sexual and gender-based
violence in the wake of this crisis, I think these issues are
critical and especially challenging.
I'd like to hear you elaborate more on the strategy to
ensure that these most vulnerable populations are supported
through the recovery efforts and how they really fit in to the
long-term development process?
Ms. Jandhyala. Deputy Steinberg in our Agency has really
made this an agenda of everything we do across all the sectors,
health, education, agriculture. It's really a multi-sectoral
commitment and we work sort of at three levels, one at the
policy level in these host countries to ensure that women
participate in this decision-making process when decisions are
being made about camps and about food deliveries, that they
should be influencing these decisions. On my recent visit, I
have seen other camps and I have never seen a camp that is so
full of women and children as I've seen both in Ethiopia and
Kenya. And sometimes it becomes a hard thing to kind of absorb
at the enormity of the suffering that they face.
And so we have made commitment to three levels. One is that
they participate during this process and not just be recipients
of assistance because a lot of times we tend to say we treated
this many women. Our push right now is to say we need these
women to participate in the decision-making process in the
policies that are made. The other big issue is access to
assets, land and credit. Because in any household women make
some of these decisions about children's education, food
security. So we think part of it is making food security,
having women participate in food security and production, land,
access to credit.
We're working with the African women in agriculture
research and development to help us think through these
strategies much more and especially in crisis situation. We
have a lot of knowledge on how to do deal with it in the longer
term, but we really have to ramp up our efforts in these
complex crises and go beyond just protection. And how can we
make them productive because so far we deal with protection,
but we also want to deal with economic viability of households
which is dependent on women.
Mr. Carnahan. When you were there, share with the committee
some of the impact of that involvement in terms of getting
better results.
Ms. Jandhyala. In the camp in Ethiopia, I found that the
decisions around water, decisions around health care were
really meaningful in the way that we were able to say how to
not only survive this crisis, but let's start talking about how
do we recover from it. That provided sort of a hope and that
allowed people to be motivated because a lot of--as the
chairman and Mr. Payne have said, a lot of women made tough
decisions walking to these camps, leaving children behind and--
sorry.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you. The other issue I wanted to ask
about on my time here is on climate change. Under the generous
clock of the chairman, climate change, one of the causes of the
drought, what should we be doing to help mitigate the impacts
of climate change on vulnerable countries? Scientific evidence
suggests that extreme weather events such as flooding and
drought will likely become even more severe in terms of
frequency and severity around the globe, but especially in
areas like Horn of Africa.
Can you talk with us about the administration's global
climate change initiative, address these trends especially in
Africa and what else we need to be doing to address those?
Ms. Jandhyala. From an AID perspective, we deal with
communities who face water shortages, who lose livestock
because of lack of rain. We deal with the impact and the
consequences. So one of our efforts is working with local
governments. For example, in Ethiopia, before the drought we
did a commercial de-stocking program where they didn't have to
wait until the livestock died and lost all their asset bases.
So we said is it possible to sell off some of your livestock
now, get some income and be prepared to deal with purchasing
food within a few months' time when we know you will not be
able to grow crops.
The other is water management. In northern Kenya with the
pastoral community, Mr. Chairman, that you mentioned, our
objective there is some pastoral communities are able to adapt
and move near rivers and maybe start farming. Others aren't. So
we have to--we're working on two tracks within our Feed the
Future. One is how to sort of have them engage in the market,
link them to the on-going markets where food production areas
to food deficit areas. And the other is give them tools to
manage the resources they need to sustain their lifestyle
currently.
It's a very complex combination of factors of managing
livestock, land, water, and at the community level that's where
we have worked and continue to work with in most of the Horn at
least today. I can bring some additional information through
your staff about what we're doing throughout the continent.
Today, I sort of have focused on East Africa, but we're willing
to share that information with you.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you. I'd certainly like to see that and
again, thank you for being here.
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Carnahan. Ms. Bass?
Ms. Bass. First of all, I wanted to thank the chair and
ranking member for putting this hearing on and all the work
that you've done over this year and I especially want to thank
the witness for your work, your contributions and I've never
been to one of the refugee camps, so I can't even imagine the
suffering that you must have seen.
You were giving some examples in regard to climate change,
but I wanted to ask if maybe you had a couple of other examples
about how USAID is addressing the long-term needs of the region
since we know that the cycles of drought and famine occur,
recurrently. Maybe you could point out a couple of other
examples?
Ms. Jandhyala. Our $3 billion of development assistance,
the region is amazingly dynamic, even with the drought. It
leads in terms of trade. It leads in terms of financial
services, innovative mobile banking. I mean on a development
front, the regional integration platforms, the infrastructure
that's being discussed within Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, it
is a very vibrant economy that is in that region at the moment.
So what we have said is we make a commitment to how do we
create economic opportunity in that region? How do we improve
governance in that region? And our investments long term have
actually helped us think through why is it that we're not--how
do we mitigate? We can't avoid another drought or shortage of
rain, but we can mitigate it. We can lessen the impact. We can
be more responsive as the chairman said, and quicker. Where
have we learned our lessons? So we're spending an enormous
amount of time with the governments themselves saying that as
Mr. Payne has said in the '60s, '80s, '90s, we need them to
commit. So our huge effort is a reform agenda with the
governments to make policy commitments now so that we don't
have to face the same situation over and over in the coming
years.
For us, the development assistance is the long-term
solution to the region and I think that Feed the Future,
unlocking the agriculture productivity in that region is key to
stability in that region because nearly 80 percent of the
population earns income in the agriculture sector. So
productivity is our commitment and governance is a huge
commitment to the region and regional integrations where they
take advantage of it, so if there are food deficit areas and
food productive areas, how do we create the markets to link
them because we may not be able to grow food in all parts of
the region, but we need to make sure that the food that is
grown is reaching populations that can access it.
Ms. Bass. Thank you. On governance, I did want to ask you a
question about that. The area that I represent in Los Angeles,
there's a neighborhood that's referred to as Little Ethiopia.
And it's a commercial area, but there's a lot of Ethiopians
that live in the area and they are always talking to me about
democracy and human rights, especially in the wake of the 2010
elections. And a little bit off subject, but I wanted to know
if you could kind of address that in terms of what we're doing
to support the democratic efforts since they will ask me when I
get back.
Ms. Jandhyala. AID approaches this issue from two tracks.
One is strengthening civil society in terms of participation
because as long as you don't have populations participating and
making these choices about their future that's always our
biggest constraint. We're providing tools. We're providing
instruments. But at the end of the day you do need a population
that participates. So we're working on that.
The other is a much more interesting thing that we're doing
in Ethiopia, actually, at local governments. We're working with
the governments about social accountability, so whether they're
delivering health services or education, we have had much
better success with local governments having populations
participate in those decisions. So we feel that we try to use
different platforms to get the communities participating and
holding local officials accountable for those services that
they've made commitments to. And that's our big effort right
now in many parts of Ethiopia working and deploying to reach,
working with regional governments. And our State colleagues
continue to work on the broader governance issues in the
country.
Ms. Bass. And then finally, just one last question. I know
that there will be some cuts in the next year's budget and I
wanted to know if any of the cuts that are being proposed would
impact the Food for Peace and international disaster
assistance, would affect your ability to respond to the current
emergency or is it something we need to take a look at again?
Ms. Jandhyala. As of today, we don't see it. We're not
experiencing it. But I think once we have this conversation on
the sidelines of UNGA about where the international resources
are flowing to, we have a better idea where the gaps are and
then come back and review where our situation is.
Ms. Bass. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Just a couple of follow ups. If you could, Ms.
Jandhyala, get back to us early next week to the subcommittee?
Ms. Jandhyala. Yes.
Mr. Smith. And update us on the progress or lack of
progress on the licenses in that conversation. Because it seems
to me delay is denial, and if there's something we can do,
we'll ask Treasury to come here and provide their rationale for
denial of those licenses. It seems to me that a call from the
Secretary of State would do this, at least I would think. This
is that urgent.
So if you could let us know by early next week exactly what
the lay of the land is, that would be most appreciative, and
we'll share it immediately with all the members of the
subcommittee for sure.
Secondly, if you could, on Iran's PR wire there's a story
that they are now providing their eleventh convoy, this one
some 40 tons of relief material, food, medicine and the like,
and this is their eleventh time. So they seem to be responding
for whatever reason, humanitarian or political or both.
My question is what is your take on that? Is it real? Are
they really providing foodstuff? Is this something that is just
being done for PR purposes?
Secondly, with regards to the Persian Gulf states, Saudi
Arabia has some $500 million a day in oil profits. They've
provided $60 million in relief which obviously is welcomed, but
my question is what kind of robust diplomacy is being done
among our Persian Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia which
would have, I think, the most to contribute to meet that
billion-dollar gap and to do it immediately. Who is
coordinating that? Are the phone calls being made, especially
in light of the excessive wealth of countries like Saudi
Arabia?
Ms. Jandhyala. On the first two, I'll come back with
additional information regarding--I'll take back your request
and come back--I'll take back your request to our colleagues
about the discussion on the licensing.
On the issue about Saudi Arabia and the diplomatic strategy
with our Gulf partners, there's an intense effort by our State
Department colleagues in the region, outside the region,
nontraditional donors, at every opportunity we have, at UNGA,
at G-20, at every international event and bilateral discussions
this topic has been raised with our partners. And that's led by
our State Department colleagues. And we're working closely with
them by providing them information on where and how they can
participate in this large international effort, humanitarian
effort and development effort for the recovery.
The other issue is some have started on recovery
activities, so we're also trying--not everybody wants to deal
with the immediate humanitarian. Some would like to focus on
recovery issues. So we're catering to both those conversations
at the moment, but there is a large, intense effort by our
State Department colleagues to move this agenda forward.
Mr. Smith. I want to thank you, Ms. Jandhyala, very much
for your testimony. We look forward to hearing from you early
next week. Thank you for your service.
Ms. Jandhyala. Thank you for having me.
Mr. Smith. We will now welcome our second panel to the
witness table and I'll do the official introductions. Beginning
first with Ms. Katherine Zimmerman from the American Enterprise
Institute. Ms. Zimmerman is a foreign policy analyst at the AEI
critical threat project. As AEI's team leader for the Gulf of
Aden region, her work has focused on al-Qaeda and its
associated movements in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of
Africa. Ms. Zimmerman specializes in the Yemen-based group al-
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Somalia's al-Qaeda link, al-
Shabaab. She has conducted numerous briefings for policy
makers, published analyses of U.S. national security interest
in Yemen and Somalia.
We'll then hear from Dr. Kent Hill, who joined World Vision
in February 2011 after more than three decades serving in the
U.S. Government and in academic and nonprofit leadership roles.
As head of the World Vision U.S. international programs, he
collaborates with World Vision's international partners to
coordinate the allocation of government grants and donations
from individuals and corporations. From 2001 to 2005, Dr. Hill
served as head of USAID's Bureau for Europe and Eurasia.
Between 2005 and 2009, he led USAID's Bureau for Global Health
heading up their health programs and representing them in
several large health initiatives.
I will note that while Dr. Hill was Assistant Administrator
for Global Health in the Bush administration, I asked him to
administratively initiate a robust fistula program within
USAID. I'm happy to say that he did so and did it
wholeheartedly with a great deal of skill and compassion.
Thanks to this program, USAID has dedicated nearly $60 million
to address fistula between FY 2005 and 2010 and approximately
20,000 women have received fistula repair surgery since 2005
and had he not taken that leadership role, I can tell you that
would not have happened. We had passed a bill. I sponsored it.
Passed in the House, died in the Senate. We asked if
administratively Dr. Hill could initiate that program, and he
did. We're now in some 30 USAID-supported fistula repair
centers, mostly in Africa, in 11 countries and again 20,000
women have received repair.
Then we'll hear from Ms. Shannon Scribner of Oxfam who has
been with Oxfam since 2003 and is currently leading the
humanitarian policy team in Washington, DC. She was worked on
many of Oxfam's humanitarian responses around the world
including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Iraq, Liberia, Ethiopia, and Somalia. She has
testified previously before Congress and has been interviewed
on humanitarian topics by many well-known media outlets.
Ms. Scriber began her career as a healthcare volunteer in a
small rural village in Zambia.
Ms. Zimmerman, if you could begin.
STATEMENT OF MS. KATHERINE ZIMMERMAN, GULF OF ADEN TEAM LEAD,
CRITICAL THREATS PROJECT, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE
Ms. Zimmerman. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, members of the
subcommittee, it is an honor to appear before you today to
discuss this important topic. Before I begin, I would like to
direct you to a reference map of Somalia provided in an
appendix to my statement. I will briefly outline al-Shabaab's
history with humanitarian assistance before going into detail
about current conditions and the issue of providing
humanitarian assistance in al-Shabaab controlled territory.
Al-Shabaab's position toward humanitarian assistance has
evolved over the years as hard-line, radical Islamists gained
prominence in the group. Since mid-2009, the group has
progressively banned many Western organizations claiming that
they have a Christian agenda and do not pursue the interests of
the Somali people. Local NGOs also face pressure from al-
Shabaab for working with these groups.
Al-Shabaab's leadership particularly targeted the U.N.'s
World Food Program. First, al-Shabaab prohibited all branded
aid, including aid with the American flag on it. Then, it
required the World Food Program to only purchase food locally
and to empty all food warehouses by the end of 2009. On January
1, 2010, al-Shabaab militants raided a World Food Program
warehouse in Marka and burned over 300 sacks of food. The World
Food Program responded by suspending its operations in the
south, citing a lack of security. It has not been able to
resume operations there.
The experience of the World Food Program is not unique. By
mid-September 2010, at least seven other agencies were banned
from al-Shabaab's territories. The organizations that remain
face restrictions on activities and many are subject to some
form of taxation. Al-Shabaab's actions have exacerbated the
effects of the drought in the region.
In early July this year, al-Shabaab's spokesman announced
that ``all aid agencies whose objective is only humanitarian
relief are free to operate.'' Despite this proclamation,
agencies such as the World Food Program are still banned. There
have been certain openings into the south. UNICEF, for example,
has delivered supplies into Baidoa, the capital of Bay region.
By and large, however, al-Shabaab remains hostile to most
international aid agencies.
Many Somali families, unable to survive under al-Shabaab's
rule, are fleeing. In response, al-Shabaab has established
roadblocks along primary travel routes and has forced
truckloads of people to turn back. Residents have also been
required to feed al-Shabaab militants or face punishment for
refusing to do so. The group publicizes its drought-relief
work, but the sheer number of people leaving its territory is
indicative of the poor conditions and the limited access to
food.
It is necessary to recognize very real restrictions on
humanitarian aid activities when considering the prospect of
expanding operations into southern and central Somalia. First,
the humanitarian operating environment is precarious even
without the presence of al-Shabaab. There have already been
attacks on aid convoys in Bay and Hiran regions during which at
least one aid worker was killed. The only clear realized gains
since the U.N. first deployed peacekeeping forces in 1992 have
been made in Mogadishu, where a peacekeeping force assists the
Transitional Federal Government or the TFG.
The African Union Mission in Somalia or AMISOM, has a force
presence of about 9,000 peacekeepers. Territory outside of the
TFG and AMISON's control is contested by armed factions and it
is likely that any insertion of resources into such a volatile
environment will result in violence. A significant escalation
in humanitarian activities throughout southern and central
Somalia will very likely increase the risk to aid workers'
safety.
Second, while al-Shabaab is not the only obstacle to
humanitarian relief in Somalia, it is clearly the greatest
threat to aid workers. Al-Shabaab's shura council has made
clear that it will not accept the presence of many
international humanitarian aid organizations and has enforced
this ban with violence. Humanitarian aid organizations are ill
equipped to deal with the threat posed to their personnel by
al-Shabaab militants and it would be naive to ignore the
security aspect of any humanitarian operation there.
Third, al-Shabaab has a very strong power base in major
cities in the south such as the ports of Marka and Kismaayo.
There's a high likelihood that any humanitarian operation,
which would entail establishing security in the heartland of
al-Shabaab's territory, would be met with significant armed
resistance. Al-Shabaab is able to operate military training
camps openly and will be able to call up forces quickly. Its
militias have already exhibited the ability to withstand AMISOM
operations in Mogadishu, especially during its 2010 Ramadam
offensive. It has taken a 50 percent increase in peacekeeping
troops and sustained effort by the TFG to develop its own
security forces to reestablish temporary control over the
majority of the capital. Whereas in Mogadishu, al-Shabaab
conducted an insurgency against AMISOM and TFG troops, in
southern Somalia, al-Shabaab is the dominant power.
An armed conflict in southern Somalia will likely require
the deployment of ground forces that could readily defeat al-
Shabaab.
The decision to pursue a humanitarian operation in southern
Somalia ought to be made with these substantial costs in mind.
Opting for humanitarian aid operation will likely require a
military commitment. Seeking to purchase consent from or to
cooperate with al-Shabaab to insert humanitarian assistance
incurs future costs. Purchasing consent does not guarantee
future security or even the delivery of assistance to the
people in need. What it does, however, is fund a virulent
radical insurgence group that has stated its intentions to
attack America, and has increasingly established ties to al-
Qaeda's operational franchise, al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen. Cooperating with
al-Shabaab will likely permit it to dictate aid distribution
strengthening the group.
A humanitarian operation to respond to the spreading
famine, however morally imperative, must not be undertaken
without an understanding of the full requirements and the
associated risks. I thank the subcommittee for its attention.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Zimmerman follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
----------
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much.
Dr. Hill.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE KENT HILL, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS, WORLD VISION
Mr. Hill. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your kind words about
the work together we did on fistula and a number of other
topics. I appreciate that very much and Congressman Payne, I
remember your support when I testified before this
subcommittee, I believe on TB, and we managed to get some major
progress there as well, so I appreciate that very much.
I testify to you today on behalf of World Vision, and thank
you for the opportunity of doing so. World Vision is a child-
focused Christian humanitarian organization that serves the
most vulnerable people in about 100 countries and I might just
add that in our calculation of the 100 countries or so Somalia
is the top of the list in terms of difficulty the place in
which to work.
The World Vision International 2010 budget was
approximately $2.5 billion and the World Vision U.S. portion of
WVI raised about $1 billion of that with 75 percent coming from
private donations. Our supporters include 1 million donors from
every state and congressional district and we partner with more
than 6,000 churches and thousands of corporations as well.
With respect to the crisis in the Horn, we've been working
to strengthen communities and respond to emergencies for 60
years. In 2010, World Vision served 15 million people through
responses to 80 different humanitarian disasters around the
world including Haiti, the flooding in Pakistan, the severe
drought in China. We've been operational in the Horn for a
number of decades.
This drought is the worst in the Horn in 60 years. Just a
couple of days ago the U.N. has warned that as many as 750,000
Somalis may die in the coming months. This is approaching the
number of people who died and probably will exceed that which
occurred during the '84-'85 Ethiopian famine.
An incredible 58 percent of the children in Somalia's Bay
region are suffering from acute malnutrition. In total, more
than 12 million people are presently at risk. Their crops have
died. Their animals have died and now they are dying in the
tens of thousands. Half of them or more are children, many in
southern Somalia, where the famine has been declared in a
number of places. Many tens of thousands more will die unless
the world responds in a way that's more convincing than it is
now responding.
World Vision is reaching out to about 2.5 million people
with life-saving aid and other assistance in this particular
crisis. Let me say just a word about how smart aid saves and
transforms lives. While droughts are cyclical and more droughts
will certainly come in the future, famines are entirely
preventable with the right response.
Let me insert something here. There's been a lot of
discussion here today about the problems of food security and
the things that the world needs to do on this, but it would be
silly not to note the importance of the testimony we have just
heard.
In situations where there is political instability or
anarchy, you're always going to have a crisis exacerbated, so
droughts and famines are never going to have just rain or
climate problems when you've got this kind of governance issues
at work in Somalia. Read any standard history of this region,
and it is frightening the degree of the complexity and the
difficulty of solving that.
If we don't find a way to address the governance issues in
places like this, our international development attempts to
help will always be severely limited. So we've got to keep that
in mind.
We can and we must respond and we must respond quickly if
the devastating consequences of this famine in the Horn are to
be significantly reduced.
Now we know firsthand from our experience that there are
things you can do that will make a difference. Throughout the
Horn of Africa World Vision has delivered water to communities
whose water sources have dried up. We've provided emergency
nutrition to malnourished children. Our clinics in Somalia will
serve people who have fled their homes or on their way to
Ethiopia or Kenya. We have put up 5,000 tents in Dadaab, the
largest refugee camp in the world, perhaps the first shelter
that these Somali refugees have had in more than 30 days. Many
times, these people have walked for days and they're
malnourished.
It's sobering to think how many more people, especially
children, will die if we and the world do not respond
energetically and quickly. Now this is important. Famine
prevention has got to be a priority. For two and a half decades
World Vision has worked in programs like the Morulem Irrigation
program which has enabled families in northwestern Kenya's
Turkana Country to grow, eat and sell crops.
Now I bring this up for this reason. If you compare the
places that groups like Oxfam or World Vision or any of the
other good organizations that do work, if you look at the work
that they did over a long period of time, 10 or 15 years, you
compare what happens during a famine, the groups that will have
the famine are the ones that we have not been in a position to
help. It does make a difference what we do and when we do it.
And to what scale we do it.
Other areas that we don't touch or haven't had the
resources to touch, they're the ones that are most victimized.
Now let me say something about this very touchy issue of
U.S. funding with respect to this. We all know this is a tough,
political, and budget environment right now with many Americans
struggling to make ends meet and with much legitimate political
attention on reducing the U.S. Government debt. But reducing
the U.S. budget deficit and living within our means, however
much it is a moral issue to do that and I think it is a moral
issue to live within our means, it is also a moral imperative
to save vulnerable children from hunger and effects of disaster
when we have it within our capacity to make a difference.
I insist on believing and World Vision believes and I know
my colleagues believe this as well. We believe that we can do
both. We can get our fiscal house in order, make the steps
necessary to do that, and yet we can continue to fund at
appropriate levels, the important global and humanitarian
programs that we believe in.
For many years, the U.S. has been and continues to be the
leading donor government to humanitarian crises in the Horn,
but listen to this. Our share has shrunk from approximately 53
percent of the world's response to the drought in 2008 to about
30 percent today. We are simply not playing the proportionate
weight we once did, just a few months or years ago, to crises
like this.
Or consider this, the U.S. Government's response to what
may be--what is the worst disaster, a drought in the Horn in 6
years is about 60 years in what it was in 2008 and that
concerns us.
With respect to appropriation issues, this is not the time
for America to pull back. It is not a time to reduce those
life-saving accounts by 30 percent in some cases. It is a time
to increase them. Disaster assistance accounts for \1/10\ of 1
percent of our national budget and it's highly cost effective
in terms of saving lives. They should not be cut during a time
of famine.
Therefore, I would request on behalf of World Vision and
many of the other organizations and InterAction and in addition
to submitting my full text for the record, Mr. Chairman, I'd
like to submit that letter that has just gone out to
congressional members on this point. We would request that
funding be at least at the Fiscal Year 2010 enacted level which
means $1.85 billion for migration and refugee assistance
programs; $1.3 billion for international disaster assistance,
that's what funds OFDA and $1.48 billion for U.S. food programs
through P.L. 480, Food for Peace.
I would like to include for the record, as I mentioned that
letter signed by over 50 nongovernmental organizations asking
that disaster assistance accounts be funded at these Fiscal
Year 2010 levels.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you and the
ranking member Payne for holding this hearing, for your on-
going internal advocacy within the U.S. Congress to ensure a
strong and moral response to the situation in the Horn of
Africa and I look forward to your questions in a few minutes.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hill follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
----------
Mr. Smith. Dr. Hill, thank you so much.
Ms. Scribner?
STATEMENT OF MS. SHANNON SCRIBNER, HUMANITARIAN POLICY MANAGER,
OXFAM AMERICA
Ms. Scribner. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Payne, thank you
for this opportunity to testify today on the humanitarian
situation in East Africa. Oxfam is grateful for your leadership
and the work this committee has done to address the
humanitarian situation in the region. Oxfam America is an
international development and relief agency committed to
developing lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social
injustice. We are part of a confederation of 15 Oxfam
organizations working together in more than a hundred countries
with over 3,000 local partners around the globe.
The Horn of Africa, as we have heard, is experiencing the
worst drought we have seen in 60 years. But the current crisis
is also due to not heeding early warnings about the drought,
the conflict in Somalia, high food prices, and the lack of
investment in agriculture and programs that reduce the risk of
disasters in the first place. The famine and on-going conflict
in Somalia has displaced around 1.8 million people. Thousands
have fled from rural parts of Somalia into Mogadishu while even
more have walked for weeks across the desert with very little
food or water in search of relief in neighboring countries. In
Kenya, there are 430,000 refugees living in the camp of Dadaab,
where 70-80 percent of new arrivals are women and children. In
Ethiopia, there are 250,000 refugees living in Dolo Ado where
there has been a rise in deaths among children due to measles,
malnutrition, pneumonia, and diarrhea.
Oxfam is working in Kenya and Ethiopia directly operational
and through partners, and we are also working in Somalia, but
solely through partners. We are reaching over 1 million people
and aim to reach 3.5 million. Oxfam's response includes
providing water and sanitation services, food aid, cash
transfers where food is available and providing livelihood
support, such as rehabilitating livestock since those
predominantly affected by this drought have been pastoralists.
In Somalia, Oxfam's partners are reaching over 800,000
people. While operations in south-central Somalia are extremely
difficult, no doubt about it, it is possible to provide
assistance, particularly for NGOs who have strong links to the
communities, with some Somali partners, and who have a history
of working in south-central Somalia.
In the Kenya refugee camps, Oxfam is providing water and
sanitation assistance to more than 64,000 people and we are
also providing water and sanitation to the 60,000 people that
are sitting on the outskirts of Dadaab.
The current challenges to the response include funding,
access, and coordination. The U.S. Government has been by far
the most generous donor, but I would just like to echo Dr.
Hill's comments about the need for the U.S. Government and
others to do more. Other donors have also stepped up including
nontraditional donors which we've heard a little bit about, but
the needs are immense and as has been stated, there is a $1
billion shortfall today. And we know that the needs are going
to increase. Below average rainfall is predicted for the
November to January rains in south and central Somalia which
means we may not see recovery in Somalia until the next harvest
in August 2012.
In terms of access, south-central Somalia is one of the
world's most difficult environments to work in and Oxfam
partners and other agencies are reaching Somalis and providing
assistance where they can. But restrictions by armed actors or
donor policies that also have restrictions can hamper efforts
to provide lifesaving assistance. Therefore, all parties must
lift restrictions and allow unfettered access to assistance in
Somalia.
In addition to funding and access, we need to ensure that
aid reaches those most in need. Therefore, coordination,
information sharing, and transparency amongst all actors must
be improved. In failing to respond to the early warning systems
as has already been stated, we knew about this crisis, at least
about some of the early warning about La Nina was coming in in
August 2010. While a massive operation is now underway, little
was done until the May 2011 rains failed, as was predicted by
the early warning systems.
Looking forward, national governments, regional actors, and
the international community, including NGOs must do a better
job of coordinating a holistic response early on if food
emergencies are to be avoided in the future. And I just want to
say recently we've had a series of conferences, we've had two
FAO conferences in Rome. The African Union also had a
conference. There's a conference going on in Nairobi today and
tomorrow by affected countries, but why did it take long to
actually have those conferences?
In terms of improving access to food, a number of factors
have resulted in reduced food production in the region. In the
long term, we must address constraints to agricultural
productivity. However, we must immediately increase people's
access to food today. With high and rising food prices, basic
staples are simply not affordable for tens of thousands of
people throughout the region. The majority of people in the
worst affected areas have no savings and few safety nets to
support them when drought or other disasters strike.
Oxfam's assessments have shown that when food is available,
cash-based interventions are a rapid, effective way of saving
lives, supporting livelihoods and contributing to the
functioning of local markets. As we look at the way forward, we
know that the Horn of Africa is highly vulnerable to natural
disasters, particularly drought, which will have impacts on
livelihoods and food productions. Studies have shown that
investing in disaster risk reduction which we have touched on,
save lives and money. However, global expenditures on disaster
risk reduction in 2009 was only 0.5 percent of total annual
official development assistance.
Protecting core livestock herds is much cheaper than
rebuilding them once they have been decimated by drought. In
the far region of Ethiopia restocking sheep and goats cost 6.5
times more than supplementary feeding and restocking cattle
costs 14 times more. DRR also builds community resilience.
In Ethiopia, Oxfam America has a project in the south where
we've implemented a small-scale irrigation project that has
pumped water from a major river to community fields enabling
pastoralists to produce for their own consumption and to sell
on local markets. Today, this community is no longer in need of
food aid and they do not have to migrate with their livestock
because animal feed is available in their community.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to enter into the record an
Oxfam paper on disaster risk reduction in the Horn of Africa
that we prepared for the last FAO meeting in Rome as well as my
testimony.
Mr. Smith. Without objection, those documents will be made
a part of the record and all submissions by our distinguished
witnesses.
Ms. Scribner. Thank you. So solutions do exist and crises
on this scale can be avoided. But we have to act early and we
have to invest in the right places. Therefore, the U.S.
Government should use its foreign assistance and influence. To
echo my colleague again, maintain the humanitarian emergency
accounts at the FY2010 enacted levels and fully fund Feed the
Future because that is what has been put forward by USAID as a
way to address long-term needs.
Insure a majority of U.S. Government assistance, both
humanitarian and development related to this current crisis
reinforces resilience and reduces the risk of disaster by
considering the long-term implications. Support national
governments to establish stronger social protection and safety
net programs such as delivering regular food, cash, or cash
vouchers. Build the resilience and productivity of pastoralists
and other small-scale food producers, including implementing
policies and long-term investments that focus on drought cycle
management and improving access to market for small holders.
Finally, we need to ensure a strong and strategic
humanitarian response and once humanitarian principles are
upheld and actors are encouraged to share timely, accurate
information about their activities.
Thank you very much and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Scribner follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
----------
Mr. Smith. Ms. Scribner, thank you very much for your
testimony.
Let me just ask you a couple of questions. You were here
for the previous testimony, obviously. I wonder if you might
want to speak to the licensing issue, how that has hurt
operations on the ground and where you think the problem lies.
Where's the bottleneck? Is it Treasury? And why has USAID, if
they're pushing for this, been unable to get Treasury to change
their policy?
Mr. Hill. The NGO community in general was I think very
pleased with some of the movement in the last few days when it
was announced that U.S.-funded projects would see more relief
in terms of the restrictions, of peers of being held
accountable if assistance somehow reached armed groups or
someplace else it shouldn't go. But the NGO community
recognized what was left out of that written statement. And
what was left out of that written statement was us unless we
happened to be implementing a U.S. Government grant. And even
though there have been verbal assurances to us that we needn't
worry, you can imagine what a donor might think when they
prepare to give a gift to Oxfam or World Vision or some other
organization and they don't know if there's going to be a
problem with liability because of how difficult the environment
it is in to work in.
So I think our request would be that the government make it
very clear in writing that the same discretion will be given to
us that has been given for U.S. Government funds. Now when you
consider the amount of money that the private sector has
available and is willing to put into this, this is really not a
small point. And so we would like to see more guarantees put
into writing that would allow us to engage.
Now that's not the only problem. I mean we were thrown out
a year ago, World Vision was expelled. And like Oxfam, we have
to work with other organizations to do our work there. We do
some work with the Global Fund on Malaria and TB in south and
south-central Somalia. So there are other times that we will
have to pull out just because of security reasons, at least to
be directly involved. But at least we would not have to take
into consideration the fear that we will be held liable if we
can't quite manage the risk as well as we would like to.
Ms. Scribner. And if I could add to that, I agree that we
have seen some real improvements over the last several weeks in
terms of USAID implementing partners having these waivers as
they go in, but it does get to those that do not. And Oxfam
America does not take U.S. Government money. So for us, we've
raised $4.5 million from private, from Americans and from
foundations. We cannot use that money in Somalia. It's not
clear to us how we could use that money in Somalia. Because
we're a confederation, luckily we have 15 organizations that
are chipping into a pot and we do have other organizations,
other Oxfams that are providing assistance in Somalia, but our
assistance is going to Ethiopia and to Kenya.
Mr. Smith. We're going to be working on this between now
and next week. I plan on introducing legislation that would
make clear that humanitarian organizations would be excluded
from the USA PATRIOT Act concerns which is obviously what is so
important here. And if for no other reason, to give the
administration whatever cover they think they might need or
somebody at Treasury who thinks they need some kind of cover. I
mean, we've had that same problem, as my friend and colleague
Mr. Payne knows, with those who--like in Burma and elsewhere--
find it impossible to get help here, asylum, because of
material support, allegedly, or even in Iraq where they have
paid someone off in order to mitigate the possibility of
becoming a target of terrorism or as payment to get a loved one
out. And then that is used against him to come to this country.
It seems to me that sometimes our rules and regulations border
on absurd.
Is there any estimation as to how many people might be
assisted if the administration some time next week or soon were
to provide this relief?
Ms. Scribner. I don't have an assessment.
Mr. Smith. Clearly, you want to be working with your
partners on the ground in Somalia, but you're precluded from
that opportunity out of legal risk.
Ms. Scribner. Correct. And I mean just to provide
assistance to the partners that are already operating because
as I said we're reaching 800,000 people, but we want to expand
those operations. Our partners want to expand those operations
and we're working through two partners in Mogadishu, outside of
Mogadishu, and then also on the Afgooye corridor and Lower
Shabelle.
But I do want to make a comment about because these
restrictions have been in place for some time, that the
situation on the ground is that the NGOs and agencies that have
been operating have developed systems and processes under very
difficult situations to get the aid to go where it needs to. So
it's Somalis who are delivering the aid, who know the culture,
know the language. They're negotiating bit by bit. They have to
negotiate with insurgent groups. It's the reality of Somalia.
And we don't want to disrupt the good work that they're doing.
So as other aid organizations come in, that's welcome because
there are needs on the ground. They need to be sensitive to
that, but they also need to test the waters.
For those agencies that haven't been working there, they're
not going to be able because of the humanitarian operations
scale-up. It's not going to be big. It's going to be small.
It's going to be low profile. And so I don't see a scale-up, a
large scale up happening overnight any time soon.
Mr. Hill. I would simply add two or three points on this.
And I would reiterate something I said in my testimony. The
difficulty for all of us to work there is going to be
exceptionally high. But my colleague is absolutely right. The
key is to work with implementing partners that we trust and who
know the terrain. We just want the freedom to be able to at
least do that.
Now the problem with not giving enough funding to this from
the USG and hopefully we'll get more from the private sector as
well isn't just in the epicenter of the famine in south and
south-central Somalia. It is, in fact, in these overcrowded
refugee camps. There is tremendous amount that can be done.
There are all sorts of water problems and health problems that
can be addressed right now if we could just put the right
resources to work further away from the epicenter in Kenya and
Ethiopia and northern Somalia.
Mr. Smith. The FEWS NET famine early warning system had
predicted a serious drought was in the offing. In your view,
was there a gap somewhere in leadership, in conveying that
information to those who could take effective action to
mitigate it? Or was this a textbook example of what can and
should be done, but other issues like al-Shabaab are perhaps to
blame? It seems to me like we were taken by surprise.
Mr. Hill. We shouldn't have been. When I arrived at World
Vision a few months ago, one of the first things that came
across my desk were the reports from my person who is in charge
of humanitarian disasters that were coming. He's in the room.
And he told me, he said the word from the U.N. and from other
places, from the early warning systems is that something bad
and something bad is coming.
But to be fair here, we tried to put out, World Vision did,
many months ago to try to secure some funding, and frankly we
didn't do very well. We didn't secure much and when I asked
ourselves at the senior level what happened, why couldn't we do
it, I mean some of the factors that we just have to face, there
is a certain donor fatigue, not just on the part of
governments, but the number of disasters is growing. All the
experts say it's going to continue to grow. We had Japan
intercede here which caught everybody's attention. And I think
it's just human nature that until its right upon us, we don't
always take the preventative action. But the was enough
information that we should have acted sooner, both privately
and publicly, to have mitigated this. We did some and that
helped, but we should have done more.
Mr. Smith. Yes.
Ms. Scribner. Just on that point, I agree. The good news is
that the early warning systems worked. But the bad news is once
that happens, then what? There's no trigger. There's no--once
we see that, then this is the next step and that needs to be in
place. It is a matter of political will. It's a matter of donor
fatigue and until we see those images of the famine and of
people crossing the border, those horrible images we've seen,
we don't act soon enough. But we need to do better. And I
commend the U.S. Government for prepositioning supplies last
year, but then my question would be what were we doing to work
with national governments? What were we doing to work with
regional actors and the international community early on? We
need to do more than just preposition supplies ourselves and
respond. All donors need to do more on that front.
I just want to mention that the Kenya Red Cross, there was
a humanitarian, a Kenyan humanitarian forum in Nairobi back in
January and they were talking about this and nobody was
listening to them, including the Kenyan Government. It just did
not get the attention that it needed to.
Mr. Hill. Mr. Chairman, if I could just add one thing?
Mr. Smith. Yes, please.
Mr. Hill. This sort of amplifies the point of why the
budget matters. In 2010, the total enacted in 2010 for the
international disaster assistance was $1.3 billion. Last year,
it dropped to $863 million. And the House marked-up bill for
this fund is now $757.6 million. That is a 42 percent reduction
in 2 years. Now what does that mean? That means that you can
have all the early warning systems you want, but if you've
already turned off the lights at the place that's going to
respond, you're going to be slowed down for weeks or months,
even if you had the political will and the money to do a
supplemental.
So if we want to take seriously the investment we've made
in early warning systems, we can't do this to funds like the
International Disaster Assistant Fund.
Mr. Smith. Would you recommend, not just in this budget,
but that there be a urgent supplemental request from the
administration to meet these gaps or can they draw down from
existing pools of money to meet this emergency and then over
time return it to those other----
Mr. Hill. You were right in the previous panel to note that
it's USAID's obligation and the State Department's obligation
to shift monies as they can and try to replace it if they can.
But frankly, it is the kind of situation under normal
circumstances would justify a supplemental.
Mr. Smith. Right. To your knowledge, and I did ask Ms.
Jandhyala if she knew whether or not are we out of money, is it
that they just don't want to go after other accounts or what?
We just don't know. Do you have any sense of that?
Ms. Scribner. I don't. And it's mostly rumors where I hear
Oxfam is running out of money and then suddenly they have money
and then there's a pledge that's suddenly given. So I don't
have a good picture. It doesn't mean that other people don't,
but I personally don't at this point.
Mr. Smith. Dr. Hill, you talk about the U.S. Government's
response to what may be the worst drought in the Horn in 60
years and only 60 percent of what was for the Horn drought in
2008. Is that because of lack of resources, lack of will, a
combination of both or what?
Mr. Hill. You know, to be fair to the administration, I
served this administration during 8 years of the biggest
increase in foreign assistance funding since John F. Kennedy.
And yes, the President was committed to that and yes, we had a
bipartisan consensus in Congress to address HIV and PEPFAR and
malaria and the Millennium Challenge Account. There was a
bipartisan support for it. In the wake of 9/11, we understood
that it was important. We had the luxury of being able to
respond.
Through no fault of its own, the present administration has
been dealt a very much more difficult hand. I don't have any
doubt that the administration would like to respond, wants to
respond. I think they're distracted by lots of things right
now. You know, in this nasty partisan bickering that we have
right now in this country, it's my hope and prayer that this is
one place that we put the partisan bickering aside. I believe
there is support on both sides of the aisle to deal with \1/10\
of 1 percent of the national budget to exercise our moral
responsibilities. I think the President is committed to this. I
believe the Congress can be committed to this.
We have to help the American public to understand that what
they think is a situation with respect to foreign assistance is
not. Repeatedly Gallup polls and others show that they think we
spend about a quarter of the national budget on foreign
assistance they say. We should cut it down to about 10 percent.
And then it turns out, if you combine State Department, all
foreign assistance together, it's about 1 percent. If you get
down to foreign assistance, it's much less than that and by the
time you get to these funds, you're talking about \1/10\ of 1
percent.
So we're not talking about the kind of money that's going
to break the bank. Now we're going to have to be responsible,
but this could be an example of something we can do together
and we all should try to take credit for it together and take
this one completely out of the banks of partisan bickering.
It's just too important not to do it.
Ms. Scribner. And if I could add on to that. I agree with
all of that. But also say that we've already talked about more
assistance is going to be needed. The needs are growing, so we
should be asking those questions, Chairman, about where is the
money, what do we have left in the coffers? Is the supplemental
the right thing to do? So I welcome those questions and we'll
ask them ourselves.
And then in the long term, we also need to look at Feed the
Future, because that is what the U.S. Government, USAID in
particular, is saying that is their response going forward in
order to prevent this from happening again is going to be
through Feed the Future. So then that brings into questions
about development assistance overall actually being funded,
Feed the Future as part of that. So I'm concerned about not
actually having the funding to do the prevention that we've
talked about, to do the resilience building that's been
mentioned and the disaster-risk reduction because we won't have
the funding in the future.
Mr. Smith. Ms. Scribner, you mentioned cash-based
interventions as being obviously a viable option for Somalia.
That also suggests the availability of foodstuffs that can be
purchased and I'm wondering: How would you break that up in
terms of region? Is it mostly cities where the foods might be
available and that's where that would work? Or how would that
play out throughout the country?
Ms. Scribner. It's counter intuitive during a time of food
insecurity, but there is food available. Of course, not
everywhere, but in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, there
is food on the local markets. There are--and where food is not
available in the local markets, in the nearby cities, they
actually, traders actually have food, but they're not bringing
them to market because people do not have the money to buy that
food. So if we are able to give vouchers to those traders to
bring the food into the communities or to do the cash vouchers.
You can do cash for work. When people are experiencing food
insecurity the most vulnerable populations aren't going to be
able to do that. So you need direct cash, but you could do cash
for work for people that are healthier in terms of building
some of the resilience for the next time this hits. And you
could also do vouchers.
I think we should be looking at where food is available and
looking at cash as an intervention and then where food is not
obviously food aid is needed. I think WFP needs to do, the
World Food Program needs to do a little bit, a better job in
determining what the pipeline looks like, where food is
available and where it's not so that as the international
community can look at alternative interventions, we know the
exact areas where food is available and where it's not.
Mr. Smith. Now Ms. Jandhyala mentioned there's $8 million
allocated. Does that seem an appropriate order of magnitude to
you or seems too low in terms of prioritization?
Ms. Scribner. It seems low. It's a good start. I think the
U.S. Government does well with direct food aid and that's
really important in saving lives, of course. But if we could
increase that amount it does seem low. Again, we are hearing
that. Oxfam is doing direct food distribution, but we're also
doing the cash for food. So we're looking at the communities
where it works and where it doesn't work. USAID should be doing
that as well and they may need to increase the $8 million.
Mr. Hill. I think the answer where there's sufficient funds
being put in, for example, into the Food for Peace, the answer
would be no. If you gave the same statistics as I just did for
OFDA because OFDA is what gets its money from the international
disaster assistance, the fund in USDA which provides for Food
for Peace was $1.84 billion at the end of Fiscal Year 2010.
That was the total enacted. And the bill before us right now is
$1.04. So there's a tremendous cut here in a specific food
program.
And here's something else that has not yet come up that I
think we have to address. Look, if you look at the percentage
cuts in the total of state and foreign assistance, one of the
big mysteries to me is why of all of those accounts are the
deepest cuts here? I don't get it. I mean I know these are
tough times, but even in foreign assistance and in State that
you would cut most deeply the food and the disaster funds, it
just--I think the prioritization there, we have to address
that. And if there is some negotiation between the House and
the Senate on the total amount, I would suggest that the
negotiations center on these particular programs that have been
gutted, that are being hurt because they were cut
disproportionately. They should be restored first to the extent
you can find the bipartisan consensus to do so.
Mr. Smith. I appreciate that very much thank you. One last
point, are the NGOs reaching out to Persian Gulf potential
donors, especially Saudi Arabia? I mean the $60 million could
be a downpayment for what could be a very huge amount of money
that they are absolutely capable of providing. They have no
debt like we do. Their profits, we estimate, or it is
estimated, is $500 million per day. Sixty million dollars is a
portion of a day's profits in that oil-rich country. Have the
NGOs ever thought of sending a joint letter to the government
and to the King asking for a very serious contribution, like
$0.5 billion?
Ms. Scribner. That's an excellent question and one that's
important. You know, I think Congressman Payne was the one to
mention that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has had a
conference and that was a very important conference and we've
seen Turkey and Saudi Arabia come forward. Oxfam actually has
an office in Saudi Arabia, so we actually have outreach with
donors in that part of the world and it is a request that we're
making and it's also a request that we make to their Embassies
in the capitals where we work. So it's something we have been
pushing for and we will continue to push for. And in terms of
Somalia, in particular, their assistance is very important just
because of being able to fund the agencies in those areas that
are Islamic, a lot of the agencies providing assistance.
Mr. Hill. Three points. It is an interesting idea and I
would support and I don't see why InterAction and other NGOs
could not encourage the U.S. Government to do it. Now it's
their role as a government and a government-to-government
negotiation or you know, discussion, to do that. But your
question raises a very interesting idea that I hadn't thought
about before, but I think I'm going to pursue. A few months ago
I spent 4 hours with a World Vision International executive
meeting with Islamic Relief in northern Virginia. They do
several million dollars of assistance. I addressed the group.
We talked about ways that World Vision and Islamic Relief could
work together.
And it just occurs to me that we ought to follow up on that
and talk real specifically about they might be able to do some
things that we can't do in some of these areas here. We talked
specifically about that before, but I could--we could also talk
to them about the possibility of finding out what, if anything,
they are doing to encourage Islamic governments to play a more
active role, because I think it was maybe, it was one of the
folks here today that said it really is odd that there isn't
more assistance coming from that part of the world. But I think
one way into that discussion could be through Islamic Relief
and we have good relations with them and I think it's worth
pursuing a discussion with them.
Mr. Smith. Does the Red Cross have access? And how much?
Ms. Zimmerman. Just from what I've seen out of reports,
Islamic Relief is active in southern Somalia and also the Red
Cross, both Iranian Red Cross and then other local
international organizations that are tied to the Red Cross. So
there are organizations that can operate in southern and
central Somalia.
Just from the security perspective, al-Shabaab has made it
very clear that local Somali NGOs are the ones it trusts most
to do the humanitarian relief work and so I think both Oxfam
and World Vision, having faced security issues with al-Shabaab
themselves, have gone that route because it's the safest for
both their workers and it's also one of the more effective ways
to deliver the assistance into the areas that need it. Thank
you.
Mr. Smith. Thank you. Mr. Payne?
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. I couldn't agree more that
I do think that the countries that are doing well should
certainly step up to the plate. We have seen that Turkey has
taken more of a leadership. Of course, they're not necessarily
one of the wealthier countries in the group, but I think that
their willingness to help with the educational system in
Somalia and they're simply starting to take more of a
leadership role and hopefully they can become more active in
the Arab League to try to get them to do more.
I think that the African Union could also play a stronger
role by urging the rich Arab countries to participate more. I
think they've had a nice, close relationship and there has been
sort of I guess a working relationship. But I do believe that
the Islamic countries, especially as it relates to Somalia
could certainly do much more than what they're doing. The
African Union did speak out about the treatment of Africans in
Libya, finally, to the Islamic Arab League that they need to
talk to the rebels and tell them that they need to stop this
persecution of persons from sub-Saharan African who are being
brutally treated by the rebels, feeling that they were part and
friendly, I guess, to Ghadafi. So I think if they start to step
up to the plate a little bit more that would be helpful to the
overall cause.
Let's see, where to start? Ms. Scribner, Oxfam and other
organizations have argued that while weather conditions
contribute to the severity of the crisis, the poor policies and
planning that cause the region to be more susceptive, that poor
policies and planning have been as big a factor. I wonder if
you would want to highlight what factors you think have led to
the humanitarian crisis and what are ways, if any that these
might be prevented and addressed in the future. I know you
talked about the U.S. policy of Feed the Future which is
certainly a well-drafted plan, but could you go into a little
detail on that?
Ms. Scribner. Sure, on agriculture and pastoralism, it
provides livelihoods for 237 million people in East Africa who
live in the rural areas, yet, globally, the share of official
development assistance that supports agriculture has declined
by 77 percent. And it accounts for only 7 percent of the total
official development assistance today. So I would say
agriculture is an area where the international community has
not done enough investment in and we've actually declined in
our investments.
But it's also up to national governments, of course, to
play a role in directing investments toward agriculture. And
both Kenya and Ethiopia have committed to direct 10 percent of
their national budgets to agriculture. However, Kenya and
Ethiopia lack investment in livestock production in the region.
For Ethiopia, only 1 percent of their overall--sorry, 0.3
percent of their overall budget goes to investment and
livestock production. And for Kenya, it's less than 1 percent
of their budget. So I think that is an area in terms of
agriculture and livestock production where the international
community can invest more, but also national governments.
Both Ethiopia and Kenya are taking steps to do disaster
management approaches and that should be commended. That's good
news. But both Ethiopia and Kenya also need to look at the
early warning systems and take the data that they're seeing and
act sooner. And they do need to invest more in disaster-risk
reduction.
And in terms of the disaster-risk management approach, it
needs to be built up in terms of the capacity of the
governments at all levels in Ethiopia and Kenya. So today and
tomorrow there is the Nairobi conference that has been
happening, where governments are submitting their national
plans to prevent drought in the future. The U.S. Government
should look at those plans and see how we can support those
countries going forward. And most importantly, I think for
Ethiopia and Kenya is to implement, and there are some
ratifications of legislation that actually needs to happen. So
even though these proposals are out there, they need to be
implemented. And as soon as they do that, the U.S. Government
should be behind that and supporting that effort.
Mr. Payne. On the question of al-Shabaab, you know they
have changed their policy it seems over the course of 6 or 7
months, once they, I guess initially said there was no drought
and then they agreed that yes, it was a drought, but you
couldn't bring food aid in. Then they allowed it to come in.
What is the current--and any one of the three of you might want
to pitch in. What is the current situation, especially in
south-central Somalia and where in the recent disappearance of
al-Shabaab from Mogadishu, they're certainly not gone. They
just away, but how do you see that whole area playing out?
Ms. Zimmerman. The official line from the spokesman from
al-Shabaab is still that there is not a famine in Somalia, that
there is a drought, but that al-Shabaab is able to feed and
help the people under its territories. And what the group has
actually done is through a news channel that it has is when it
hosts food distributions in refugee camps and displaced persons
camps that al-Shabaab militants run, it will use that as
promotional material and take pictures of the food aid being
distributed and of the families being fed, and broadcast that
throughout southern Somalia and into the diaspora as well
saying that al-Shabaab is doing good work and this is Islamic
charity at its heart. Through this and through coming together
and trusting in al-Shabaab that people can survive this
drought.
More broadly, however, access still remains very limited
into southern and central Somalia because of this denial of a
crisis. And in my opinion, what has happened is that more local
al-Shabaab leaders, who have greater ties to local communities
needed to be more responsive to their populations, have
increasingly put pressure on the leadership and actually openly
put pressure on the leadership to change its policies toward
major international aid organizations, recognizing that there
is a drought and that people are dying in southern and central
Somalia.
From what I saw, I think the first signs were really in
April where local clan leaders told local al-Shabaab officials
that if they did not permit food assistance in now that people
would die later and it's later and people are dying. And I
don't think that al-Shabaab has fully recognized the effect
that this has had on its public perception within the Somali
population.
Mr. Payne. There was--I don't know whether World Vision has
tried it, but there was at one point a move to attempt to have
some Somali community here, in Minnesota, to try to get word to
some of the al-Shabaab leadership that they ought to reconsider
their policies.
Have any of you worked with the local Somalia community and
attempted to get them to try to persuade the al-Shabaab people
to have a different--the leadership to take a different tack?
Ms. Scribner. Oxfam, we have not, but we have been talking
about the importance of the diaspora and that exact role. And
so it's something we are discussing and something we are
considering doing. But maybe to add a point to what Ms.
Zimmerman said, but also to your question, the diaspora could
potentially help, but it's really the communities where the
partners, Oxfam partners and other agencies that are operating
on the ground are working who are that defense for
organizations. If you get that community buy-in and if the
community protects the aid projects, then they're the ones to
put the pressure on the local leaders.
So our first defense through our partners and working on
the ground are the communities themselves.
Mr. Payne. Have your agencies worked with partners that
have been able to get into Eritrea, has Oxfam--how have you
found the situation?
Ms. Scribner. I don't have a lot of information about
Eritrea. Oxfam does have programs in Asmara and in southern
Eritrea, but the operations are limited and we have very few
staff, so we don't get a lot of information coming out of
Eritrea. But in Tigray and northern Ethiopia, we are seeing
people that are crossing the borders that have been affected by
the drought and we have heard stories about livestock that have
died. So from the information we're getting in the Tigray
region, people seem to be affected by the drought in Eritrea as
well.
Mr. Payne. And Somalis are going into Ethiopia. I know they
are allowing them in which is good, humanitarian, although
Ethiopia is having its own problems with its own drought
situation so it's really complicated and then on the long-term
problem as I mentioned before, the Ogadon region which is a
whole separate issue for decades, tends to be having its own
kind of situation.
On one hand, the Ethiopian Government is embracing people
coming into their area, even though they're having difficulty
with the drought, but then on the other hand you hear in
another area that it's not working. So I guess we have to
continue to just do the best we can and try to keep the
pressure on.
Let me just commend all three of you for the outstanding
work that each of your organizations continue to do. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. If I could just have one final question to Ms.
Zimmerman. In your testimony, you say there are reports that
school-aged children have been forced to attend sessions with
al-Shabaab officials to receive either religious or military
training, and we know that Joseph Kony and Charles Taylor have
relied, relied past tense in Taylor's case, on children to do
some horrific things to other people, including violence. And
I'm wondering how widespread is that, child soldiers? Do we
know?
Ms. Zimmerman. From what I've seen actually, the use of
child soldiers is prolific on both sides in Somalia. Al-Shabaab
conscripts children from regions that it controls, but there
are indications that the Transitional Federal Government has
used child soldiers in the past and it says that it's trying to
take efforts to ensure that they are of proper age before
enrolling young boys into its programs to train them as
soldiers.
However, I think that Somalia and the U.S. could look
further into the issue of the use of children as soldiers in
the Horn of Africa. It's an on-going problem. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Would any of you like to add anything before we
conclude? I too, would like to thank you for your leadership
and your extraordinary testimony which will be very helpful to
us and I do believe the administration. And I look forward to
working with you going forward. The hearing is concluded. Thank
you.
[Whereupon, at 4:37 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
Material Submitted for the Hearing RecordNotice deg.
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
\\ts\
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
\aaa
statt\
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
\
\
Material submitted for the record by the Honorable Kent Hill, senior
vice president of international programs, World Vision
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
\b
\
Material submitted for the record by Ms. Shannon Scribner, humanitarian
policy manager, Oxfam America
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
