18 May 2000
Text: War Sapping Resources to Fight Famine in Ethiopia
(Congressman Gilman warns famine and war linked) (870) The cycle of famine in Ethiopia will not be broken as long as that country's government continues to spend a third of its budget on its military, warns Congressman Benjamin Gilman (Republican of New York), chairman of the powerful U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations. In a statement he read at a March 18 committee hearing on the crisis in the Horn of Africa, Gilman cited figures provided by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which showed that Ethiopia spent $467 million on its military last year -- what he termed a "dramatic increase" over previous years. "Economic development efforts have been put on hold while scarce resources are committed to the war effort," he charged. "Let us be very plain," he told fellow lawmakers, "what is taking place in Ethiopia today is a man-made disaster. Without the war, there would be no famine. The decisions of the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea have directly contributed to the dire condition of their populations." The ongoing border war, which re-erupted in recent days, "is inextricably linked to the famine," he said. Following is the text of Gilman's remarks, as prepared for delivery: (begin text) On Thursday last week, shortly after midnight, Ethiopian troops launched a major military offensive against Eritrea. According to sketchy reports, wave after wave of Ethiopian infantry threw themselves against fortified Eritrean positions. Eventually they were successful in breaking through the Eritrean defenses. Ethiopian armed forces have penetrated far into Eritrean territory and appear to be trying to outflank the main body of Eritrean troops on the border. We do not know what the death toll of this latest round of fighting will be, but it will likely be in the tens of thousands. Notwithstanding the Organization of African Unity peace proposal that has been on the table for a year and which both countries claimed to accept, it is apparent that Ethiopia has been planning this attack for months. I have suspected for some time that Ethiopia's leadership favored a military solution to this conflict. In January, I wrote in the Washington Post that "Ethiopia appears prepared to reignite the war. ... It has become clear that Ethiopia is hostile to the [peace] agreement and is stalling for time to recruit and train tens of thousands of additional troops. ..." After this article appeared, I received hundreds of angry letters. The Ethiopian foreign minister himself launched a very personal and public attack against me. Great pains were taken to point out that Ethiopia had not rejected the peace plan and that its objections were merely "technical." Again and again I was told that Ethiopia had no intention of restarting the war. For example, the Ethiopian ambassador wrote, "First and foremost, my government is committed to ending the war through negotiations. We have, without conditions, supported the OAU framework as the tool for ending the war. We will continue to do so." For the sake of the thousands who have died this past week and the thousands more who will likely perish in this senseless war, I sincerely wish my suspicions had been wrong. The war is inextricably linked to the famine, which is the focus of our hearing today. In southeastern Ethiopia and in parts of the central highlands, food shortages have reached a critical stage. Eight million of Ethiopia's 60 million citizens are at risk of starvation. Nearly a billion metric tons of food are required, and the United States is prepared to supply half of it. The cycle of famine in Ethiopia will not be broken, however, for as long as the government continues to spend a third of its budget on the military. The International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates that Ethiopia spent $467 million on its military last year, a dramatic increase over previous years. Economic development efforts have been put on hold while scarce resources are committed to the war effort. Let us be very plain: what is taking place in Ethiopia today is a man-made disaster. Without the war, there would be no famine. The decisions of the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea have directly contributed to the dire condition of their populations. This is the same pattern we saw in the early 1980s when the horrific Dergue regime under Mengistu used famine to make war on its own people. How regrettable that the current governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia, which had valiantly fought against the Dergue, now share this aspect with it. We thank our witnesses for joining us today and we look forward to their testimony. (end text) [Witnesses at the hearing were: Ms. Catherine Bertini (via video-conference), Executive Director, World Food Programme, Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General to the Horn of Africa; the Honorable Hugh Q. Parmer, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Humanitarian Response, U.S. Agency for International Development; Mr. J. Stephen Morrison, Ph.D., Director, African Studies Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Mr. Gary Shaye, Vice President, International Programs, Save the Children, USA.] (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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