The Suffering and Agony of 
Millions in a World of Plenty

Seble DEMEKE, UN

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”. (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25)

The death of millions of people, men, women and children from hunger, malnutrition and total deprivation of the basic rights to food and human dignity from the African continent is shown so often on our TV screens. I fear that very soon, such images are going to be considered as regular and as normal a part of life as the “soap operas” we watch on our televisions every day.

The suffering is spreading fast from one part of the continent to another, as hunger, drought and incurable diseases rage out of control. The hunger tragedy especially is now spreading from Eastern to southern Africa. Who knows which part is going to be the next to suffer? Your guess is as good as mine.

Again, we are confronted with the same images from the past; mothers and children suffering the agony of the lack of food and water, of the very basic essentials required for survival. Again, we are hearing the comments of frustrated United Nations agency workers and well-known journalists tell us that the cause of this tragedy is due to the continual droughts of the past years. With this in mind, it is not difficult to imagine that the true picture of the situation in Africa may be much worse than what we see on our screens and what we are told by the press.

Reporters of different news agencies tell the world that the reasons for this unceasing and apparently unending catastrophe is rooted in ecological disasters such as drought and soil erosion.

It seems however, among all the reasons given to explain the perishing of millions of lives, there is one extremely important reality which is not given due attention, and that is, the lack of responsibility of the leadership of many African countries, from the highest reaches of government to the most rural village level. Thus, the primary responsibility for the catastrophic situation in which a good part of the continent finds itself at the present time lies with the countries themselves. In United Nations parlance, it is due to the chronic lack of good governance. Any attempt to improve the living standards of a population must begin at home. No outside intervention can replace this responsibility. The input or assistance that comes from outside the country should act as support for the efforts being undertaken at home, at the national level.

When the top leadership of a country claims to care for its people and as a result, fully commits itself to fighting hunger, poverty and institutes human dignity, it would make ALL the difference in Africa between what Christian Aid official Andrew Mendleton refers to as the “leaking bucket syndrome” (in which aid to Africa leaks out in debt repayments) and the enabling of African countries to set and police standards of good governance across the continent.

Respect for human dignity, peace and poverty reduction (in return for increased aid, private investment and a reduction of trade barriers by rich countries) is the logical result.

Of course ecological disaster is also a huge factor in the equation. However, it is necessary to recognize that drought, if managed properly and on time can be controlled and thereby, prevent famine. Drought is something foreseeable one year, two years and even three years before it causes famine, which is the last stage of hopelessness. During these prefamine periods, so much can be done both nationally and internationally to avoid the loss of human lives.

Why is the general public not informed of the causes behind the famine: Africa’s debt crises which exasperates the situation; wars and civil wars which in most cases are the results of sharing of natural resources of the continent which underlines the struggle for power and brings the worst out of human beings – greed; agricultural subsidies by rich countries to farmers which prevent the production and sale of products by the third world countries; the continuous price decrease of raw materials. Let us not forget most African countries have one or two products to sell at the international level to gain their foreign exchanges in order to pay back their foreign debts. When the price of such a commodity falls, it is a total disaster and puts the country into a messy situation.

The people (the general public who are not involved in policy making) in the Northern reach countries need to hear and understand the reasons behind individual cases of famine in Africa and not only to be shown the last stage of the crises. There has to be a new channel opened for communication between the people of the South and the people of the North.

Civil society associations, women groups, farmers guilds and other associations, in particular from Africa, who are the producers as well as the consumers need to be encouraged and supported. For this to happen, their needs must be recognized and made public nationally and internationally. We cannot keep on relying solely on formal institutional channels of communications, which have failed us continuously. The first drought and famine in Africa was reported to the world in the 1970s, and since then, the phenomenon has been continuing unabated, spreading like a plague throughout the continent.

African people are intelligent and hard working, the men and women, the peasants work from morning to evening under difficult circumstances. These people know only struggle for survival and even that gets beyond their control. The African peasants know what needs to be done because it is their everyday life but in most cases are not involved, consulted nor listen to by the leadership of their countries. They are by passed by those who are deciding on their behalf. This attitude of “we know everything that is good for you” needs to stop and voice given to the people/peasants of Africa to say what they need.

As an African woman myself, I do not need to reiterate the importance of the agricultural sector to the African people because that is the heart and soul of the continent’s economy. More than 85 per cent of the African population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihood. This sector is essential for the survival of the continent and when it fails, the rest of the economy is bound to be profoundly affected and thus leaves no life untouched.

As early as 1986, Paul Harrison, in his book The Greening of Africa stated that, in so many ways Africa, is a richly endowed continent. Despite its droughts and famines, it still has vast reserves of soil, water and vegetation, not to mention its diamonds, gold, and other mineral resources, a superb flora and fauna, and a mosaic of human populations whose cultures and histories are as vibrant as any in the world. However, he also gave the world a warning: “Africa’s soils and vegetation are being degraded and impoverished at an accelerating rate. If these processes continue unabated, Africa’s future will be grimmer even than her recent past.”

The sad, sad irony of this situation is that the state of unceasing hunger and human misery suffered by millions of Africans is happening not only in a continent with plenty of resources both natural and human, but also in a world of plenty, a world of bloated excess materialism and abandoned food stocks. This cannot but raise all sorts of questions in one’s mind about the efficacy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Furthermore, while no doubts exist about the availability and existence of tangible resources which can deal with the famine in Africa on the practical level, serious doubts do spring to mind about the political wills of those who have the means to do something on a governmental level that still needs to be demonstrated. It is possible that Africa can do more by shifting its priorities and by reallocating both abundant and scarce resources.

And what of the development assistance programmes of African governments and the broad network of international organizations and others who have been involved at the grass-roots level in the task of aiding Africa not only in recent years, but for the past number of decades? Is it justified to conclude that all of these efforts have failed to meet the challenges of the continent? What needs to be done next, by whom and how?

I believe the world cannot possibly accept the current disastrous state of African reality as an inevitable phenomenon that “would have happened anyway” and thus remain indifferent, secure in the knowledge that country by country, the continent will somehow manage to get on with its affairs. However, if this attitude is allowed to prevail, it should then be considered a crime against humanity in complete violation of Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Until such time that every child in the world, in particular, those in Africa who have suffered the most, is fed and provided with basic health services and primary education, and such time that we do no longer see distressing images of malnourished children dying of hunger on television as we sit in our comfortable living rooms in this world of plenty, we can neither claim and take pride in a world which claims to have progressed economically and technologically when in fact millions of human beings live lives condemned to chronic hunger, famine and abject poverty.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its report on Least Developed Countries for 2002 stated, that if the current trends of economic development persist, the number of people living on less than US$ 1 a day will increase from 307 million to 420 million by 2015. On the other hand, in its World Economic Report for 2002, UNCTAD also provides possible solutions which can decrease poverty levels worldwide, including debt relief in the form of a cancellation of all debts owed by poor countries to the rich ones, an increase in economic assistance, and market access for products from developing countries. To reach these solutions will not be easy but it can be achieved with a long term commitment of every one concerned, in particular those who are in possession of the world’s resources.

The recently-concluded G8 meeting in the Canadian Rocky Mountains offers hope in that it was hailed as a summit for Africa in response to an African initiative called the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad). The initiative promises reform in return for aid and trade tied to a new pledge from African states to put their own houses in order, and, help in resolving conflicts. But despite the additional promise of an extra US$ 1 billion in debt relief for those countries whose commodity exports have been hardest hit, the people of Africa have still been left with a long road ahead.