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Hunger talks start with lobster and foie gras
The Times (U.K.) ^ | 06/11/2002 | Richard Owen

Posted on 06/10/2002 4:41:30 PM PDT by Pokey78

THE opening day of the World Food Summit, dedicated to combating global hunger, was marked yesterday by a sumptuous lunch for the 3,000 delegates served by 170 Italian waiters.

The summit leaders were offered foie gras, lobster, and goose stuffed with olives. followed by fruit compote.

The Rome lunch was a symbol, for Western leaders at least, of the extravagant and bloated bureaucracies that the aid business has created, and went some way towards explaining why so few of them were in attendance yesterday.

Of the world’s wealthier nations, only Italy, the host, and Spain, the present holder of the European Union’s presidency, sent heads of state or government. The Bush Administration sent Ann Veneman, Secretary of Agriculture, and the British Alun Michael, the former Secretary of State for Wales and now Minister for Rural Affairs.

By contrast, dozens of Presidents, Prime Ministers and even monarchs arrived from the developing world. They included Presidents Mbeki of South Africa, Obasanjo of Nigeria, Museveni of Uganda and Bouteflika of Algeria, Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, and, of course, Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean President.

A stream of limousines and police outriders escorted the leaders from the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a sprawling United Nations bureaucracy housed in the former Fascist Ministry for the African Empire near the Colosseum, to the luxury of hotels on the Via Veneto and the city’s finest restaurants.

As Jacques Diouf, the veteran Senegalese director of the (FAO), surveyed the auditorium at the start of summit, he was clearly struck not by the display of brightly coloured robes and immaculate white shirts of delegates from Africa and the Third World, but by the absence of nearly all Western leaders.

Where were Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schröder and President Bush, one of M Diouf’s aides asked as the summit got down to discussing progress made — or rather not made — since the last summit five years ago.

Then delegates committed themselves to halving the number of hungry people in the world to 400 million by 2015. In the event, only 25 million have come off the list and much of southern Africa is now being engulfed by famine.

The absence of Western leaders was “an indication of the political priority some people give to the tragedy of hunger”, MDiouf reflected. FAO officials say that 800 million people are starving, and something must be done.

They acknowledge that many Third World regimes are corrupt and that maladministration and dictatorship are as much responsible for economic backwardness and malnutrition as drought and natural disasters. But the FAO’s backers say that the organisation has laudable aims and the West should help to achieve them instead of carping from the sidelines.

The FAO was founded in 1945, initially to help countries devastated by the Second World War to re-establish food supplies and later to help the newly independent countries of the Third World.

If the record is mixed, it is because the West has failed to provide the “political will”, and the funds, to back up their promises, Nick Parsons, the FAO spokesman, said. Of the $70 billion (£48billion) spent on development aid worldwide, just $11 billion goes on agriculture.

“We must mobilise political will and resources to move forward at an accelerated pace,” he said.

This week’s summit, in other words, is exposing an argument between the developed and developing world which runs rather deeper than the familiar refrain that well intended aid merely goes into the pockets of corrupt regimes: whether there is such a thing as “the right to food” and, if so, how the world can achieve it.

Thanks to Western reservations, the draft summit declaration stops short of enshrining such a right, referring not to the “right to food” but to the need to “create the conditions” in which a “right to food” might be recognised. But the debate is under way.

Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, said progress on the 1996 goal of “cutting by half the number of hungry children, women and men by 2015” had been “far too slow”. “There is no point in making further promises today,” Mr Annan said. “We must give renewed hope to the world’s 800 million starving people through concrete action.”

The draft summit declaration notes that the average annual rate of reduction in the number of undernourished people in the world is eight million, and that the 1996 target “will not be attained”. Mr Annan said there was no shortage of food on the planet, and the solution lay in helping subsistence farmers through credit, technology, healthcare, infrastructure projects and help for women in rural areas.

He called for lower barriers against food imports from developing countries, but added that “we must evaluate carefully the impact of subsidies given to producers in rich countries ... By lowering food prices in the poorest countries they help to alleviate hunger in the short term, but dumping surpluses can have devastating long-term effects.”

In the absence of Mr Bush and Mr Blair, it was left to Ann Veneman yesterday to explain that what the West wants is “not philosophy but action”. “We reaffirm the US commitment to ending global hunger” she said. But the US view was that an increase in agricultural production, the ending of famine and improved nutrition were all goals which could be achieved “with the help of both longstanding and new technologies, including bio-technology.

“Open markets and the free exchange of goods and services will do a far better job of getting food to people than excuses for unnecessary trade barriers can ever do,” she said.

African leaders retorted that if anyone was putting up trade barriers it was the West and, as Mr Museveni put it, the main causes of hunger are “war and protectionism”.

Mr Mbeki said that Africa was faced with a “real threat of famine” because of “civil strife, migration, natural disasters, and unfair trade practices”.


The summit leaders dined on a feast of:



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: africawatch
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So very typical.


Please pass the foie gras!

1 posted on 06/10/2002 4:41:30 PM PDT by Pokey78
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To: summer; Howlin; Sabertooth; Miss Marple; mombonn; JohnHuang2; MeeknMing
Ping
2 posted on 06/10/2002 4:42:17 PM PDT by Pokey78
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To: Pokey78; Orual; aculeus
Let these shameless pigs die of food-poisoning.
3 posted on 06/10/2002 4:44:21 PM PDT by dighton
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To: Pokey78
Makes NO sense at all! They could have better spent that money on the hungry! duh....
4 posted on 06/10/2002 4:44:53 PM PDT by buffyt
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To: Pokey78
The absence of Western leaders was “an indication of the political priority some people give to the tragedy of hunger”, MDiouf reflected. FAO officials say that 800 million people are starving, and something must be done.

Oooookaaaaay Mom, I'll eat my vegetables!

5 posted on 06/10/2002 4:45:49 PM PDT by 3catsanadog
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To: Pokey78
FAO officials say that 800 million people are starving, and something must be done.

800 million is roughly 13 percent of the worlds population. My guess is the number is nonsense.

6 posted on 06/10/2002 4:47:01 PM PDT by Fzob
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To: Pokey78
How funny. The delegation leaders care as much about world hunger as I do. (Smirk)
7 posted on 06/10/2002 4:47:25 PM PDT by neutrino
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To: Pokey78
say's it all.......US tax dollars involved?
8 posted on 06/10/2002 4:47:47 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
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To: Pokey78
Mr Mbeki said that Africa was faced with a “real threat of famine” because of “civil strife, migration, natural disasters, and unfair trade practices” corrupt, greedy, unethical leaders.
9 posted on 06/10/2002 4:53:19 PM PDT by Humidston
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To: Sub-Driver
Being that's it's a UN thing, yep.

World Food Summit: five years later

10 posted on 06/10/2002 4:54:06 PM PDT by Pokey78
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To: Pokey78
They acknowledge that many Third World regimes are corrupt and that maladministration and dictatorship are as much responsible for economic backwardness and malnutrition as drought and natural disasters.

That says it all. Fix your governments first. Aid to Zimbabwe, which was a food exporter until recently, makes no sense whatsoever with Robert Mugabe running the country.

11 posted on 06/10/2002 4:55:01 PM PDT by altair
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To: Pokey78
I'm ashamed of all of you! Don't you know these people are more caring than you or me? Sure, nothing will be accomplished but, doesn't the fact that they get together and say "there are people in the world who are starving" mean something? Surely, you don't expect them to get their god-like fingers dirty, milling about with such grubby people. And, surely, you don't expect them to get together and not stuff their ignorant gobs with just plain old food!!
12 posted on 06/10/2002 4:55:44 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Pokey78
Mr Annan said. “We must give renewed hope to the world’s 800 million starving people through concrete action.”

"... which includes blaming the United States for starvation, blaming the United States for drought, blaming the United States for our own internal corruption that prevents effective land and agricultural reform, and blaming the United States for an economy ravaged by centuries of war. Oh, yeah. And demanding that the United States send us more money."

13 posted on 06/10/2002 4:56:03 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: clive
BURP
14 posted on 06/10/2002 4:56:34 PM PDT by shaggy eel
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To: Sub-Driver
I'm surprised Bubba was there to give a speech. They must have blown the budget on the food.
15 posted on 06/10/2002 4:57:03 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Paul Atreides
That should read "I'm surprised Bubba wasn't there"
16 posted on 06/10/2002 4:58:00 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: all


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17 posted on 06/10/2002 5:06:35 PM PDT by WIMom
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To: Humidston
Hi, Hon!
You are egggggsactly correct!!!!!! That is the true cause! And for these people to have a big fancy banquet in honor of hunger, is kinda silly! And stupid!
Barbara
18 posted on 06/10/2002 5:06:43 PM PDT by buffyt
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To: shaggy eel; *AfricaWatch;Cincinatus' Wife;Sarcasm;Travis McGee;Byron_the_Aussie; robnoel...
BURP, indeed!

I wonder if Mugabe asked for a doggy bag.

19 posted on 06/10/2002 5:10:51 PM PDT by Clive
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To: Pokey78
Menu should have been: 1 cup of rice; glass of water.
20 posted on 06/10/2002 5:15:10 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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To: buffyt
They don't want to spend their money on the hungry,they could care less.

They want too find a way to get more money from us,then they might spend a little of it on the hungry.

21 posted on 06/10/2002 5:16:22 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: Paul Atreides
Good uh screed.
22 posted on 06/10/2002 5:16:58 PM PDT by Bahbah
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To: Clive
,,, you don't order in a 600 Pullman for one doggy bag.
23 posted on 06/10/2002 5:20:25 PM PDT by shaggy eel
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To: Clive
Clive, my latest update of DUBOB 9 included this & 4 other "stories about Africa" links- and I emailed it to the usual suspects. We'll see. The information is going out into cyberspace.

-Update--

24 posted on 06/10/2002 5:25:44 PM PDT by backhoe
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To: Clive
He probably had the tin foil in his pocket.
25 posted on 06/10/2002 5:33:45 PM PDT by abclily
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To: Pokey78
Hypocrites one and all, dining on our dollar. A pox on all their houses.
26 posted on 06/10/2002 5:39:52 PM PDT by mombonn
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To: dighton
Let these shameless pigs die of food-poisoning.

Blowfish sushi

27 posted on 06/10/2002 5:42:40 PM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
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To: Pokey78
“There is no point in making further promises today,” Mr Annan said.
28 posted on 06/10/2002 5:46:15 PM PDT by tet68
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To: Thinkin' Gal
LOL!!!...JFK
29 posted on 06/10/2002 5:50:07 PM PDT by BADROTOFINGER
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"The summit leaders were offered foie gras, lobster, and goose stuffed with olives. followed by fruit compote. The Rome lunch was a symbol, for Western leaders at least, of the extravagant and bloated bureaucracies that the aid business has created, and went some way towards explaining why so few of them were in attendance yesterday."

Killing farmers and asking other country's farmers for food.Sounds like a plan......

Did anyone mention to the delegates that Clinton is no longer the president of the USA?

30 posted on 06/10/2002 5:50:43 PM PDT by sarasmom
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To: Pokey78
As far as I am concerned Africa can remember Black Hawk Down and eat their own flesh, and contemplate the trillions we have wasted on them and will waste no more.
31 posted on 06/10/2002 5:51:14 PM PDT by MissAmericanPie
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To: Pokey78
THE opening day of the World Food Summit, dedicated to combating global hunger, was marked yesterday by a sumptuous lunch for the 3,000 delegates served by 170 Italian waiters.

dozens of Presidents, Prime Ministers and even monarchs arrived from the developing world. They included Presidents Mbeki of South Africa, Obasanjo of Nigeria, Museveni of Uganda and Bouteflika of Algeria, Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, and, of course, Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean President.

With this bunch tying on the feedbag, I'll bet those waiters were stepping more lively than a farm kid slopping hogs. If one of 'em tripped and fell Mugabe probably would'a eaten him without missing a beat.

32 posted on 06/10/2002 5:52:09 PM PDT by metesky
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To: joe montana
I don't think I would have put olives with the duck. I prefer a cherry or orange sauce, but hey, that's just me.
33 posted on 06/10/2002 5:52:09 PM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs
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To: Pokey78
But the US view was that an increase in agricultural production, the ending of famine and improved nutrition were all goals which could be achieved “with the help of both longstanding and new technologies, including bio-technology.

Subtly telling the lefty kooks who scream about "Frankenfoods" that they are abetting in the starvation of millions.

as Mr Museveni put it, the main causes of hunger are “war and protectionism”. Mr Mbeki said that Africa was faced with a “real threat of famine” because of “civil strife, migration, natural disasters, and unfair trade practices”.

I can name just a couple other causes...socialism, collectivism, corruption...

34 posted on 06/10/2002 6:07:43 PM PDT by denydenydeny
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To: backhoe

African delegate to the World Hunger talks

35 posted on 06/10/2002 6:08:48 PM PDT by metesky
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To: Pokey78
We should do nothing to combat hunger in the third world. THe problem is one of overpopulation. If we give more now there will just be twice as much starvation next generation if they don't take some responsibility and solve the problem themselves. Just look at how bad the situation is today. This is BECAUSE of our past benevolence. Stop treating the third world like children and let them solve their own problems without big daddy US and Europe solving everything.
36 posted on 06/10/2002 6:14:39 PM PDT by Godel
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To: altair
"Fix your governments first. Aid to Zimbabwe, which was a food exporter until recently, makes no sense whatsoever with Robert Mugabe running the country."

As an example of what can be done, recall the so-called "Point 4" program during the Truman administration.

Truman promised what is now known as the Third World with aid and food under the caveat that they also had to learn and apply modern agricultural methods -- a program that was spearheaded by our land-grant colleges.

Accordingly, the Ag School at my alma mater, Oklahoma A&M (at the time), formed a relationship with Ethiopia around 1950. Okie State set up and helped staff what became known as "Ethiopia A&M", while also starting a network of experimental farms and a nationwide extension service.

By 1960, just ten years later, hunger had largely disappeared and Ethiopia was a net food exporter!.

This success was followed by a Marxist revolution...and Ethiopians have been starving ever since.

In today's political climate, this approach would never work, of course. It involves a presumption that the U.S. system of agriculture and capitalism is superior to the indigenous methods...and that would be "judgmental", would it not?

And these tinpot dictators don't want practical assistance, anyway. They want cash! Like Democrats, they've no interest in solving the issue, only in prolonging their stay in the welfare line.

37 posted on 06/10/2002 6:21:37 PM PDT by okie01
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To: Pokey78
Hey, all these third world countries have nothing but organic farming. Let Whole Foods go in and show them how to grow stuff [/sarcasm]
38 posted on 06/10/2002 7:20:12 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
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To: Pokey78
And the wine?
39 posted on 06/10/2002 8:00:34 PM PDT by Savage Beast
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To: Pokey78
Doesn't that take the cake.
40 posted on 06/10/2002 9:32:27 PM PDT by Great Dane
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To: Pokey78
What goes best with famine?

A Merlot?

41 posted on 06/10/2002 9:41:50 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
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To: Luis Gonzalez
I prefer a nice Riesling. You really want something nice and light.
42 posted on 06/10/2002 9:55:03 PM PDT by Valin
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To: okie01
By 1960, just ten years later, hunger had largely disappeared and Ethiopia was a net food exporter!.
This success was followed by a Marxist revolution...and Ethiopians have been starving ever since.

Gee what a coincidence.

43 posted on 06/10/2002 10:01:31 PM PDT by Valin
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To: Joe Montana; Dumb_Ox
Then delegates committed themselves to halving the number of hungry people in the world to 400 million by 2015.

the West has failed to provide the “political will”, and the funds, to back up their promises,

Of the $70 billion (£48billion) spent on development aid worldwide, just $11 billion goes on agriculture

“We must mobilise political will and resources to move forward at an accelerated pace,” he said.


They say "We'll stunt Africa's growth.
And Asia has too many folks.
Too large is the mouth
in the Latin South
We'll aid 'em by cuttin' their throats."

"No, we must approach as a friend
and do our job from within.
Let's feed 'em the pill
that's made up to kill
and make their beginning their end."

Population reduction was all fun and games and something that happened to scrawny Extra people with flies on their faces ... until the West realized what was meant by the fact that "humans are responsible" for greenhouse gases and global warming.

If our coercive "aid as population control" is such a 59 billion dollar failure at "halving the number of Hungry People", what sorts of means for "accelerated pace" may we look forward to watching applied first -- perhaps -- to same?

Will the West's "right to die" (read: obligation to off oneself) catch on as the zenith of Empowerment and pleasing to the almighty Mother Earth who is so ill-equipped to provide for her human children?

whether there is such a thing as “the right to food” and, if so, how the world can achieve it.

Thanks to Western reservations, the draft summit declaration stops short of enshrining such a right, referring not to the “right to food” but to the need to “create the conditions” in which a “right to food” might be recognised. But the debate is under way.

Given the vogue for referring to food and water as "ANH" or "artificial nutrition and hydration" in Western cutting edge euthanasia cases, I think we know how this debate is going to end.

44 posted on 06/10/2002 10:28:48 PM PDT by Askel5
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To: Pokey78
bump for later read.
45 posted on 06/11/2002 12:56:28 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: Pokey78
Lazarus and Dives.....

Governments do a rotten job of feeding the hungry.

46 posted on 06/11/2002 2:57:53 AM PDT by rubbertramp
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To: Pokey78;dubyaismypresident;RikaStrom;CholeraJoe;xsmommy;Slip18
Ping!
47 posted on 06/11/2002 5:44:39 AM PDT by hobbes1
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To: hobbes1
Their menu is beyond my comprehension. I agree with a poster up there who stated, "They should have had one cup of rice and water." But, of course, no one would have shown up for war on hunger.
48 posted on 06/11/2002 6:07:08 AM PDT by Slip18
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To: dighton; aculeus
The Rome lunch was a symbol, for Western leaders at least, of the extravagant and bloated bureaucracies that the aid business has created, and went some way towards explaining why so few of them were in attendance yesterday.


49 posted on 06/11/2002 6:09:11 AM PDT by Orual
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To: dighton
"Let these shameless pigs die of food-poisoning."

Let them eat McDonald's food ... just about the same thing.

Their people back home would kill for a Big Mac or a Whopper ... preferably made out of the meat harvested from their leaders.

50 posted on 06/11/2002 6:09:39 AM PDT by BlueLancer
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