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PASTOR GENERAL
1
S REPORT, NOVEMBER 21, 1984
the world, but there has not been� very major investment until
now," William Clark, president of the International Institute for
Environment and Development, said recently. Time is running out.
Without the right investment of effort and money, Black Africa is
more likely to become a charnel house than� granary.
The only long-term solution is better policies, or perhaps more to the
point, better governments. Reported staff writer David R. Francis, of the
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR (October 10 issue):
Over the long term, the goal of American aid to Africa is to in
crease the self-sufficiency in food production of African nations
so they can better withstand years of drought. Agricultural pro
duction has been decreasing in Africa for the last 14 years.
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This is basically because of lousy policies," noted an official.
Often farmers have been inadequately paid for their products un
der state price controls, thus discouraging output.
Then too, there is unbelievable unconcern on the part of some governments-
most notably Ethiopia--as to the plight of their own people.
The LOS
ANGELES TIMES carried a report in its November 11 issue entitled "Govern
ment Brings Famine to Ethiopia," written by their Nairobi correspondent,
Charles T. Powers. In his dispatch Powers explained how the callous Marx
ist government in Addis Ababa has cleverly stage-managed the media re
porting of this grim crisis:
The sad truth is that the famine struck first in rebellious Tigre
and Eritrea, and that the central government apparently did not
care whether people there starved to death or not. It has only
been since the famine spread southward, as people pushed out of
their remote mountain villages in search of food and the famine
has come close to the capital, that the government has been
prompted to make a truly serious appeal for help.
So a British Broadcasting Corp. film crew was allowed into the
area, under government supervision. The officials of the Ethio
pian Relief and Rehabilitation Commission are well aware of the
value of three minutes of television footage showing starving
children. As it happened, the response probably exceeded their
expectations ••..
Meanwhile, visa applications from a large number of journalists
have not been acted upon in Addis Ababa. Most of the reporters
hoping to enter the country represent the print media, and would
be much more difficult for the Ethiopians to control than a
single film crew. The inescapable conclusion is that the Ethio
pians do not want any one around who will look too closely at what
is going on, including what is happening to the relief supplies
sent from countries of the developed world.
International relief agencies have been troubled with the same
problem of access to Ethiopia. Representatives of such agencies
have learned through experience that you just do not send tons of
relief supplies to a disaster-stricken nation and expect the
material to reach its intended target. There is too much corrup
tion, too little organization and, worst of all, too little genu-