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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 8, 1985
PAGE 11
been outspoken in his position; there is no essential difference
in what he says publicly or privately. He told us: "As far as
peace negotiations are concerned,••• how can you have rational
negotiations between a belligerent and hegemonous nation--great
ly superior in arms--and four nations who are militarily weak?•••
Mark .!!!Y words, if El Salvador falls, Honduras and Guatemala will
fall. And if that happens, one day your own capital will face the
bombs of the terrorists of international communism."
Ethiopia--Let the Starving Continue
No one in the world doesn't have some sketchy knowledge of the plight of the
hungry millions in Eth,
iopia, and now the southern Sudan. The Sudan has its
own famine, plus it is home to many starving northern Ethiopians who have
fled there since the Ethiopian government would not direct food to their
region, held in rebel hands. Rock entertainers in both Britain and the U.S.
have made records, the proceeds of the sales of which are intended for
famine relief. At the recent NBA professional basketball all-star game in
the U.S., players donated their paychecks to the same cause. Meanwhile,
the Russian-backed military government in Addis Ababa seems to place its
priorities elsewhere, as this article, entitled "Arms Deliveries at Famine
Port Delay Grain for 16 Days," in the February 1, 1985 DAILY TELEGRAPH re
ported:
Fresh controversy has arisen over Ethiopia's handling of famine
relief shipments at the Red Sea port of Assab. � Danish grain
ship had to wait 16 days while Soviet ships unloaded� for the
Ethiopian Army. And some 7,000 tons of grain destined for famine
victims in rebel-held areas was confiscated while in transit.
Ethiopian port officials seized the cargoes of two European ships
on Jan. 22, according to the BOSTON GLOBE newspaper. Officials
in Washington confirmed that the grain on board the West German
and Belgian ships had been impounded after port authorities found
the vessels were sailing on to Port Sudan, further up the Red
Sea, to unload part of their cargoes. The Sudanese port is the
main access point for food aid to guerrilla-controlled areas of
Ethiopia in the provinces of Eritrea and Tigre.
Ethiopian policy now appears to be to confiscate all food cargoes
from ships bound for Sudan which call in at Assab first. The food
is then diverted for famine-relief in Government held areas. An
American official said: "The issue is not that the food is going
to waste. The point is that the food is not getting to the places
where we estimate one-third of the total drought-affected
population lives."
Neither West Germany nor Belgium has made any formal complaint to
Ethiopia, an omission that clearly irritates the United States
Administration. The official said: "We get no support from donor
countries on the need to pressure Ethiopia on this point. They
want to placate Ethiopia for fear of jeopardising their programme
in the rest of the country."