BY POLLY MANN
The U.N. announced that a famine affecting 20 million people would be likely if the U.N. couldn’t muster up an additional $4.4 billion in food relief by the end of March. Historically, the United States has provided such funds to the U.N. In order for the President of the United States to increase the military budget, as he has stated he will, he must find the funds to accomplish this; therefore, allocations to aid programs may ensue. The last time a famine was declared was in Somalia in July, 2011, after 260,000 people had died of hunger and related causes. A famine has already been declared in South Sudan.
The criteria for labeling a shortage a famine are when: 1) one in five households in a specified area faces extreme food shortages; 2) more than 20% of the population is acutely malnourished; and 3) at least two people in every 10,000 die daily.
The U.N. says it needs the $4.4 billion to deliver food, clean water and basic medicines. Only 4% of the money needed for Yemen has been funded: 9% for Nigeria; 15% for South Sudan and 12% for Somalia. This is less than a tenth of the $54 billion the President is seeking for the U.S. military budget.
How can the American people convince the U.S. Congress to give preference to the great need of starving people over the needs of the military for even more cannons and bullets and tanks—harbingers of death if used and harbingers of rust and decay if unused?
