Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-01-Speech-3-112"
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"en.20000301.7.3-112"2
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"Mr President, it has already been said that, after a war which engulfed the country in misery, Mozambique is now facing a natural disaster of terrifying proportions. Although it is currently impossible to calculate how many people have died, we do know that around 80 000 are in imminent danger of drowning and 300 000 have lost their homes and crops. They urgently need aid such as food, water and shelter in order to survive. This immediate need will subsequently be replaced by a requirement for medicine to prevent epidemics, which have apparently already broken out, and aid for reconstruction.
However, the aid needed now is difficult to get through, despite the efforts of the NGOs, because the roads, bridges and railway lines are damaged. Helicopters are therefore needed. Apparently there are only five at the moment to rescue about 80 000 people from trees. The machinery mobilising the aid is too slow.
The PSE Group of this House has suggested that preventing natural disasters, including preventing conflicts, is the best way of avoiding situations like the one now being suffered by the people of Mozambique. I must remind you in particular of the efforts of Mr Rocard during the previous term.
The European Commission responded in 1994 by setting up a disaster preparedness programme known as DIPECHO. This was intended to be proactive and, using a regional approach, to prevent disasters or at least to minimise their effects on the population. However, Africa is surprisingly not included in the DIPECHO plans. Mozambique, which is now suffering a foreseeable disaster, just as the famine now threatening in Ethiopia was foreseeable, is excluded from these plans. The DIPECHO agenda includes south-east Asia, Central America and the Caribbean. This is reasonable and we support this, but we have to ask the Commissioner, why not Africa?
The PSE Group has always supported the Commission’s humanitarian aid policy. We have always supported ECHO, its policies and its actions, even some which have been disputed by certain bodies. We believe that solidarity must be the distinctive feature of the EU’s external action.
In view of all this, we also believe the time has come to demand a redoubled effort by the Commission and the Member States, on behalf of those who are now drowning in Mozambique. The EUR 1 million which has so far been made available is completely inadequate in view of the needs which have been assessed by the Mozambican Government at 65 million dollars.
The time has also come to demand greater efficiency. We hope that the debate at the beginning of this afternoon, the Commissioner’s knowledge of the situation in Mozambique and the visit by Mr Nielson will lead to a major effort being made by all sides to help Mozambique."@en1
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