RE: Asmara 'uncomfortable' with US aid groupEritea wants American help despite asking USAID to go
31 Aug 2005 11:09:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ed Harris
ASMARA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Eritrea voiced hope on Wednesday that its request for the U.S. government's overseas development agency to leave the poor Red Sea state would not bring the end of aid from its biggest food donor.
In July, Eritrea asked the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to stop working in the drought-stricken country, one of the most food aid dependent nations in the world, saying it was uncomfortable with the agency's activities.
"It is our hope that the departure of USAID would not result in the stoppage of emergency assistance and development assistance to Eritrea," Woldai Futur, Eritrea's Minister of National Development, told Reuters.
Diplomats in Asmara speculate the request may be linked to the central role the U.S. agency has assumed within the non-governmental organisation (NGO) community, or that it upset Eritrea by making a June aid announcement unilaterally.
A senior U.S. delegation, including officials from USAID, arrived in Eritrea at the weekend for talks with the government and other aid groups, though diplomats say decisions on U.S. aid will be made in Washington.
"We very much see our position on USAID as separate from our desire to maintain and strengthen our cooperation with the United States," Futur added, listing the Eritrea-Ethiopia border stalemate, terrorism, and trade as areas of mutual interest.
He did not specifically explain Eritrea's discomfort with USAID's work, saying it was a bilateral matter.
MONEY WELL SPENT?
But he questioned the efficiency of the $75 million spent by the United States on aid and development programmes in the fiscal year 2004, most of which went on food.
"The U.S. buys its food from the U.S. market, so it is a subsidy to U.S. farmers, a very high price. It transports the food in U.S. vessels which costs you four times as much," he said.
"If it (the $75 million) were used to buy food from the international market, it would have gone a long way."
The United States has provided Eritrea with a total of 774,679 metric tonnes of food over the last five years.
In June, the U.S. government announced it would provide extra food aid to cover more than 100 percent of Eritrea's cereal food aid needs this year.
Futur said food aid was a short-term solution for Eritrea.
"Food aid is important to save lives, but food aid is not the way we can reduce poverty," he said.
"Probably Eritrea could do better with $40m (than the United States with $75 million)," he added.
Eritrea's rebel movement-turned-government has a history of sensitive relations with the aid community due to its desire for self-reliance and resentment at the international community's perceived favouritism for neighbouring Ethiopia.
Ties with the aid community have been particularly strained in recent months by the impounding of vehicles and a new proclamation to regulate the activities of NGOs.