BY ERADICATING TERROR, U.S. SETS STAGE FOR POOR NATIONS TO PROSPER
Read this opinion piece from the Buffalo News on how the ideas of late Peace Corps Director Paul Coverdelll (seen above in this 1990 photo) in how eradicating terrorism can set the stage for poor nations to prosper at:
* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.
BY ERADICATING TERROR, U.S. SETS STAGE FOR POOR NATIONS TO PROSPER
Dec 16, 2001 - Buffalo News Author(s): Robert Stewart
The scope of our current conflict is far broader than terrorism alone - it is also an uphill battle to provide the conditions necessary for impoverished nations to prosper.
The late U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell, former director of the Peace Corps, liked to use the example of Nicaragua as it emerged from a quarter-century of civil war to explain how developing nations can prosper. When asked by then-President Violetta Chamorra how the country could attract more foreign investment to bring the Nicaraguan people out of economic ruin, Coverdell gave her a simple yet powerful answer: Ensure safety.
Without security, he said, employers and employees alike would be loath to invest their funds and energies in her country's economic recovery.
The same advice applies to those who wish to serve countries on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder: Provide safety, free the people from tyrannical, corrupt leaders, and investment will begin to flow into the country.
Two countries mentioned as possible targets in U.S. efforts to eradicate terrorism, Sudan and Somalia, are clear examples of the obstacles to prosperity caused by terror and insecurity: Both nations are recipients of huge amounts of foreign funds, food aid and health- care relief, yet both countries remain impoverished. Malnutrition is rampant, and disease and poor sanitation cause thousands of premature deaths every year. These conditions will persist, despite massive humanitarian efforts, unless or until safety of people and their property is ensured.
U.S. taxpayers provided more than $160 million in humanitarian assistance to Sudan, including more than 78,000 metric tons of food, in fiscal year 2001 alone; international agencies sent millions as well. Yet according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), insecurity in the Northern African nation "destroyed most of the indigenous trading and production systems," and remains a roadblock to relief efforts.
More than 4 million Sudanese are refugees and the nation has seen approximately 8 percent of its population die from war-related events in less than 10 years - despite the efforts of 40 international relief and rehabilitation agencies working in the nation.
Somalia receives $191.5 million in international foreign aid. Total U.S. aid to Somalia in 2001 alone exceeded $21 million, along with $100 million in aid to the surrounding region. UNICEF and the Norwegian People's Aid have provided rehabilitated water management and sanitation training, and the International Medical Corps furnished emergency health care for a million Somalis. The International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and many other international agencies have lent their efforts to nutrition and micro- enterprise support.
But in September of this year, many of these aid agencies pulled staff from the country, fearing for their safety; USAID laments the fact that "the conflict has directly threatened humanitarian activities in the region" and interfered with the transportation of humanitarian goods. The dangerous conditions there have resulted in 800,000 refugees, and the World Food Program estimates another 800,000 have been adversely affected by hunger and civil unrest.
While humanitarian efforts provide temporary but critical assistance, the most effective foreign aid the United States and the international community can provide is security. Without safety and protection for its people and commercial enterprises, no amount of material assistance, regardless of intent, can help a nation truly develop.
Food and financial assistance are only short-term fixes, albeit important ones. But by routing out terrorism wherever it exists, not only will safety improve, but those countries will eventually garner tourism, trade and the resulting prosperity -- prosperity shared by the people, not corrupt leaders.
In a recent speech to State Department employees, President Bush said that our response to terrorism is "an opportunity to make the world a better place for generations to come." This will be true only if our efforts provide not just humanitarian aid, but also the indemnity needed to create revitalized, prosperous nations.
Safety and prosperity go hand in hand; where one exists, so will the other. But as Thomas Hobbes explained in Leviathan 350 years ago, when "every man is enemy to every man," there is no room for industry, for its profits are in doubt; there is no economic development, maritime trade is obstructed and the arts and sciences are not pursued.
Although aid is important to nations in despair, creating refuge from danger is the one form of assistance without which all others are ineffectual.
ROBERT STEWART, a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C., served as an Army intelligence analyst from 1990 to 1994.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
