June 10, 2004Back

Plan to End Famine Endorsed by G8 Leaders

An initiative to end famine in the Horn of Africa has been launched by leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) countries at their summit in Sea Island, Georgia. The G8 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States plus Russia. Following is a June 10 White House fact sheet providing details of the plan:

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Sea Island, Georgia)
June 10, 2004

FACT SHEET: ENDING FAMINE IN THE HORN OF AFRICA

Presidential Action

President Bush and the other G-8 Leaders endorsed today a new initiative to help prevent famine by improving worldwide emergency assessment and response systems, raising agricultural productivity, and helping 5 million chronically food insecure people in Ethiopia attain food security by 2009.

The Challenge: Millions of people face hunger or food insecurity in Eritrea, Somalia, the Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda. At least five million Ethiopians are "chronically food insecure", i.e., unable at some time in any year to secure an adequate supply of food for survival.

U.S. Leadership: President Bush believes that famine is a preventable tragedy and he is determined to do more. The United States is the world's leader in food aid, providing more than $1.4 billion in emergency aid and 56 percent of all contributions to the UN's World Food Program in FY [fiscal year] 2003, a year of unusually high emergency food aid needs.

G-8 Action: President Bush led the G-8 in endorsing an initiative on Ending the Cycle of Famine in the Horn of Africa, which commits the G-8 to:

-- Improve worldwide emergency assessment and response systems;

-- Support programs to raise agricultural productivity and promote rural development in food insecure countries;

-- Assist Ethiopia to attain food security for 5 million people by 2009;

Work with other donors to meet fully the emergency assistance needs in the Horn of Africa and other famine-prone regions.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)