NAIROBI,
Kenya (AP) -- The world's largest humanitarian crisis in 70 years
has been declared in three African countries on the brink of famine,
just as President Donald Trump's proposed foreign aid cuts threaten to
pull the United States from its historic role as the world's top
emergency donor.
If the deep cuts are approved
by Congress and the U.S. does not contribute to Africa's current
crisis, experts warn that the continent's growing drought and famine
could have far-ranging effects, including a new wave of migrants heading
to Europe and possibly more support for Islamic extremist groups.
The
conflict-fueled hunger crises in Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan have
culminated in a trio of potential famines hitting almost simultaneously.
Nearly 16 million people in the three countries are at risk of dying
within months.
Famine already has been
declared in two counties of South Sudan and 1 million people there are
on the brink of dying from a lack of food, U.N. officials have said.
Somalia has declared a state of emergency over drought and 2.9 million
of its people face a food crisis that could become a famine, according
to the U.N.
And in northeastern Nigeria, severe malnutrition is
widespread in areas affected by violence from Boko Haram extremists.
"We
are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the
United Nations," Stephen O'Brien, the U.N. humanitarian chief, told the
U.N. Security Council after a visit this month to Somalia and South
Sudan.
At least $4.4 billion is needed by the
end of March to avert a hunger "catastrophe" in Nigeria, Somalia, South
Sudan, and Yemen, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in late
February.
But according to U.N. data, only 10 percent of the necessary funds have been received so far.
Trump's
proposed budget would "absolutely" cut programs that help some of the
most vulnerable people on Earth, Mick Mulvaney, the president's budget
director, told reporters last week. The budget would "spend less money
on people overseas and more money on people back home," he said.
The
United States traditionally has been the largest donor to the U.N. and
gives more foreign aid to Africa than any other continent. In 2016 it
gave more than $2 billion to the U.N.'s World Food Program, or almost a
quarter of its total budget. That is expected to be reduced under
Trump's proposed budget, according to former and current U.S. government
officials.
"I've never seen this kind of
threat to what otherwise has been a bipartisan consensus that food aid
and humanitarian assistance programs are morally essential and critical
to our security," Steven Feldstein, a former deputy assistant secretary
of state in the Obama administration, told The Associated Press.
In
an interview last week with the AP in Washington, Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell rejected the proposed cuts to foreign aid.
"America being a force is a lot more than building up the Defense
Department," he said. "Diplomacy is important, extremely important, and I
don't think these reductions at the State Department are appropriate
because many times diplomacy is a lot more effective - and certainly
cheaper - than military engagement."
The
hunger crises in Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan are all the more
painful because they are man-made, experts said, though climate change
has had some impact on Somalia and Nigeria's situations, said J. Peter
Pham, the head of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council.
South
Sudan has been entrenched in civil war since late 2013 that has killed
tens of thousands and prevented widespread cultivation of food. In
Nigeria and Somalia, extremist groups Boko Haram and al-Shabab have
proven stubborn to defeat, and both Islamic organizations still hold
territory that complicates aid efforts.
If
Trump's foreign aid cuts are approved, the humanitarian funding burden
for the crises would shift to other large donors like Britain. But the
U.S.'s influential role in rallying global support will slip.
"Without
significant contributions from the U.S. government, it is less able to
catalyze contributions from other donors and meet even minimal
life-saving needs," Nancy Lindborg, president of the United States
Institute of Peace, said in prepared remarks to the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee on Wednesday.
Meanwhile,
neighboring African countries will feel the immediate consequences of
famine, experts said. On
Thursday, the U.N. refugee chief said Uganda
was at a "breaking point" after more than 570,000 South Sudanese
refugees had arrived since July alone.
Others fleeing hunger could aim for Europe instead.
"We
are going to see pressure on neighboring countries, in some cases
people joining traditional migration routes both from the Sahel into
Europe, or south into various destinations in Africa," Joseph Siegle,
director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, told
the AP.
"You have 19 countries facing some
degree of food stress in Africa, and three of them are facing famine
conditions. All three of them are facing conflict, and the vast majority
of the countries facing more serious crises are non-democratic
governments," Siegle said.
He described a
series of possible consequences. Most likely there will be increased
flows of people migrating from Somalia and the vast Sahel region north
into Libya, where trafficking routes are a valuable source of finance
for the Islamic State, he said.
Closer to
home, people from South Sudan and Somalia seeking food likely will
strain the resources of neighboring countries where political will and
goodwill to refugees can be fleeting, said Mohammed Abdiker, director of
operations and emergencies with the International Organization for
Migration.
The regional consequences will depend on how the international community responds, Abdiker said.
Alex De Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation, summed up the situation: "Famine can be prevented if we want."
