---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 13 Sep 2000 14:27:12 -0700
From: David Mozer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [wa-afr] FW: ACTION: Support Africa Foreign Aid & Conflict
Resolution
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 9:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ACTION: Support Africa Foreign Aid & Conflict Resolution
ADNA Action: 000913
Message from: United Methodist Church
For contact information see also:
http://www.africapolicy.org/adna
Dear ADNA members,
Following find the most recent action alert from the United Methodist
Church Global Board for Church and Society regarding current
foreign aid appropriations and legislative initiatives relevant to
conflict resolution, both of which are important for Africa in this last
month of the Congressional session. Feel free to share this widely,
use it as an example for other churches to adapt for their own
congregartions, and as background for individual or organizational
letters to Members of Congress.
Regards,
Vicki Ferguson
ADNA Communications Facilitator
From: Mark Harrison <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Urgent Action Alert on Africa
Date sent: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 12:43:21 -0400
September 2000
Urgent Action
Support Funding for HIV/AIDS and Conflict Resolution in Africa
Congress will make final decisions on assistance to Africa before it
adjourns in early October. Critical issues are funding levels for
HIV/AIDS programs and UN peacekeeping operations, and
legislation to prohibit the importation of diamonds mined by rebel
groups in Sierra Leone and Angola.
Action: Write/call your Representative and Senators during the
month of September to urge them to support:
1. A funding level of $570 million to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa as
authorized by the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act (HR
3519).
2. The Administration's request of $739 million to pay the U.S.
assessment for UN peacekeeping which includes operations in
Sierra Leone and the Congo as well as the war crimes tribunal in
Rwanda. When calling or writing your Representative express
strong disapproval of the House Commerce, Justice and State
Appropriations bill that zeros out funding for all peacekeeping
missions in Africa.
3. The Consumer Access to a Responsible Accounting of Trade
Act (Carat Act), sponsored by Reps. Tony Hall (D-OH) and Frank
Wolf (R-VA), that prohibits the importation of diamonds mined by
rebel groups in Sierra Leone and Angola, two countries with a large
United Methodist presence.
[Tell your Senators to support a Senate version of the Carat Act
should it be offered.]
Rep. __________ Sen. __________
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20510 U.S.
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Background: HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS is a pandemic in Africa. Although sub-Saharan Africa
has only 10 percent of the world's population, it is home to more
than 24,500,000--roughly 70 percent--of the world's HIV/AID cases
according to United Nations AIDS data. Worldwide, there have
already been an estimated 18,800,000 deaths because of
HIV/AIDS, of which more than 80 percent occurred in sub-Saharan
Africa. 12,100,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost at least
one parent to AIDS and are thus considered AIDS orphans.
At the current infection and growth rates for HIV/AIDS, the U.S.
National Intelligence Council estimates that the number of AIDS
orphans worldwide will increase dramatically, potentially increasing
threefold or more in the next 10 years, contribuing to economic
decay, social fragmentation, and political destabilization in already
volatile and strained societies. Children without care or hope are
often drawn into prostitution, crime, substance abuse, or child
soldiery.
The Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Act (HR 3519), approved by
Congress and signed by the President, authorizes $570 million each
year for two years for programs to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and in
other parts of the world. The new law establishes an AIDS trust fund
under the auspices of the World Bank and provides grants for
prevention, care and education, with funds for voluntary testing,
counseling and mother-to-child transmission prevention. The U.S.
contribution to World Bank trust fund is $150 million. The trust fund
could leverage additional money up to an estimated $1 billion.
UN Peacekeeping and Africa
The Administration requested $739 million for FY (fiscal year) 2001
to pay the U.S. assessment for UN peacekeeping. A significant
portion of this amount would be used to cover UN peacekeeping
operations in Africa. The House Commerce, Justice and State
Appropriations Committee approved only $498.1 million of the
request. It zeroed out funding for all peacekeeping missions in
Africa.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $500 million for UN
peacekeeping. These levels fall below the 25 percent of all
peacekeeping missions that the Congress approved last year in the
Helm-Biden agreement. The U.S. misses an opportunity to diffuse
conflicts before they explode into larger wars that consume more
lives and a greater amount of resources and require much larger
sums of money in the form of humanitarian and economic
assistance in the long run.
Diamonds and Wars
Rebel groups in Sierra Leone and Angola control areas where
diamonds are mined. The sale of these diamonds--called conflict
diamonds or blood diamonds--through third countries, such as
Liberia and Burkina Faso in the war in Sierra Leone, allow the rebel
groups to pursue bloody and costly wars, and to violate peace
agreements. The Carat Act implements UN embargoes against
diamonds mined by rebels in Sierra Leone and Angola, and
diamonds purported to be from Liberia and Burkino Faso.
United Methodist Church Positions:
"We further call on the General Conference to use its best
endeavors to appeal to the President and people of the United States
of America...to ensure that hostilities in Sierra Leone...be halted."
("Resolution from the Delegates of the Sierra Leone Annual
Conference," adopted the General Conference 2000 on May 11,
2000.)
"...the U.N. should impose an...embargo [that covers] the purchase
of diamonds and natural resources looted from the Congo."
("Motion from Congolese Delegates to the General Conference
2000," May 2000)
"We call upon United Methodists to encourage their governments to
strengthen the UN by fulfilling all treaty and financial obligations, so
that it may more effectively relieve the suffering of millions through
better health, protect our planet's environment, promote human
rights, and bring about genuine and lasting peace in the world." ("In
support of the United Nations," 1996 Book of Resolutions, p. 683)
***
This message is distributed by the United Methodist Church for the
Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA).
Vicki Lynn Ferguson
Advocacy Network for Africa
Communications Facilitator
c/o Africa Policy Information Center
110 Maryland Ave, NE #509
Washington, DC 20002
Ph: 202-546-7961
Fax: 202-546-1545
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.africapolicy.org/adna
Our next meeting is Wednesday, Sept. 27, Safeco Jackson St Center, 306 23rd Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle (enter off Main St)
7:00 p.m. WSAN business meeting
8:00 p.m. Program: PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health)
We meet the last Wednesday of the month. To post a message: [log in to unmask] To subscribe sending a blank message to [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe send a blank message to [log in to unmask] For complete information on the Washington State Africa Network visit: www.ibike.org/africamatters
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