WORLD BRIEFLY
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
East Oregonian
Humanitarian crisis hits as foreign aid slashed
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 conti-
nent’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.
Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin/UNICEF via AP
In this photo taken March 10, women pick leaves from
a tree that they will later cook for dinner in the small
village of Apada, near Aweil, in South Sudan.
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 extrem-
ists.
“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-Gen-
eral 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.
Page 7A
U.S. denies loosening rules for
avoiding civilian casualties
BAGHDAD (AP) —
U.S. airstrikes probably
played a role in the deaths of
dozens of civilians in Mosul
earlier this month, U.S.
and Iraqi military officials
acknowledged Tuesday, but
they denied the rules for
avoiding civilian casualties
have been loosened despite
a recent spike in civilian
casualties.
Speaking from Baghdad
to reporters at the Pentagon,
the top commander of
U.S. forces in Iraq said
an ongoing investigation
may reveal a more compli-
cated explanation for the
March 17 explosion that
residents say killed at least
100 people, including the
possibility that Islamic State
militants rigged the building
with
explosives
after
forcing civilians inside.
Army Lt. Gen. Stephen
Townsend said a recent spate
of civilian casualties in Mosul
was “fairly predictable” given
the densely populated urban
neighborhoods that the IS
fighters are defending against
Iraqi government troops. But
the civilian deaths cannot be
attributed to any loosening
of American military rules
of combat, he said, and
Washington hasn’t decided to
tolerate greater risk of civilian
casualties in U.S. airstrikes.
Amnesty International
on Tuesday said the rising
death toll suggested the
U.S.-led coalition wasn’t
taking adequate precautions
as it helps Iraqi forces try to
retake the city.
Townsend acknowledged
the U.S. conducted multiple
airstrikes in the area of the
explosions. That, coupled
with initial inquiries done by
U.S. technical experts who
visited the scene, led him to
say: “My initial assessment
is that we probably had a
role in these casualties.”
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