By Megan Iacobini de Fazio and Matthew Berger*
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 19 (IPS) – The U.N. General Assembly met Thursday to express the world
community’s solidarity with the people of Pakistan and to urge
member states to step up their aid commitment to the flood
stricken country.
Envoys called for ”filling the gap” in the initial appeal of
460 million dollars launched last week. So far, only half of
that has been pledged.
”Pakistan is facing a slow-motion tsunami,” said Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon, who visited Pakistan last weekend.
”This is a disaster, a global challenge. It is one of the
greatest tests of global solidarity of our times.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quereshi drew
attention to the severe impact the floods have had on the
mainly agrarian economy and the dangers of food shortages in
the sixth most populous country in the world.
He also stressed that Pakistan is still committed to the
fight against terrorism, but added that if the upheaval and
economic losses caused by the flood are not dealt with
effectively, the hard won gains made by the government in
tackling extremism and terrorism may be undermined.
U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced that the
U.S., already the biggest donor, will give an extra 60
million dollars in addition to the 90 million already
pledged. She also said that part of the 7.5 billion dollars
that the U.S. will give to Pakistan over the next five years
for non-military assistance will be devoted to rebuilding
the country’s infrastructure in the mid- to long-term
future.
The European Union was represented in the assembly meeting
by Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere. European Union
Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton was unable to attend
the meeting because as representative of the EU, which is
not formally a member of the assembly, she has ”no speaking
rights”.
However, Ashton said that the EU will increase its
assistance to Pakistan by 30 million euros, to reach a total
of 105 million euros (135 million dollars).
The list of over 60 speakers included countries such as
Georgia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Italy. However,
only about half of those countries took the floor as the
meeting was adjourned early.
Quereshi claimed that the new pledges were an encouraging
sign of solidarity and that he would be returning to
Pakistan reassured that the initial 460-million-dollar
initial appeal would be reached.
Earlier in the day, several dignitaries made a high-profile
appeal for aid before a morning crowd at the Asia Society.
The speakers also touched on the ways in which their
organisations are helping.
Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for
International Development, pointed to the successes of U.S.
help in response to the 2005 earthquake centred in Pakistan
administrated Kashmir. There, the goal was to ”build back
better”, he said.
Shah hoped the response to this disaster will follow a
similar model, using new technology and new strategies to
rebuild the infrastructure and communities more resilient
than before. ”The recovery will take a long time,” said
Shah, ”but it also affords an opportunity to build back in a
better way.”
For now, the focus is simply on helping the people on the
ground who are continuing to suffer. Shah said that aid is
currently meeting the needs of 700,000 to 1.2 million
people, but that this is clearly not enough. About 20
million people have been affected by the floods, as well as
1.7 million acres of productive, planted farmland and the
livestock there, he said.
But some are willing to look deeper than the immediate
emergency. Billionaire philanthropist George Soros noted the
donor fatigue ”in responding to these disasters because
there are too many of themàThey are connected. There is
climate change and it has a human cause.” Soros said
governments must act to help Pakistan but ”must also do
something about the root causes,” including reducing fossil
fuel emissions.
Foreign Minister Qureshi echoed those climate concerns. He
pointed to the combination of high rainfall in the north,
increased glacier melt in the Himalayas and unseasonable
monsoons as leading to the devastating floods.
As for the U.S. response, U.S. special envoy Richard
Holbrooke says it is ”focused solely on helping. We’re not
doing it because of Pakistan’s neighbours, we’re doing it
because Pakistan matters.”
”We want to be the first with the most assistance, and we
have been,” Holbrooke said, though he noted the response
will require an international and continued effort.
*Matthew Berger reported from Washington.
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