Two cups of coffee

I don't mean to sound like a broken record (or for the young and hip crowd: I don't mean to sound like a corrupted mp3 file) but sometimes I just can't help myself.

So please forgive yet another article about poverty, the United Nations, and the lack of humanitarian assistance from wealthy nations. It's just that when the need is so dire, and a solution so easily attainable... it infuriates me that our elected "leaders" are so incapable of acting in humanity's best interests.

George W. Bush, for example, is the "War on" President. (And we all know what "War on" rhymes with.) This U.S. president has spent billions and billions of dollars, and sacrificed thousands and thousands of lives, to fight the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terrorism", with its sinister siblings: the "War on Afghanistan" and the "War on Iraq".

In fact, Bush is so busy fighting all these other Wars, that the "War on Poverty" has been, well... left behind.

Which to me seems to be the very essence of irony. No, not irony... evil.

And which raises some interesting questions:

* How many people die each year as a result of terrorist attacks or drug use? How many more people die each year as a result of living in poverty (ie: hunger, disease, forced labor, perilous migrations, natural disasters, etc.)?

* Wouldn't a concerted effort to alleviate poverty also have an enormously positive impact on addressing the root causes of terrorism, drug cultivation, and drug use?

* How many innocent men, women and children have been killed as a result of the "War on Terrorism" and "The War on Drugs"? How lives have been saved as a result of the War on Poverty?

For me the answer is quite clear: What this world needs is more bread and less bullets. (Ok, and much less Bush.)

UN launches biggest annual appeal

The United Nations has launched its largest humanitarian appeal.

It wants $4.7bn to help the victims of war, famine and natural disaster in 26 countries.

The UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, said that amount was the equivalent of 48-hours of global military spending.

The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said the international community had the capacity to pay, but now had to display the will to do so.

At the launch of the UN's 2006 humanitarian appeal, Mr Annan outlined its significance.

"In a world of plenty, continued suffering is a terrible stain on our conscience", he said. "It is inexcusable that we not strive, with every resource at our disposal, to eliminate suffering."

The UN wants provide life-saving help to more than 30 million people.

The appeal includes aid for those affected by the earthquake in Kashmir, and the Asian tsunami last December.

Many of the countries on the UN's list are in Africa. In particular, it is looking for $1.5bn for Sudan, which would mainly be split between the western Darfur area, where violence continues, and the now peaceful south, where reconstruction is under way.

'Two cups of coffee'

There are also ongoing emergency appeals for devastated regions in West Africa, including Ivory Coast and Liberia.

Elsewhere, the call for assistance covers Russia's breakaway region of Chechnya, the Palestinian territories, and flood victims in Guatemala.

Mr Egeland, said increased donations were necessary because of the large number and complexity of operations.

"We are asking exactly the amount of 48 hours of military spending in this world, or we're asking for the equivalent of two cups of coffee per rich person," said Mr Egeland.

"If they all gave the equivalent of two cups of coffee, we would cover all the needs for these 31 million people in a desperate situation."

BBC UN correspondent Susannah Price says that on average, the UN receives less than three-quarters of the funding it asks for every year, and countries often wait until the last moment to pay, which leads to increased costs.

BBC News

Tags: Guatemala, Poverty, Drugs, War, Bush