View Full Version : Did you ever hear of anything like this ?
G0GQK
08-18-2005, 08:41 PM
The people of Niger are suffering drought and starvation.
It said in my newspaper that the people are of the Moslem faith. Because the men do not think the same about women and children as we do, they are locking up what little food there is and not allowing their families any food . In one case the man left his village and went off to find work in Nigeria, locked up the food and took the key with him !
His reasoning is that it is a womans job to find food and feed the children, and most men in Niger think like him.
many men in rural areas are controlling what little food there is, oblivious to the suffering of their wives and children. They sell the food given to them by UNICEF and refuse to let their women talk to UNICEF helpers.
I am keeping my thoughts to myself
73, Mel
KE7DFP
08-18-2005, 09:21 PM
Why won't the U.N. do something about that? With all of Niger's wealthy Muslim neighbors, you'd think a few could kick in enough to buy some basic foodstuffs. Why can't the NIGER goverment afford rice and powdered milk for it's own people? The have mines and minerals to sell. I have to wonder about there being so little food yet the claim is the men are selling the U.N.I.C.E.F. food.
k4kyv
08-18-2005, 11:24 PM
Don't they have money from all that yellocake uranium they sold to Saddam?
Even if the UN (UNICEF) were to ship in food, why would ANYONE expect the PEOPLE to actually ever see it?
Case in point, Sumatra
Same thing happend in Somalia.
Warlords took the food from the women and kids and used it to feed their troops.
KE7DFP
08-19-2005, 12:55 AM
Quote[/b] (k4kyv @ Aug. 18 2005,16:24)]Don't they have money from all that yellocake uranium they sold to Saddam?
That's what I was hinting at, but trying to be subtle and non-confrontational. They do have Uranium mines there, I'm sure that's worth as much as food.
Quote[/b] (KE7DFP @ Aug. 18 2005,22:21)]Why won't the U.N. do something about that? With all of Niger's wealthy Muslim neighbors, you'd think a few could kick in enough to buy some basic foodstuffs. Why can't the NIGER goverment afford rice and powdered milk for it's own people? The have mines and minerals to sell. I have to wonder about there being so little food yet the claim is the men are selling the U.N.I.C.E.F. food.
Hmmm, You guys ( republicans ) wanted a guy like Bolton to represent us in the UN and NOW you expect the UN to help these people.?
Bolton doesn't care, that is Why Dubya appointed him.( Dubya doesn't care either)
Don't expect help from the Organization that you have all been bashing all this time. Gee, didn't some of you want to kick the UN out of the US?!
Why is it that the UN is a BAD thing until you guys need it? You all should be ashamed, I know I am ashamed of your Double standards!!! I may bash Bush ( as he deserves) But I am an American and I am a Humanitarian !! We are suppossed to be the GOOD guys!
Yes, the UN should help the people of Niger. Heck, why don't we cut off all the Funds going to that hole called IRAQ and divert it to the starving of Niger? Oh, that's right, Bush doesn't care about Niger, he only cares about screwing up IRAQ!
Sad state of affairs I must say!
Gordon
Quote[/b] (KE7DFP @ Aug. 19 2005,01:55)]Quote[/b] (k4kyv @ Aug. 18 2005,16:24)]Don't they have money from all that yellocake uranium they sold to Saddam?
That's what I was hinting at, but trying to be subtle and non-confrontational. They do have Uranium mines there, I'm sure that's worth as much as food.
DFP,
So are you supporting that they sell the Uranium to feed themselves , or would you prefer that we help them and they Don't sell the Uranium? Seems to me it would be money well spent if we took all that War Money that is being ...... away in Iraq and actually helped someone that wants and needs it!
Just my Opinion!
Gordon
KW4MW
08-19-2005, 01:39 AM
I was on an USNavy ship that had been steaming independently in the Red Sea for two months, we hadn't received any mail during that time, and we were low on food and morale. #To reward us for our mission, the Admirals' staff decided to allow us to visit to Berbera, Somalia which is on the horn of Africa. The Somali's had just kicked the Russians out and we were one of the first Americans welcomed to that country. #(Obviously this was well before the BlackHawk Down incident)
Folks, it looked like the pictures we had all seen of Ethiopia. #People simply lying around in the heat of the day although they seemed to stir around after dark. #I saw very few people with food. #Many were chewing on what we found out later were mulberry leaves. #Apparently there is a substance in mulberry leaves that staves off the pangs of hunger.
An airbase had been built by the Russians and we asked permission from the local government (warlords?) to allow an USAF C-130 to bring us our mail, chow and well needed parts. #The Somalis would agreed to that only if we would to buy some of our food from them. #Not knowing what they had to offer and fearing the worst, our XO agreed to buy some foodstuffs from them just so we could get the C-130 to land. #
What we bought was 2 pallets of bagged rice in 10 Kg bags. #The bags were discolored to yellow and printed boldly on each bag was the Project Handclasp symbol. #The cooks brought aboard 1 or 2 bags of the rice and cooked it up. #It was small, mealy looking and I don't think anyone touched it.
However, I'm sure that those poor people surviving on mulberry leafs would have enjoyed every last grain of it.
We left the two pallets on the pier when we left in the hopes that some of those people would be able to take a few bags but I suspect that it was hauled back into the warehouse to be sold again.
It sadly seems that so-called "emerging" countries tend to stay that way for decades.
Corruption by government officials, lawlessness, ethnic, religious and tribal conflicts -- ANY OR ALL of these things tend to cause an economy to falter to the point of mass starvation. All it takes is a slight bobble in the annual rainfall and people are dying in droves.
73,
Dave/al2i
Quote[/b] (N6WK @ Aug. 18 2005,18:23)]Hmmm, #You guys ( republicans ) #wanted a guy like Bolton to represent us in the UN and NOW you expect the UN to help these people.?
Bolton doesn't care, that is Why Dubya appointed him.( Dubya doesn't care either)
Don't expect help from the Organization that you have all been bashing all this time. #Gee, didn't some of you want to kick the UN out of the US?!
Why is it that the UN is a BAD thing until you guys need it? #You all should be ashamed, #I know I am ashamed of your Double standards!!! #I may bash Bush ( as he deserves) But I am an American and I am a Humanitarian !! #We are suppossed to be the GOOD guys!
#Yes, the UN should help the people of Niger. Heck, why don't we cut off all the Funds going to that hole called IRAQ and divert it to the starving of Niger? #Oh, that's right, Bush doesn't care about Niger, he only cares about screwing up IRAQ!
Sad state of affairs I must say!
Gordon
I have no expectations of the UN helping out in Africa, none at all.
The UN will do little to nothing about the situation. Other nations in the region will do nothing about the situation. Fellow Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia will do nothing about the situation.
They all expect the US, Britian, and Austrailia to help out.
What will we get in return?
Our aid workers will be kidnapped and/or killed.
Any troops sent in to assist will be attacked and/or killed.
The food we send in will be taken by some warlord type and used or sold to fund the next war in the region.
In the end the US and its allies will be branded cruel and heartless thugs by those living there and unfortunately, by a number of those living in this country. We did not care about the people, all we wanted was (insert natural resource here).
In the end the UN will send in some peacekeepers, who will trade food for oil or worse yet, sex with young girls. This will be overlooked because the glorious UN came in and saved the day where the American Infidels could not.