SA aid snarled in red tape
2005-08-11 08:48
Tillaberi, Niger - A South African aid mission to Niger was early this week entangled in red tape and government denial, delaying attempts to give help to starving people.
Doctors and aid workers from the Pietermaritzburg-based Gift of the Givers were for the first time confronted with severely malnourished children on Tuesday.
The team travelled to Tillaberi, 115 kilometres west of the capital city of Niamey, but food distribution was delayed by 24 hours by bureaucracy.
The team spent most of the day trying to get authorisation to start aid distribution, while mothers held their severely malnourished children, some of whom were given a mere 10% chance of survival.
The initial plan was to visit several sites in outlying areas to help people who have minimal or no access to health-care and emergency food aid. However, the team were asked by the government not to go to remote areas, but were taken to a village only 30 kilometres from Niamey.
Upon visiting the nearby village of Karma, Gift of the Givers chairperson Imtiaz Sooliman made it clear that there is very little need in this area.
"At this stage, it seems that there could be a political agenda playing itself out here, especially the government official's statements on Monday that children have not died of hunger, but rather malnutrition. Perhaps we are being cut off from seeing the real people in need," he said.
The team then travelled a further 80 kilometres, arriving at the Tillaberi region, where food and medicine are in desperate need.
Malnourished children
The team were confronted with the sight of eight mothers with their malnourished children at a severely under-resourced district hospital. Some of the children, aged below three, were only given a 10% chance of survival.
Instead of being allowed to help them, the team were told they needed to gain permission and follow protocol to help the children.
On Monday, they were given permission by the president to carry out their aid mission.
In Niger, medical treatment is not free, and the officials wanted the needy people to pay for the aid workers' help.
However, after delicate negotiations with the regional governor and town mayor, Sooliman secured permission for the Gift of the Givers to help, without having to charge a fee, and an agreement that the presence of the aid team will be advertised on radio and TV.
Konote Abdoulaye, a representative of the NGO Islamic Relief, confirmed that the hunger crisis is serious.
"The situation is drastic, especially when it comes to pregnant women and many children. I have heard that children have died as a result. I also saw with my own eyes children who were so malnourished that they could not stand up or move," he said.