3-Food: U.S. stopped food aid to Sudan - Government insisted on GEfree supply

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-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  Sudan: Peace Agreement Around the Corner?
SOURCE: USAID
        http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2004/ty040311.html
DATE:   Mar 11, 2004

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Written Testimony of  Roger Winter 
Assistant Administrator 
Bureau of Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance 
United States Agency for International Development 

"Sudan: Peace Agreement Around the Corner?" 

Testimony before the Committee on International Relations 
Subcommittee on Africa 
U.S. House of Representatives 
March 11, 2004 

Mr. Chairman, Committee Members, thank you for allowing me to come and
share my thoughts and insights on Sudan with you.  Congressional
attention on Sudan will be critical in how the events of the next few
years unfold.  As you know, the Government of Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) have made significant progress
in negotiating a North-South peace agreement, although they have not yet
been able to bring it to a successful conclusion.  The U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) is poised to assist the Sudanese in
their economic recovery and prevention of future conflict once an
agreement is reached.  However, it is also critical to point out the
concerns we have, particularly with humanitarian access, one of the three
pillars of U.S. foreign policy in Sudan.

[...]

Finally, I must inform you that as of March 7, 2004, USAID has ceased all
further food aid shipments to Port Sudan due to the GOS' insistence that
US commodities be certified free of genetically modified organisms
("GMO"). When this issue first arose in May, 2003, we informed the GOS
that the United States does not provide such certifications. We did,
however, send a team of scientists to Khartoum to explain the extensive
regulatory standards that all food commodities in the United States must
meet, whether for domestic or foreign consumption, and to discuss the
Government's health and scientific concerns. The United States is the
major donor of food aid to Sudan, providing some 70% of the World Food
Program's total pipeline for the country. The majority of US-donated food
aid enters the country through Port Sudan, including 40% of all food aid
intended for southern Sudan.

In October, 2003, the Government of Sudan issued an extension of the
waiver on their earlier decree requiring certification that food aid
brought into Sudan be free from bio-engineering, thus enabling USAID to
continue food aid shipments to the country. This extension comes to a
close on July 8, 2004, but because the normal time for U.S. Title II
humanitarian food assistance to be procured and transported to Sudan is
four months, we are now past the point at which we can be sure that US
commodities arriving in Port Sudan will be allowed to clear customs and
move swiftly to the populations in need. USAID policy since the GOS
issuance of this policy has been to continue shipment of humanitarian
food assistance as long as food aid would arrive and clear customs for
distribution to beneficiaries prior to the deadline date on this
extension. The US is prepared to make additional food commitments to the
humanitarian crises in Sudan, but we cannot do so as long as this issue
is outstanding. We are informed by the United Nations that food stocks
for relief operations will be exhausted by April/May of this year. Mr.
Chairman, the potential humanitarian consequences of this pipeline break
for the needy in Sudan cannot be over emphasized.

[...]




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