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Senegal: Wade Calls for FAO to Be Scrapped Over Food Crisis
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The Nation (Nairobi)
10 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Hamadou Tidiane Sy
Dakar
Even as international efforts to find a solution to soaring world food prices continue, outspoken Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade this week launched a scathing attack on the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), saying it should be scrapped.
Mr Wade, whose country has faced several demonstrations over high food prices in the past few months, said FAO had failed to supply the world with enough food, and had not assisted in the adoption of sound agricultural policies.
In a televised message to the nation described as "important" by the state-owned media, Mr Wade said: "I have for long asked for the transfer (of the FAO) to Africa, closer to the 'patients' it pretends to heal, because nothing justifies its continued presence in a developed country."
He said FAO's assets should be transferred to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which should then be converted into a world fund for agricultural assistance.
One of the core values of FAO states that the institution "serves both developed and developing countries (and) acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debates policies".
A week before calling for FAO's scrapping, Mr Wade harshly criticised the organisation for the way it spent the money it collected on behalf of poor countries. He claimed that the agency uses 20 per cent of such funds on salaries, administration and other costs.
At the time, fellow Senegalese Jacques Diouf, who has been heading the UN agency since 1994, reacted swiftly to the criticism, saying the figure was, in fact 10 per cent.
He said he did not know where the President got the 20 per cent from.
"It's not through criticising the FAO that the Senegalese President is going to fix his country's problems," the local media quoted the FAO director as saying.
Many in Dakar now see the president's call for the scrapping of FAO as an attempt to settle scores with an international civil servant who dared challenge his authority.
But the question is whether the voice of one head of State is strong enough to end the life of an international organisation.
Although Mr Diouf refused to respond to the president's latest remark, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said: "I can understand and sympathise with the frustration of many African leaders, including president Wade of Senegal.
But I'd like to underscore that since its foundation in 1945, the FAO has been leading the international community's efforts to help promote food production and productivity and providing the necessary humanitarian assistance to many people affected by food shortages".
But it is this very notion of "food assistance" that President Wade is opposed to.
Mr Wade has labelled some international organisations and NGOs "greedy money eaters" who collect funds on behalf of the poor in the third world but use it for their own benefit. He accused some international organisations of "intercepting" any money intended for aid and bringing only bits of it to Africa.
It was not the first time President Wade was criticising NGOs which he believes exist simply to collect funds and spend them on salaries, travel allowances and seminars.
A few people agreed with President Wade, although they noted that his idea was not new.
Notable among them was Cherif Salif Sy, a Senegalese economist who said: "Many experts and economists before Wade have defended the same idea, no country can rely on aid for its development".
Global meeting
Meanwhile, Wade's remarks are unlikely to affect the FAO, which is planning a global meeting on food security in Rome, Italy, next month.
The organisation will look at how climate change affects agriculture, and how agriculture can contribute to reduce climate change. The aim is to help countries find "sustainable solutions to safeguard world food security".
The high-level meeting will be attended by several heads of State and government, among them presidents Christina Fernandez of Argentina, Ignacio de Lula of Brazil and France's Nicolas Sarkozy.
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The Senegalese are waiting to see whether Mr Wade, who never tires of attending trips abroad, will go to Rome for the conference.
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