“In countries like Mozambique, a dollar makes a difference”
Portugal’s government admits to being “very concerned” about the decision by Donald Trump’s US administration to cut overseas development aid.
Speaking during a hearing of parliament’s committee on foreign affairs yesterday, minister Paulo Rangel acknowledged that “there are many populations in an almost extreme situation that will be immediately affected.
“We’d like to sensitise the US administration to some issues that we know intimately, for example Mozambique, where aid is decisive for survival the following month or for the qualification of lives,” Rangel said. “There, a dollar makes a difference.”
In the first days of his second term, US President Donald Trump suspended all international aid for 90 days.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be the new acting director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which he has accused of being “completely lacking in responsiveness” – criticising alleged “insubordination” at the agency.
But the form in which failings appear to be being handled is prompting countless calls for a re-think, and warnings of the “dire consequences” of suspending vital programmes. Several news outlets warn that the moratorium is throwing relief services into chaos worldwide, “disrupting the global fight against modern slavery” and even “opening windows of opportunity for China and Russia…”
USAID, which manages aid programmes in around 120 countries, was created decades ago (1961) by the then president, John F. Kennedy, to oversee the administration of US international humanitarian aid. It has an annual budget of several billion dollars to organise international projects aimed at fighting poverty, disease and responding to famine and natural disasters. The agency also seeks to promote democracy and development through its support for non-governmental organisations, independent media and social initiatives.
During yesterday’s hearing in parliament, Paulo Rangel also referred to the future of Ukraine, almost three years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion, arguing that discussions on a “just peace” must involve the government in Kyiv and the European Union, at a time when President Trump has said he ‘might discuss a possible solution to the conflict’ directly with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin (a little bit like he seems to have discussed a possible solution to the Middle East conflict with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – coming up with the idea of removing surviving Palestinians from land they consider their own and creating a ‘Middle East Riviera’).
In short, the outcry over freezing US overseas development aid is just the tip of the iceberg.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
Source material: LUSA
