Embassy of the United States

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Remarks by Ambassador Robert Blake at the USAID/WFP “Food for Peace” Commodities Handover Ceremony

Ambassador Blake: It is a great pleasure for me to be here today.  Let me first thank Secretary Kumarasiri for being here today.  As he said, we have a very productive partnership with the Ministry of Nation Building, and we appreciate very much his presence here today and his ongoing efforts to work with us to help the needy people in Sri Lanka.

I also want to thank my friend Mohammed Salaheen of the World Food Programme.  He has recently arrived here, but he has already made an important contribution to all of our efforts here, so we very much appreciate having you here, Mohammed, as well.

Both of these gentlemen have already described the aid that the United States will be providing today.  I call your attention to the flour and the other commodities that are here.  Let me just say that it is not just from the U.S. Government.  It is from the people of the United States, because that is a very important part of everything that we do.  It is the taxpayers’ money that pays for all of this.  I think all of you know that Americans are a very compassionate and generous people.  We always respond in times of need.  And these are times of need here in Sri Lanka. 

As Mr. Kumarasiri said, this is our first consignment representing about $5 million-worth of food assistance.  An additional $9 million-worth of commodities are on their way.  We also have a team of humanitarian experts who are here on a more-lengthy basis to asses the needs, and to specifically asses whether more assistance might be needed.  We will continue to work very closely with our partners in making that assessment, and if additional needs are identified, then we will do our best to try to help meet those needs.

In a country like Sri Lanka that has so much natural abundance, there really should not be any need to provide this kind of emergency food assistance.  But there has been that need, because of the ongoing conflict here for the last 25 years.  And as in many conflicts, families have been displaced, not only from their living places, but also from where they have been working.  So as they move about and become internally-displaced people, or refugees, they need our support, they need the government’s support; and we are very pleased to do what we can to provide that support.

As Mr. Salaheen said, this is part of a global program that the United States has: the USAID Food for Peace Program.  The program was initiated more than 50 years ago by our then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  It has been one of our most successful programs in our history.  Since its inception, the program has fed, provided emergency assistance, to more than three billion people – that’s billion not million – in 150 countries.  I think that is a very significant achievement and something that we are committed to providing whenever we can around the world.

The program continues to provide assistance to needy people around the world today.  Today, more than sixty percent of all the emergency food assistance that is provided comes as a gift from the people of the United States.  And, I must say, millions are facing various kinds of deprivations.  But they should also have the courage to know that the United States will be there to try to help them in every way that we can.  And we will always try to respond with compassion and generosity. 

We have the confidence that our partners, the Ministry of Nation Building and the World Food Program, will ensure that this donation will benefit the most vulnerable and those in most need of it in conflict-affected areas.  We have a very long-standing and productive working relationship with our friends at the World Food Programme, and I want to commend them for their leadership and their ability to achieve results in often very trying circumstances in many parts of the world.

The United States has always been clear that food aid can never, ever be used as a political tool.  So we provide food aid to North Korea.  We provide it to other countries where we do not even have official diplomatic relations, because we always want to help those in need and those who are suffering from hunger and various other kinds of problems.

At the same time, though, we and other donors want to ensure that there is always transparency and accountability, so that the food in fact does reach the needy beneficiaries.  That is why we work with our partners in the Ministry of Nation Building and the WFP, who have done an outstanding job in that regard, and who will continue to do an outstanding job.

So with those few short words, let me thank you all again for coming today.  And a particular warm thanks to our friends from the Ministry and from the World Food Programme.

Thank you very much.

Question: (off mike, inaudible)

Ambassador Blake: I would just say that those reports are incorrect.  The bill that was referred to in some of the articles in the press over the weekend is a draft bill, still.  It has passed the Senate, but it has not passed the House, to my knowledge.  As in any piece of legislation in the United States, whenever there are bills from the House and the Senate, they have to be brought together in a “conference committee” to determine what the final language will be that goes to the President.  At that point then, the President has the option either to sign the bill or to veto the bill.  We are still a very, very long way from any kind of formal bill being passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by the President of the United States.  So I just urge you not to rush to judgment here.  We will have to see what the final outcome will be.

Question: (off mike, inaudible)

Ambassador Blake: Obviously, the United States and many other donors do not support a military solution to the conflict.  We believe that the solution lies in a negotiated settlement that meets the aspirations of all of the communities of Sri Lanka.  We believe that there is still a good opportunity with the current All Parties Representative Committee process, but that all of the parties need to come together and work together to achieve a power-sharing proposal that will meet the needs of all the communities of Sri Lanka.  That is the way forward that we see.