Smoothing ruffled U.S. feathers after 'stingy' remark<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Washington<\/p>\n
The United Nations' top emergency relief official praised on
\nSunday wealthy nations' donations to tsunami-ravaged South Asia,
\nafter ruffling feathers in Washington last week by describing the
\ndeveloped world's aid spending as \"stingy.\"<\/p>\n
Jan Egeland, the UN's Undersecretary General for Humanitarian
\nAffairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, appeared on Sunday to
\ntry to placate Washington over his comments last week criticizing
\nrich nations' aid spending.<\/p>\n
\"I did not want this kind of a debate,\" he told the Fox News
\nSunday television program in an interview.<\/p>\n
\"I have never ever, in my more than 20 years of international
\nrelief work, seen a compassion and generosity like the one we've
\nseen in these last six days,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"I was confident, I was sure that the United States and the
\nother of our partners would be very generous in the wake of such
\nan enormous natural disaster. And, as we have seen, I was right
\nin that,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Last week, Egeland stung many in the U.S. when he noted that
\n\"the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2
\npercent of their gross national income. I think that is stingy
\nreally. I don't think that is very generous.\"<\/p>\n
Although he did not refer to a particular country, the
\ncomments unleashed a backlash of criticism against the UN by some
\nAmericans stung by the criticism of their generosity, including
\nU.S. President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n
Asked about Egeland's assessment, Bush told reporters on
\nWednesday: \"I felt like the person who made that statement was
\nvery misguided and ill-informed.\"<\/p>\n
Egeland insisted on Sunday that he had not meant to single out
\nthe U.S. with his remarks.<\/p>\n
\"I have never commented on any country. I said, 'The rich
\nworld is not able to give enough assistance to those most in
\nneed',\" he told Fox.<\/p>\n
He did not entirely back away from last week's rebuke of the
\ndeveloped world, however.<\/p>\n
\"I will always be of the view that, as the rich world is
\ngetting richer -- Europe, North America, Japan, Asia, the Gulf
\ncountries -- it should be possible to feed all the world's
\nchildren, and we are not at the moment,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Washington initially pledged US$35 million in disaster relief
\nto South Asia immediately after the disaster, but has since
\nincreased that sum tenfold, now promising to send US$350 million
\nin aid.<\/p>\n
Leading members of Congress weighed in on the controversy on
\nSunday, with some saying that the initial reaction by the U.S.
\nwas wanting in the first few days after the tsunami struck.<\/p>\n
\"I think now we appear to be on the right track,\" said U.S.
\nSenator Carl Levin, a Democrat.<\/p>\n
\"But the first few days were disappointing, and not in keeping
\nwith the great American tradition and generosity, either in the
\nsize of that first announcement, or the speed with which it was
\ngiven. I thought the first few days of silence from the president
\nwas not in keeping with that tradition,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Speaking on U.S. television on Sunday, Secretary of State
\nColin Powell said the American private and governmental response
\nhas been all it should be.<\/p>\n
\"I want the American people to understand that their
\ngovernment and our society has responded appropriately,\" he told
\nNBC television's Meet the Press program.<\/p>\n
\"I will tell you who is not churlish or disappointed in our
\nresponse, and that's the nations who are receiving aid. They
\nhave been very thankful and very appreciative of what we have
\ndone. And we will do more,\" he said.<\/p>\n
US-quake-tsunami-aid-UN
\nAFP<\/p>\n
GetAFP 2.10 -- JAN 3, 2005 03:14:53<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/smoothing-ruffled-us-feathers-after-stingy-remark-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }