Since the beginning of this fiscal year. our Government has made available more than $425 million in emergency food aid to the continentthe largest amount given for this purpose since the inception of our food aid program. Yet much more remains to be done if mass starvation is to be averted. The bill before us today would authorize the appropriation of additional funds for disaster and refugee assistance. The replenishment of the disaster and refugee accounts is essential to the African relief effort. Food aid alone will not rescue Africans from starvation. Thousands of Africans already weakened by hunger will die unless they receive emergency medical supplies. shelter materials. and blankets. It is this sort of assistance that the disaster relief funds provide. The funds appropriated for disaster assistance will also help pay for the internal distribution of food relief. which is made prohibitively expensive by Africas rough terrain. woefully inadequate infrastructure. and widespread civil strife. The need for increased refugee assistance is equally critical. Even before the current crisis. Africa already played host to the worlds largest refugee population. The onslaught of drought and famine has added hundreds of thousands of people to the numbers of the displaced. Sudan alone is now burdened with 750.000 Ethiopian refugees. By summer their number could increase by as much as 500.000. Sudan simply does not have the resources to cope with this flood of famine victims.
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refugee refugees