Reagan Seeks Increased Food Aid for Africa

President Reagan today announced a stepped-up program of emergency food aid to Africa, including a $235-million supplemental request to Congress, that would bring total U.S. disaster relief to the drought-stricken continent since Oct. 1 to more than $1 billion.

Meanwhile, 67 members of Congress proposed an appropriation of $1 billion and one of them, Rep. Ted Weiss (D-N.Y.), derided the Reagan proposal as “three-quarters smoke and mirrors,” saying most of it was previously committed funds.

In addition to the supplemental request to Congress, Reagan said the Administration would come up with an additional $176 million in emergency food aid that can be granted without congressional action. This would include $47 million diverted from aid intended for other parts of the world.

Reagan also announced a new long-range food assistance policy, to be called “Food for Progress,” which would tie U.S. aid to the adoption of policies “based on market principles and improved . . . private sector involvement.”

1.5 Million Tons of Food

Peter McPherson, administrator of the Agency for International Development, said the $1 billion total was enough to provide 1.5 million tons of emergency food, meeting half of the estimated total need in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

The 64 House members and three senators, who included only one Republican, called for $787 million in immediate food and transportation relief to Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique, Sudan, Mali and other African nations. The remaining funds would go for long-term agricultural development.

Weiss, a frequent critic of Administration foreign policy, chided Reagan for belatedly supporting emergency relief efforts. “It turns out to be three-quarters smoke and mirrors,” Weiss said of the Reagan program.

And Rep. Howard Wolpe (D-Mich.) said much of the crisis in Ethiopia could have been avoided if the Administration had acted sooner. “It did not need to happen,” he said. “We are facing a tragedy of unprecedented proportions.”