H. Res. 431

In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

March 14, 2000.

Whereas in February 2000, the southern Africa nations of

Botswana, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe began to experience severe flooding

caused by days of heavy rain;

Whereas the Republic of Mozambique bore the brunt of the

torrential rains and experienced the worst flooding in 100

years;

Whereas roads, homes, bridges, the energy infrastructure,

and crops were destroyed;

Whereas many towns are without potable water and the corresponding public health threat from water-borne diseases is severe;

Whereas on February 22, 2000, tropical cyclone Eline blew

full force into Mozambique, exacerbating an already terrible humanitarian crisis;

Whereas continued rainfall from swollen rivers in neighboring

southern African countries threatens to bring more flood

waters into Mozambique;

Whereas thousands of Mozambicans have lost everything and

are in desperate need of water, food, and shelter;
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Whereas in 1992 Mozambique ended a bloody 16 year civil

war and has made substantial progress on democratic

freedoms and multi-party elections;

Whereas Mozambique is one of the world’s poorest countries

where 27 percent of all babies born die before the age of

5;

Whereas the flooding has virtually wiped out the significant

economic recovery the Mozambican people have worked

hard to achieve over the last 8 years;

Whereas large segments of Mozambican crops were spared

from the cyclone and flooding and could be utilized to

feed needy citizens later this year;

Whereas the Government of Mozambique will require massive

international assistance over the next 90 days and the

growing international relief effort must remain on high

alert for the next several weeks;

Whereas prior to the flood disaster, Mozambique was one of

the first countries to qualify for benefits under the World

Bank/IMF Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative;

and

Whereas the total amount of Mozambique’s external debt is

$5.3 billion: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) commends the Government of the Republic

3 of South Africa for its quick response and assistance

4 to the Mozambican people;

5 (2) commends the Government of the United

6 Kingdom for announcing debt cancellation for Mo7 zambique so that precious financial resources may
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1 be dedicated to the national relief and recovery ef2 fort;

3 (3) commends the Administration for its grow4 ing involvement and leadership in coordinating

5 America’s disaster assistance package to the Repub6 lic of Mozambique;

7 (4) supports the efforts of the United States

8 Government to assist in coordinating international

9 efforts to help the Republic of Mozambique salvage

10 what remains of this year’s food crops and to pro11 vide seeds for rural agricultural growers;

12 (5) encourages the international community to

13 continue to provide emergency relief, airlift capacity,

14 and other disaster assistance to the Republic of Mo15 zambique for the next 90 days;

16 (6) urges the international community to take

17 all necessary steps to locate and demarcate areas

18 that may now harbor semi-buoyant plastic land

19 mines transported to new locations by the flooding

20 in Mozambique;

21 (7) requests that the international community

22 develop a coordinated response to the Government of

23 Mozambique’s request for recovery and reconstruc24 tion assistance for buildings and transportation in25 frastructure;
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1 (8) encourages the international community to

2 assist the nations of southern Africa to increase

3 their capacity to respond to national emergencies

4 and natural disasters; and

5 (9) urges the International Monetary Fund and

6 other international creditors to fully accelerate debt

7 reduction efforts with respect to Mozambique’s ex8 ternal debt in the aftermath of the severe flooding.

Attest:

Clerk.