IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 421 

Urging the Administration to develop more effective and timely responses 

to famine in Africa, especially efforts to end the conflicts in South 

Sudan, Nigeria, and other countries that cause or exacerbate famine. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 28, 2017 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Ms. BASS) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Urging the Administration to develop more effective and 

timely responses to famine in Africa, especially efforts 

to end the conflicts in South Sudan, Nigeria, and other 

countries that cause or exacerbate famine. 

Whereas famine is defined as a drastic, wide-ranging food 

shortage in which one in five households have an extreme 

lack of food and other basic needs, where starvation, 

death and destitution are evident despite humanitarian 

assistance; 

Whereas famine is largely caused by conflict in countries such 

as South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia, where the interruption of the planting-harvesting cycle has prevented internal production of food; 


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•HRES 421 IH 

Whereas there are 1,800,000 refugees from the conflict in 

South Sudan in neighboring countries and 2,000,000 internally displaced persons in that country, and rapidly 

growing numbers of South Sudanese refugees are placing 

a toll on Uganda and other countries hosting them as 

donor contributions have not kept pace and food rations 

have been cut at times by 50 percent; 

Whereas South Sudan is experiencing heightened levels of 

food insecurity with as high as 27 percent of the population in some areas facing famine, and the United Nations estimates that at least 4,900,000 people in South 

Sudan, more than 40 percent of the population, are in 

urgent need of food; 

Whereas, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, 

more than 30,000 lives have been lost in violence related 

to Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgency; 

Whereas 14,000,000 people in northeast Nigeria are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, including more 

than 8,000,000 children, and almost 6,000,000 people 

are also facing severe food insecurity, and almost 

9,000,000 Nigerians are projected to suffer from food insecurity by August 2017, including more than 3,000,000 

people living in the northeast state of Borno, where Boko 

Haram is active; 

Whereas increasing attacks by Fulani militia on farmers in 

Nigeria’s Middle Belt threaten to further exacerbate hunger in the region; 

Whereas more than 1,000,000 people are already internally 

displaced within Somalia, there are an estimated 881,000 

Somali refugees, and the anticipated scale of population 

displacement from Somalia due to pervasive conflict and 


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•HRES 421 IH 

the threat of starvation will increase refugee flows 

throughout the region and into Europe; 

Whereas, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Somalia is the fourth 

largest source of refugees in the world, after Afghanistan, 

Syria, and South Sudan; 

Whereas in Somalia, nearly 6,200,000 people are currently in 

need of humanitarian assistance, and more than 

2,900,000 people are facing crisis or emergency levels of 

acute food insecurity due to conflict, including nearly 

1,000,000 children under the age of five; 

Whereas conflict in countries such as the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mali 

could cause or exacerbate famine should fighting disrupt 

planting-harvesting cycles and markets where locally produced food can be purchased; and 

Whereas drought threatens to exacerbate food insecurity in 

countries ranging from Angola to Sudan to Mozambique 

to Madagascar: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the United States Government should— 

3 (A) use all available leverage, including 

4 that of international partners, to achieve last5 ing, comprehensive cease-fires in cases of con6 flict; 

7 (B) work with governments to facilitate 

8 disarmament, demobilization and reintegration 

9 of combatants into a unified, professional na10 tional army or assistance in preparing former 


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1 combatants to engage in productive occupations 

2 that eliminate the impulse to resort to banditry 

3 or other illegal pursuits; 

4 (C) use the Global Magnitsky Human 

5 Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 

6 note) to sanction individuals or entities respon7 sible for initiating or prolonging conflict, endan8 gering humanitarian aid workers, or preventing 

9 delivery of humanitarian aid; 

10 (D) apply all available weather and crop 

11 information to more accurately predict incipient 

12 drought and to determine the likelihood of fam13 ine in areas of conflict; 

14 (E) collaborate with other donor nations to 

15 accelerate the provision of food, clean water, 

16 medicine, and shelter to those in need; 

17 (F) expand the prepositioning of aid com18 modities in safe zones as close as possible to the 

19 region of famine to expedite their provision; 

20 (G) provide assistance to farmers, herders, 

21 and fishermen to encourage resilience in the 

22 long run and allow them to survive in the short 

23 term; and 

24 (H) use cash transfers to more quickly 

25 provide food aid where local markets exist in 


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1 order to meet food needs in a more timely man2 ner and to support the functioning of local mar3 kets; and 

4 (2) governments in affected African countries 

5 should— 

6 (A) establish effective cease-fires and use 

7 force thereafter only when government forces or 

8 facilities or civilians are under attack; 

9 (B) publicly identify individuals and enti10 ties that actively threaten peace and safety and 

11 take police action against those who do so in 

12 areas under government control; 

13 (C) work with civil society, especially faith14 based groups, to help end conflict at the grass15 roots level, effect reconciliation and deliver food, 

16 clean water, medicine, and shelter; 

17 (D) make every effort to facilitate the ex18 peditious delivery of food, clean water, medi19 cine, and shelter and do not erect bureaucratic 

20 impediments to the delivery of such aid; 

21 (E) contribute from their own resources to 

22 the greatest extent possible to provide food, 

23 clean water, medicine, and shelter to their own 

24 citizens; 


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1 (F) protect humanitarian aid workers and 

2 the commodities they deliver, including pro3 viding security for convoys and facilities where 

4 feasible; and 

5 (G) take all appropriate actions to safe6 guard agricultural areas and farm personnel to 

7 help ensure the continued provision of locally 

8 produced food and the markets at which they 

9 could be sold. 

Æ 


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