Those crises will only be solved by long-term political solutions. Difficult though the issues are, in the Great Lakes we must not and we will not ignore the need to separate refugees from militias and to create conditions for voluntary repatriation of refugees. But just as the situation in Zaire needs a long-term approach, so does our global problem of food insecurity. This is not just about statistics and predictions. We can all roll off the numbers.
Food security is essentially about alleviating poverty.
It is about finding sustainable solutions to individuals' access to the food they need to survive and to live a decent life in dignity. It is about finding solutions to all the appalling problems like those which beset Zaire and the Great Lakes Region. The basic challenge is to develop international consensus and understanding on what needs to be done to improve food security over the next decades and who is responsible for each aspect of it. Above all, it is getting on with the job of alleviating poverty. All this requires turning the Summit text into action.