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Western Hemisphere Nations Consider Disaster Response

By Jacquelyn S. Porth  

With the hurricane season in full swing in the Western Hemisphere, it seemed appropriate that the 34 countries that came together for the eighth Conference of the Defence Ministers of the Americas (CDMA) called for better planning and coordination in dealing with natural disasters.

That call was one of several issues outlined in the final communiqué for the September 2-6 conference. The conference theme was "Confidence-Building through Cooperation and Collaboration." Canadian Defense Minister Peter Gordon MacKay told the gathering, "We have strengthened our collective commitment to cooperation and collaboration on important issues such as disaster relief, peacekeeping, and nationally or regionally hosted events."

The biennial meeting, held this year in Banff in Canada's Alberta province, also sought to strengthen civil-military relations in the hemisphere. Several speakers said military forces must be subordinate to civilian command. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the way ahead "involves creative answers to domestic questions on the relationship between security forces and civilian institutions."

The first hemispheric defense ministers' meeting occurred in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1995. It was an initiative supported by then U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry as a security counterpart to the 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas.

Since the next CDMA will take place in Bolivia in 2010, well after Gates leaves office, the secretary urged the group to find ways to capitalize on their individual strengths "while also respecting and honoring the sovereignty of each nation." He urged nations to stand together against common threats, as some are doing through the organization of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

CARICOM attempts to deal with questions that face many hemispheric nations: how to organize government ministries, militaries, security forces and national security structures to deal with the threats that range from terrorism to transnational crime.

Gates talked about the need to work more collaboratively with legislatures. "The more we can educate legislatures and their staffs to improve their expertise on defense matters, the better choices they will make when it comes to security funding and policy," he said.

Gates also expressed support for greater mutual assistance during natural disasters. "We still do not have a comprehensive, hemispherewide mechanism to channel outside assistance to disaster areas effectively," he said.

In fact, the final communiqué reflects agreement on examining possible creation of a regional working group to support civilian relief organizations. The delegates also voiced support for the Organization of American States' effort to promote hemispheric cooperation for disaster response through the Inter-American Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction.

HUMANITARIAN AID FOR HURRICANE-LASHED HAITI

Disaster response was addressed during the month that hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike lashed the region. The U.S. Navy deployed the USS Kearsarge, a hospital ship, from Colombia to Haiti to provide emergency humanitarian assistance. Its helicopters began ferrying cargo and equipment to the hard-hit Gonaives area and other flooded regions in Haiti.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon told the Washington-based Heritage Foundation September 8 that the United States will be using the assets of the Kearsarge "to begin to address some of the larger problems Haiti faces today" as a result of massive flooding. As part of the effort, he said, the U.S. Agency for International Development has released $7 million in emergency hurricane assistance for Haiti and pre-positioned U.S. food stocks are being distributed. "This is a really tough moment for Haiti," Shannon said. (See "United States Aids Caribbean Victims of Natural Disasters ( http://www.america.gov/st/foraid-english/2008/September/200809081846401xeneerg0.3147241.html?CP.rss=true ).")

Shannon said the problems facing the region "are no longer state-on-state violence," but are focused, instead, on natural disasters, pandemics, drug-related crime and terrorism.

Many of the 650 delegates at the conference spoke about their contribution to peacekeeping in the region. The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti was invoked often in the meeting and cited in the conference's final communiqué as an example of successful regional cooperation.

Heritage Foundation Latin American specialist Ray Walser says 2008 has been divisive for hemispheric security. In an article for the eighth CDMA, he wrote the year "has been marked by Colombia's crisis with Ecuador and Venezuela after the March 1 attack on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) camp in Ecuador, resulting in threats of war and a display of readiness by President Chavez to back the narco-terrorism of the FARC against a democratically elected government."

Walser also says criminal organizations - gangs, as well traffickers of drugs, weapons and humans - demonstrate the need for better hemispheric security cooperation. "Citizen security and fighting domestic and international crime are central concerns for all of the Americas," he said. The senior policy analyst pointed to the threat of global terrorism from radical Islamic groups in the tri-border area between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

See also "Western Hemisphere Nations Gather to Discuss Regional Security. ( http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec-english/2008/August/20080829103257sjhtrop0.9705011.html?CP.rss=true )"

For policy information, see The Americas ( http://www.america.gov/world/americas.html ).

More information on the conference ( http://www.cdma2008.ca/home.html ) is available on the CDMA Web site.

Source: U.S. Department of State