My letter refers to the news item that appeared in Saudi Gazette on May 24 about Saudi Arabia's donation of half a million dollars to the UN for fighting global food crisis. I remember when the food crisis was at a peak in March/April the world over, Ms. Josette Sheeran – the WFP Executive Director – had painted a gloomy picture then about the World Body's inability to handle food aid worldwide, especially in the disaster-prone areas owing to the credit crunch faced by the UN agencies. At that time, they had estimated a shortfall of $0.5 billion, which had resulted owing to tremendous rise in the commodity prices and the weakening of US dollar. This figure had then jumped to $0.75 billion within a few weeks. There were frantic appeals by the UN agencies, WFP and FAO including the World Bank President Robert Zoellick and the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for “putting the money where the mouth was” – implying to come to the rescue of the poor and hungry. But the response to the appeal at that time was “too little too late.” As per the UN reports, until the Kingdom came forward with a generous aid of $0.5 billion, only $460 million were pooled through scant donations from 31 countries. The UN secretary General has warmly welcomed this generous and compassionate offer from the Kingdom and termed it as a “landmark” contribution. As a result of this the gap in the available fund was plugged. This has also allowed an additional $214 million available for other emergency food needs. In my opinion, this was a great gesture of kindness, care and compassion demonstrated by King Abdullah. This contribution from the Kingdom is very timely and should be commended. This makes me feel proud of the King and Saudi Arabia. And, I believe this will go a long way in building a good image of the Kingdom in the comity of the nations. Having said that, I must point out here that although the UN publications have lauded this gesture by the Kingdom, the world media, both print and electronic, have conspicuously played it down. Frankly, I didn't see this news reported in any international newspaper, neither did I listen about it in BBC or CNN. As a result, I am left to wonder about the underlying reason for this blackout. Faiz Al
