B- Food aid as a foreign policy tool
While the volume of food aid has always correlated to the
fluctuations of international cereal markets, the allocations of food by
country have been determined by a combination of foreign policy interests and
humanitarian concerns. As claimed by US Senator Hubert Humphrey in July 1953,
food aid was a weapon against communism during the Cold War: «wise
statesmanship and real leadership can convert these [food] surpluses into a
great asset for checking communist aggression. Communism has no greater ally
than hunger; democracy and freedom no greater ally than an abundance of
food.» The Cold War saw large amounts of food aid sent to countries
that were strategically important to the US such as India, Indonesia and
Pakistan. Similarly, large shipments of food aid went to East Asia at the time
of the Korean and Vietnam wars. In the 1970s the bulk of US food aid shifted to
the Middle East, including Israel and Egypt, as these countries gained
strategic importance to the US. In the 1990s, after the fall of the Berlin
Wall, more food aid went to former socialist countries in Eastern Europe, until
recently when it joined the arsenal of the so-called War on Terror. As
discussed earlier, foreign policy goals also often overlap with commercial and
economic interests. Massive food assistance provided to Asian countries such as
South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia, initially corresponded to foreign
policy goals but has resulted in the development of market opportunities for US
exports.
North Korea (DPRK) is one of the largest recipients of food
aid, but it is considered as a «Rogue State». The country
received nearly 10 million tons of food between 1994 and 2004, far more than
any other. But this food aid has been always used strategically by its donors.
Food aid shipments to North Korea sometimes resemble a diplomatic arm wrestling
match more than an attempt to help the hungry. Each of the donors uses food aid
to extract concessions from the DPRK regime. Japan uses aid as a bargaining
chip with North Korea as it
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tries to resolve kidnappings, hijackings and missile tests.
China and South Korea use their own rice surpluses to try inducing cooperation
with the North over refugees. The US meanwhile has grave concerns over North
Korea's nuclear and long-range missile capabilities and its suspected support
of terrorist organizations and has manipulated food aid shipments to the
country explicitly so as to bring the North Koreans to the negotiating table.
The Clinton administration had no qualms about interrupting American (and,
derivatively, South Korean) shipments at the height of the North Korean famine.
Revealingly, this act elicited no international uproar. Then, only a year after
declaring North Korea part of an «axis of evil» in early
2002 and as rice stocks began being replenished in the DPRK, the Bush
administration announced the resumption of US food aid shipments to North
Korea.
The clear motivation behind food aid resumption was its
utility as a bargaining chip in ongoing diplomatic confrontations over the US
unwillingness to sign a non-aggression treaty and North Korea's production of
nuclear weapons. Of course, those bearing the risk in these repeated games of
chicken against the United States are the food insecure peoples of North Korea.
Kim Jong Il's regime is unpredictable. But from the donor's perspective, the US
benefits no matter how negotiations over food aid end. If the regime agrees to
their conditions for aid, then the United States succeeds in engaging the
regime in talks, scores a diplomatic victory, gains access to the North Korean
population, and can argue that it has achieved important humanitarian impacts.
If the regime rejects the offer of food under the prescribed conditions, then
the health of the country's economy and its citizens falters, thus creating an
environment in which the population could revolt. US and other donor countries
continue to offer food shipments despite doubts that the food will reach the
neediest groups and with scant solid evidence of any sustainable impact.
Commitment to aid and actual shipments do not appear to respond to changing
food availability. Rather, aid has responded primarily to diplomatic
exigencies, pulled by one or another donor in protest over an act by the
North
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Korean government or begun or resumed by a donor in an effort
to engage the North Koreans in dialogue and thereby be able to stop undesired
behaviours.
In 2002, several African countries rejected Genetically
Modified (GM) food aid from the US. Some of them ultimately accepted the food
under the condition that it would be milled before distribution, but Zambia
refused any GM import. WFP operational principles and SPHERE standards both
recognize the need for food aid to conform to recipients' own regulations and
standards. Yet, WFP was not initially willing to provide non-GM food to the
country and instead, with the US government, pressured Zambia to accept GM food
in two ways:
- At a critical time of food shortage for the country, WFP
held back its financial resources for non-GM food and cut off the provision of
food to Zambia for several months. As a result, Zambia had only received 51 per
cent of its food aid requirement by March 2003. Apart from US in-kind food aid,
WFP had cash available from other donors and enough resources to purchase GM
free food in the region. Yet, WFP's Executive Director, James Morris, claimed,
«there is no way that WFP can provide the resources to save these
starving people without using food that has some biotech
content.»39
- US government officials and institutions also tried to use
international and domestic political pressure to force Zambia to accept GM
food. This included holding the Zambian Government responsible for starving its
own people to death: «This famine is very dangerous and it's going to kill
a lot of people if decisions are not made quickly,» said Mr. Winter from
USAID. At the same time A. Natsios, USAID Director, accused environmental
groups of
39 « Zambia must accept some
GM food, warms WFP Executive Director », WFP website (August 30,
2002).
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endangering the lives of millions of people in southern Africa
by encouraging local governments to reject GM food aid. Natsios said,
«They can play these games with Europeans, who have full stomachs, but
it is revolting and despicable to see them do so when the lives of Africans are
at stake.» He added, «The Bush administration is not going
to sit there and let these groups kill millions of poor people in southern
Africa through their ideological campaign.» FEWSNET, the USAID early
warning system, also published several reports backing the US position and
holding the Zambian government liable for the delays in food
deliveries.40
Obviously, USAID's primary concern was not Zambian lives.
Despite alarming statements by USAID officials, there was no famine in Zambia.
All malnutrition surveys conducted in the country in 2002 indicated very low
malnutrition levels, below the 5 per cent threshold which indicates a normal,
non-life-threatening situation. But another percentage may explain the US
position in this matter: 34 per cent of the corn planted in the U.S is
genetically modified.41 US insistence that African countries accept
GM food aid originated from the pressure of US agribusiness interests rather
than humanitarian concern. As a matter of fact, the US Grains Council and the
National Corn Growers Association delivered a joint letter to President Bush in
January 2003, asking him not only to begin dispute settlement action in the
WTO, but also to encourage acceptance of GM corn in food aid shipments.
In 2002 and 2003, Zimbabwe faced serious food shortages
triggered by the negative impact of the land reform on production, poor
rainfall, economic difficulties and a lack of international support. At that
point, foreign aid was concentrated in emergency relief, largely food aid, with
more than 700,000 tons
40 Famine Early Warning Systems Network, November
27, 2002.
41 Barret and Maxwell, Ibid, p.28.
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of food distributed in two years by WFP and NGOs. When similar
food shortages occurred after the drought that hit the country in 1992 and
1993, positive relations between Zimbabwe and western countries fostered direct
funding to the Zimbabwean government. This funding allowed the government to
proceed to emergency imports and subsidized sales of food, while NGOs ran
complementary food distributions to vulnerable groups. The situation in 2002
and 2003 was different because the Zimbabwean government lacked support from
donor countries. In May 2002, Clare Short, British Foreign Minister, stated,
Mugabe's policies have resulted in growing hunger and food
shortage. The Government of Zimbabwe is now unable to feed its own people
E...]. Our help to the poor in Zimbabwe cannot be through the government. DFID
[the British department of foreign aid] has provided £3.5 million to the
World Food Programme and $4 million to charities in Zimbabwe to help feed
children and vulnerable adults. And still there is no plan from the government
of Zimbabwe to tackle the problems. It is morally right that we help those who
are hungry. People must not die of hunger when there is so much food in our
world. People must not be punished because their government is
corrupt.»
Britain, the EU and the US decided to channel their support
only through relief organizations. They also excluded the beneficiaries of the
land reform from the assistance, and gave priority to emergency food aid, with
limited support to agricultural recovery. The provision of food to millions of
Zimbabweans was critical in the prevention of malnutrition and the protection
of livelihoods but the way assistance was designed and distributed suggests
that this was not the sole objective. By highlighting the need for a massive
food relief operation led by foreign relief organizations, donors intended to
demonstrate the failure of land reform programs and the unwillingness of the
Zimbabwean government to assume responsibility for feeding its own people. The
fact that the severity of the situation was overstated by many western media
outlets and government representatives tends to confirm the political motives
behind the aid. Contrary to what was often reported, Zimbabwe was
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not on the edge of famine82 and the Zimbabwean government did
actually meet a major part of the food deficit through its own means.
In Afghanistan, the volume of food aid doubled in the
immediate aftermath of the US victory over the Taliban regime. Deliveries
increased from 277,000 tons in 2001, to 552,000 tons in 2002. Emergency food
assistance was needed in a country affected by more than 20 years of war and
several years of drought. Aid was still needed in 2003, when the volume of
assistance was cut by half, down to 230,000 tons, much below the volume of aid
provided in 2001. The agriculture and farming situation had not improved
significantly but donor countries placed less priority on Afghanistan because
it was no longer the centre of world's attention. The priority had shifted from
Afghanistan to Iraq: food aid deliveries to Iraq increased from 2,100 tons in
2002 to more than 1 million tons in 2003. Like what occurred in Afghanistan
after the US invasion, food aid was reduced again to approximately 10,000 tons
in 2004. In both Afghanistan and Iraq, the delivery of humanitarian assistance,
and primarily food aid, has been used by the invasion forces as a public
relations measure to win domestic and international public opinion and the
hearts of the people living in the war zones.
In October and November 2001, TVs worldwide showed the airdrop
of food rations by US aircrafts on Afghanistan. A few tons of food were
dropped, which was insignificant compared to the monthly national requirement
of more than 50,000 tons needed by the Afghan population at that time. In March
2003, Coalition Forces extensively used the argument that Iraq required
humanitarian aid to seize and secure ports. And the first food distributions
were army rations handed out by coalition soldiers in front of the
international media. Yet, in Iraq, the Oil for Food Program had been in place
until the invasion, and the government had distributed a food ration that would
provide food for several months. There was therefore no need to rush into
immediate emergency food
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distributions. Food aid to support friendly countries during
the Cold War was generally a part of a larger package of assistance including
direct financial assistance and other forms of aid, notably military aid, aimed
at strengthening friendly governments. Since the elimination of the Eastern
Block, the use of food aid in US foreign policy has evolved. It is now more
geared towards shorter-term objectives, e.g. as a bargaining tool in
negotiations as in the case of North Korea, or as a temporary support of
political or military objectives in the «war against terror.»
The political use of food aid has thus shifted in an interesting way.
Formerly, food aid was provided as direct economic support to the governments
of friendly states. It is now provided with new objectives to
«unfriendly» countries or «Rogue States»,
under the control of WFP and NGOs.
The International Humanitarian Food Aid in
Cameroon:
conditions of arrival, actors and
consequences
CHAPTER 4
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Cameroon is a country in the west Central Africa region. It is
bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the north-east; the Central African
Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the
Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of
the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is often referred to as
"Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity.
Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and
savannas. Cameroon is divided into five major geographic zones distinguished by
dominant physical, climatic, and vegetative features. «The coastal
plain» extends 15 to 150 kilometres inland from the Gulf of Guinea
and has an average elevation of 90 metres. Exceedingly hot and humid with a
short dry season, this belt is densely forested and includes some of the
wettest places on earth. The «South Cameroon Plateau» rises
from the coastal plain to an average elevation of 650 metres. Equatorial
rainforest dominates this region, although its alternation between wet and dry
seasons makes it is less humid than the coast. This area is part of the
Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests ecoregion. An irregular chain of mountains,
hills, and plateaus known as the Cameroon range extends from Mount Cameroon on
the coast--Cameroon's highest point at 4,095 metres--almost to Lake Chad at
Cameroon's northern border at 13°05'N. This region has a mild climate,
particularly on the Western High Plateau, although rainfall is high. Volcanism
here has created crater lakes. This area has been delineated by the World
Wildlife Fund as the Cameroonian Highlands forests ecoregion.
The southern plateau rises northward to the grassy, rugged
Adamawa Plateau. This feature stretches from the western mountain area and
forms a barrier between the country's north and south. Its average elevation is
1,100 metres and its average temperature ranges from 22 °C (71.6 °F)
to 25 °C (77 °F) with high rainfall between April and October peaking
in July and August. Its characteristic vegetation is savanna scrub and grass.
This is an arid region with sparse rainfall and high median temperatures.
Cameroon has four patterns of drainage. In the south, the principal rivers are
the Ntem, Nyong, Sanaga, and
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Wouri. These flow southwestward or westward directly into the
Gulf of Guinea. The Dja and Kadéï drain southeastward into the
Congo River. In northern Cameroon, the Bénoué River runs north
and west and empties into the Niger. The Logone flows northward into Lake Chad,
which Cameroon shares with three neighbouring countries.
The country is divided into 10 region: Adamawa, Centre, East,
Far North, Littoral, North, North-West, South, South-West and West. The total
population in Cameroon was 20.030.362 in 2011.
Compared with other African countries, Cameroon enjoys
relatively high political and social stability. This has permitted the
development of agriculture, roads, railways, and large petroleum and timber
industries. Cameroon's per-capita GDP (Purchasing power parity) was estimated
at US$ 2,300 in 2011, one of the ten highest in sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of
food has as direct consequence on food security. Different authors point out
that there are many causes of food insecurity in different parts of the world
which largely hinder food availability, accessibility and food utilisation.
These causes may be political, economic and social conditions that include
natural disasters, high population growth, low food production and falling
prices for agricultural commodities; political instability, unequal
distribution of food, lack of access to major distributors of food and shortage
of means to purchase the food. In this section, we try to identify the
conditions that lead Cameroon to resort or seek food aid to its partners.
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Map of Cameroon. Source: Cameroon National Institute of
Cartography
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I- Conditions of arrival of international food aid in
Cameroon A- Natural disasters
Natural disasters are events of sudden origin are related to
climatic events. The idea is prevalent that we certainly cannot predict, but
their occurrence may lead to conduct studies and research to be it in
mitigation. The result both in human and financial terms is often very heavy
especially for underdeveloped or developing countries as is the case of
Cameroon.
Among the natural disasters that Cameroon had to manage these
last decades, are found epidemics, drought, landslides,
shipwrecks42, insect infestations that kill crops particularly in
the area of the Far North, already handicapped by nature43. We
therefore mention here only the most recurrent natural disasters, especially
those which call for food aid. In tis case, Cameroon has experienced flooding
and toxic fumes and eruptions and earthquakes.
1- Floods
Cameroon has recorded several cases of flooding and this in
various parts of the country whether in urban or rural areas. However floods
are seasonal but their arrival causes sometimes irreversible consequences.
Indeed the position of Cameroon promotes the occurrence of floods, the northern
regions44 are particularly known for their strong destructive
storms.
Several additional factors contribute to the occurrence of
floods including torrential rain, deforestation, erosion depleting soils become
unable to retain large amounts of water. Similarly, uncontrolled installation
of populations increases these risks. People are actually quite uninformed
about urbanization plans where they exist, and the buildings are made in
swampy
42 For example, on July 7, 2008, a boat traveling from Nigeria
to Gabon fails on the coasts of Cameroon because of cracks on the boat. The
balance is about fifty dead.
43 With the North and Adamawa, the Far North regions are very
difficult to access in addition to the very favourable crop weather not.
44 The months of July and August are particularly deadly.
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areas as is the case in areas such as Bépanda, a
populous district of the city of Douala. Moreover, the proximity of the rivers
in the northern part of the country with the housing could lead to flooding due
to the collapse of such rivers. In this northern area, the climate is quite
special. It is in fact that there is some imbalance, a long dry season from
November to June, is followed by a short rainy season that it is from June to
October. It even happens that there are years of drought and other heavy
rainfall. In addition, the same problem may occur if one of the 51 dams that
account Cameroon had to break.
The latest and most deadly floods experienced by the country
took place in August 2012. Approximately 60,200 people in total have been
affected by these floods in the North and Far North Cameroon and among these
victims, 11% were found in relocation sites, according to the United Nations in
countries. This serious disaster poses the threat of a humanitarian crisis,
given its magnitude accompanied by difficulties in accessing certain areas of
flooding. Of the 60,200 victims identified, 40,200 were in the North and 20,000
in the Far North, according to the UN. 52% of the population was made up of
more than 18,000 women and children were counted. In addition to responding to
the urgent needs of all victims for shelter, food, health and hygiene and
sanitation, "Any pregnant woman in the relocation sites was supported free"
explained the UN official, who mentioned the provision of 20,000
insecticide-treated nets. In its response to the disaster, the Cameroonian
government announced the release of emergency assistance to 1.5 billion OEA
francs ($ 3 million), supplemented by a budget of 300 million francs ($
600,000) granted by the presidential couple not to mention a stock of food and
other materials. On the sidelines of international solidarity, many supporters
have also appeared, including support of 5 million OEA francs ($ 10,000) of the
Chinese Embassy in Yaoundé, 200 tons of food from Saudi Arabia, and
plural donation amounted to USD one million offered by the United States were
recorded.
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FLOOD VICTIMS IN THE NORTHERN REGIONS OF CAMEROON IN 2012
In fact, the impacts on both the financial and human and
material are heavier. Cameroon is in this regard is to disburse millions of
FOEA on the occurrence of floods. This money is to evacuate the wounded,
provide their first aid, evacuate the affected areas and resettle the
population in question. After most of the flooding, there have been cases of
cholera that increase the rate of casualties.
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2- Toxic fumes
Cameroon has also known toxic gas fumes mainly with Lake
Monoun in 1984 and Lake Nyos in 1986. Lake Monoun is located in the North-West
with a small size but the emanation of gas managed to cause the death of about
40 people. Lake Nyos is a crater lake in the same Northwest Region of Cameroon,
located about 315 km (196 mi) northwest of Yaoundé, Cameroon city
capital. Nyos is a deep lake high on the flank of an inactive volcano in the
Oku volcanic plain along the Cameroon line of volcanic activity. A volcanic dam
impounds the lake waters. A pocket of magma lies beneath the lake and leaks
carbon dioxide (CO2) into the water, changing it into carbonic acid. Nyos is
one of only three known exploding lakes to be saturated with carbon dioxide in
this way, the others being Lake Monoun, aforementioned, and Lake Kivu in
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although a sudden outgassing of CO2 had occurred at Lake
Monoun in 1984, a similar threat from Lake Nyos was not anticipated. However,
on August 21, 1986, a limnic eruption occurred at Lake Nyos which triggered the
sudden release of about 100,000 - 300,000 tonnes (some other sources state as
much as 1.6 million tons) of CO2; this cloud rose at nearly 100 kilometres per
hour. Carbon dioxide, being about 1.5 times as dense as air, caused the cloud
to "hug" the ground and descend down the valleys, where various villages were
located. The mass was about 50 metres thick and it travelled downward at a rate
of 20- 50 kilometres per hour. For roughly 23 kilometres the cloud remained
condensed and dangerous, suffocating many of the people sleeping in Nyos, Kam,
Cha, and Subum. About 4,000 inhabitants fled the area, and many of these
developed respiratory problems, lesions, and paralysis as a result of the
gases. This air killed some 1,700 people as well as 3,500 livestock. Scientists
concluded from evidence that a 100 m fountain of water and foam formed at the
surface of the lake. The huge amount of water rising suddenly caused much
turbulence in
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the water, spawning a wave of at least 25 metres that would
scour the shore of one side45.
It is not known what triggered the catastrophic outgassing.
Most geologists suspect a landslide, but some believe that a small volcanic
eruption may have occurred on the bed of the lake. A third possibility is that
cool rainwater falling on one side of the lake triggered the overturn. Others
still believe there was a small earthquake, but as witnesses did not report
feeling any tremors on the morning of the disaster, this hypothesis is
unlikely. Whatever the cause, the event resulted in the rapid mixing of the
supersaturated deep water with the upper layers of the lake, where the reduced
pressure allowed the stored CO2 to effervesce out of solution. It is believed
that about 1.2 cubic kilometres of gas was released. The normally blue waters
of the lake turned a deep red after the outgassing, due to iron-rich water from
the deep rising to the surface and being oxidised by the air. The level of the
lake dropped by about a metre and trees near the lake were knocked down.
Following the eruption, many survivors were treated at the
main hospital in Yaoundé, the country's capital. It was believed that
many of the victims had been poisoned by a mixture of gases including hydrogen
and sulfur gases. Poisoning by these gases would lead to burning pains in the
eyes and nose, coughing and signs of asphyxiation similar to being strangled.
Following the disaster, the lake was dubbed the "Deadliest lake" by
Guinness World Records in 2008.
Cameroon was not actually prepared for this type of disaster;
he had to call for international assistance. This support has enabled the
construction of resettlement areas, minimum infrastructure for population
needs. However, these measures were not enough, as local residents of Lake Nyos
lived mainly on agriculture and livestock. Most people displaced still live on
the resettlement
45 Tchindjang Mesmin and Njilah Isaac Konfor, (2009)
«Flood Danger from Lake Nyos» in African Journal of Science and
Technology (AJST) Science and Engineering Series Vol. 2, n°. 2,
pp. 5062.
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sites while their presence was supposed to be temporary in
these places. Unfortunately, there is still a large quantity of CO2 in these
lakes and the risk of emergence of new lake fumes is not excluded. This is why,
with the support of the international community have been undertaken degassing
operations of these two lakes. Several researchers proposed the installation of
degassing columns from rafts in the lake. The principle is simple: a pump lifts
water from the bottom of the lake, heavily saturated with CO2, until the loss
of pressure begins releasing the gas from the diphasic fluid and thus makes the
process self-powered. In 1992 at Monoun, and in 1995 at Nyos, a French team
directed by Michael Halbwachs demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. In
2001, the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance funded a permanent
installation at Nyos. In 2011, two additional pipes were installed by Michael
Halbwachs and his French-Cameroonian team to assure the complete degassing of
Lake Nyos46.
3- Volcanic eruptions
Cameroon is located on a volcanic fault line and thus
naturally more exposed to shocks. We mention the presence of several volcanoes
in this area especially in the plains of Mbo or in the savannas of Bamenda.
Mount Cameroon is located precisely in this area where the presence of
recurring tremors in the area of South-West. Indeed, it remains a very active
volcano over volcanoes located in the same area. The mountain is part of the
area of volcanic activity known as the Cameroon Volcanic Line, which also
includes Lake Nyos, the site of a disaster in 1986 presented in the preceding
part. The most recent eruption occurred on February 3, 2012. Mount Cameroon is
one of Africa's largest volcanoes, rising to 4,040 metres above the coast of
West Cameroon. It rises from the coast through tropical rainforest to a bare
summit which is cold, windy, and occasionally brushed with snow. The massive
steep-sided volcano
46 Brown David, (2000) "Scientists hope to quiet
Cameroon's killer lakes", in The Washington Post.
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of dominantly basaltic-to-trachybasaltic composition forms a
volcanic horst constructed above a basement of Precambrian metamorphic rocks
covered with Cretaceous to Quaternary sediments. More than 100 small cinder
cones, often fissure-controlled parallel to the long axis of the massive 1,400
cubic kilometres volcano, occur on the flanks and surrounding lowlands. A large
satellitic peak, Etinde (also known as Little Mount Cameroon), is located on
the southern flank near the coast. Mount Cameroon has the most frequent
eruptions of any West African volcano. The first written account of volcanic
activity could be the one from the Carthaginian Hanno the Navigator, who might
have observed the mountain in the 5th century BC. Moderate explosive and
effusive eruptions have occurred throughout history from both summit and flank
vents. A 1922 eruption on the southwestern flank produced a lava flow that
reached the Atlantic coast, and a lava flow from a 1999 south-flank eruption
stopped only 200 m from the sea, cutting the coastal highway47.
The eruptions of Mount Cameroon usually begin with an
explosion of ash emissions and follows projections rocks. From 28 May to 10
June 2000, took place a long eruption. It was the seventh time in the 20th
century that the "Chariot of the Gods" was angry. At the beginning of
the disaster, according to experts, a crack on the southeast flank of Mount
Cameroon. The emission of lava that lasted during this period has hampered much
of the Bakingili road going to Limbe. Luckily it has not resulted in loss of
life. Towns around the volcano are populated, we find in this area beaches,
moreover Buea, which is a university city and attracts tourists in quite large
numbers. In addition, the soil in volcanic regions is very fertile. It contains
enormous potential for development of small industries making in agriculture.
Then it attracts populations, with all the possible consequences in case of
eruption.
47 DeLancey, M. W. and M. D. DeLancey, (2000) Historical
Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon (3rd ed.), The Scarecrow Press,
Lanham-Maryland
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