Student Leaders Unite In Seeking Help For Biafra

Leaders of six Harvard's student groups issued a statement yesterday committing their groups to "the relief of famine in Biafra." They invited the Cambridge community to an organizational meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m. at 2 Divinity Ave.

The supporters of the statement were Ray A. Hammond '70, vice-president of Afro; Rodney L. Petersen '71, president of the Christian Fellowship; Richard F. Green '71, president of Hillel; Barry H. Gordon '70, vice-president of PBH; Charles E. Schumer '71, president of the Young Democrats; and Jonathan B. Ratner '70, chairman of YPSL.

The six organizations will work with the Interfaith Effort, a group of over 200 churches and synagogues in Eastern Massachusetts. The government has supplied Interfaith with there C-97-G cargo plans but more money is needed for supplies and expenses.

Students can aid Biafra in four ways, said the Harvard supporters: by collecting money door-to-door in the suburbs, by addressing envelopes for mail appeals, by organizing church relief efforts in home communities over the vacation, and by conducting drives to increase the relief efforts of the government.

Interfaith also is trying to build political pressure on the government to step up relief work. The local group has already contacted Senator Edward Brooke (R-Mass) and Dr. Henry Kissinger, President Nixon's foreign policy advisor.

The Harvard group's statement explained the reason for their drive: "the initial shock last July of learning that six million persons would die of starvation over the coming year, many of us were troubled by a sense of being able to do nothing to alleviate the situation. So we did nothing.

"In the meantime, a million and a half person died. If we continue to do nothing, five million more persons may die before June. But we do not have to let this happen.

"Though 100 to 150 tons of food arrive in Biafra each day, UNICEF estimates that 2000 tons are needed."

Tonight's meeting will include a one hour documentary film, Children in the Balance, Plight of the Biafrans, followed by a question and answer period with the Interfaith Effort representatives.