DATE=5/11/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / DROUGHT
NUMBER=5-46294
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=ADDIS ABABA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: More than 16-million people in the Horn of
Africa are facing hunger because of drought -- most of
them in Ethiopia. V-O-A East Africa Correspondent
Scott Stearns in Addis Ababa reports relief officials
now believe they have enough food on the way to avoid
a major humanitarian disaster.
TEXT: International attention to the hunger situation
in Ethiopia has drawn contributions from more than 16
nations including Canada, Australia, Japan, and much
of the European Union. Those donations have met more
than 90 percent of the nearly 800-thousand tons of
food required.
Much of that attention has been generated by news
reports from the worst-hit areas near the Somali
border and by a visit last month by United Nations
special envoy Catherine Bertini.
The U-N World Food Program's director for Ethiopia,
Judith Lewis, says so much food, so quickly, has been
a welcome surprise for relief officials who were
preparing for the worst.
/// LEWIS ACT ONE ///
To see that kind of movement that quickly from
international governments is remarkable. Because
usually it takes a long time for a contribution to be
pledged and then certainly resourced and then
confirmed, and then certainly for the food to get into
the country. So from that perspective, I think we
have had a marvelous outpouring. To me what is says
is that people understand the constraints here in
Ethiopia. They saw the crisis in Somali region. They
responded.
/// END ACT ///
The United States is the biggest contributor to the
Ethiopian aid effort, so far donating more than 63-
million dollars worth of food.
U-S Ambassador Tibor Nagy (nah-zh) says while it is
raining now, it is too soon to declare the drought
over. He says the international community needs to
stay focused on hunger in the Horn of Africa until
harvest figures show they region can feed itself.
/// NAGY ACT ///
What is happening with the weather this year doesn't
fit into one of the ready modules on weather systems.
It is really strange. So who knows what is going to
happen to the major rains, and for me that is a real
cautionary note. The good news is that the world
really is paying attention. The whole world is
focused on this problem right now. So the resources I
think will be made available, but to say that we have
turned the corner, I think it is premature to say
that.
/// END ACT ///
Although enough food now appears to be on the way, the
number of those at risk is still growing as more
livestock die and more people face hunger.
The director for the U-S Agency for International
Development in Ethiopia, Doug Sheldon, says initial
estimates of eight-million people at risk in the
country also showed another two-million more on "the
edge." Many of them are now in need of food.
/// SHELDON ACT ///
That is a factor of the chronic food insecurity.
There are a large number of people that are right on
the edge of emergency status, and it doesn't take much
to push them in that direction. For many of the
chronically poor, the nearness to an emergency status
is very close. This is one of the reasons why people
slip so easily into an emergency circumstance. Their
reserves and capacity, their ability to cope are very
much reduced.
/// END ACT ///
This food emergency may be under control, but relief
officials are increasingly concerned about breaking a
seemingly endless cycle of drought which as recently
as the mid-1980's killed more than one-million people.
Even if next month's rains come as hoped, Judith Lewis
of the U-N World Food Program says it is now clear
this relief effort will have to carry into next year.
/// LEWIS ACT TWO ///
A number of these interventions we know will have to
take us into 2001 -- especially on the food side. You
can't draw a line at the end of the calendar year
because people are still hungry in January. So we
have to work out and see how we will approach that.
/// END ACT ///
It is not just Ethiopia. People in Somalia and
Eritrea, and Djibouti, and northern Kenya also are
facing hunger because of the drought. Aid agencies
say they will launch a regional appeal within the next
month to make up the food shortfall throughout the
Horn of Africa. (Signed)
NEB/SKS/JWH
11-May-2000 07:44 AM EDT (11-May-2000 1144 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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