UN aid agency calls for $460mn to feed Ethiopians

September 22, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for US$460 million to feed 9.6 million hungry people affected by drought and high food prices in Ethiopia through to March next year.

“The Horn of Africa region is facing the worst humanitarian crisis since 1984, and Ethiopia is caught in the middle,” said WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran. “We know what needs to be done – we just need the funds to go out and do our job, protecting the hungry.”

Around a quarter of those in need – some 2 million people – live in the arid Somali Region of Ethiopia where it has not rained for three years. Pastoralist communities in the region have already lost half of their cattle herds. People are skipping meals and parents are pulling children out of school so that they can help to beg in towns or scour the countryside for food.

“Millions of people are in extreme distress and urgently need food and nutrition,” said Sheeran.

Last week, The USAID said it would provide Ethiopia with additional $60 million in food assistance to the Ethiopian people through the WFP

USAID assistant administrator for democracy, conflict and humanitarian issues Michael Hess and Humanitarian Assistance visited Ethiopia last week. He said that there enough aid workers and means to avoid a famine like what had happened 17 years ago and it would not happen this year.

“The conditions are worse than they were 17 years ago, when we did have a famine in Somalia, but there are a lot more people working in the area, there’s a lot better communications, so I was heartened to hear, because I was concerned about famine, that we might reach it in Somalia, but our partners say it will probably not happen this year, given these conditions,” he said.

(ST)