From: Solomon Bisrat (solomonbis@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Aug 17 2009 - 00:45:13 EDT
Dear dehai,
I can't help but wander when this theater of drought and famine in Ethiopia is going to end. Of course it will not end as there are so many strong stakeholders in the game. First and foremost are the various agencies who get employed to manage this game of finding hungry bellies that will eagerly accept the overstock grains with all their forecasters, photographers with various missions, broadcasters, researchers, shipping agencies, etc... Next comes the government who must immediately say yes to the offer and, in return get some cash which can be set aside somewhere, get favorable views from the aid giving agencies and the governments they represent. Of course the government must not look into the possibilities of going around the non-existent drought issue and helping the people feed themselves from the fertile soil and sufficient rainfall which can only be dreamed of in countries like Eritrea. Last but not least the various educated Ethiopians who
work with the agencies, who know very well that their work is to the detriment of the affected Ethiopian people may be because they care more about their fat monthly salaries than that of the hungry mouths they are supposed to help.
Ethiopia enjoys enough rainfall to trap sufficient water and store it to be used at any time. The Nile river runs through the northern half of the country all year round. Omo and other rivers run through the southern half at least during the rainy season. Lakes like Tana with immense potential and other smaller ones cover a good area of the country's surface. The country also gets so much help, may be top in the list of recipients from the US, UN and other governments and organizations in Africa that could give the government the
required potential to introduce modern farming methods eliminate local hunger and be a source of food for neighboring nations. But its leaders chose to shame Ethiopia and cry "Drought" every year for 30 years. The country has become the most renowned beggar on our globe.
Of course I don't blame the Ethiopian government for this problem. I remember one interview (in 1997?) with the prime minister when he said "we will receive any assistance even if it is only 15% (the other 85% being spent as overhead cost) that comes to our hand because we did not work for it." Exactly. For them it is free because they get debt relief at the end but they never care of the global picture their country will be place in--wet land, fertile soil, hungry people. The main blame, though, rests on the international aid agencies who accuse countries that insist on self-reliance as non co-operative and blame them for lack of food which they imposed due to non acceptance of their plan on making the populace aid dependent.
Because of such encouragement countries with fertile land, Ethiopia in the fore front, are giving away their land to rich Arab nations in return for good cash--again serving the pockets of important personnel in the government. Aid agencies have no comment on this! But, thanks God, some people are talking about this issue now. It seems they are realizing that the aid being given to poor nations is disabling the recipients farming means--making them aid dependent and crippled--a claim Eritrea has been highlighting for more than a decade. Will these people be heard? Will a real effort to eliminate hunger be attempted? Or would the aid agencies rather hush up these voices and continue with their effort of creating hunger among plenty?
S. Bisrat