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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Apr 28 2011 - 08:11:51 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-28/ethiopia-aid-agencies-back-call-for-aid-for-2-million-people-facing-hunger.html
Ethiopia
Aid Agencies Back Call for Aid for 2 Million People Facing Hunger
By William Davison - Apr 28, 2011 6:52 AM ET
A group of aid organizations in Ethiopia backed the government’s request for
$75 million to help feed 2 million people facing hunger in the arid south
and southeast of the country.
The crisis has been caused by a seven-month drought that is likely to
persist until October, the Ethiopia Humanitarian Country Team, or EHCT, said
in an e-mailed statement yesterday in Addis Ababa, the capital. The lack of
rainfall has been caused by La Nina, a weather phenomenon in which the
surface of the Pacific Ocean cools and reduces moisture in the atmosphere.
In addition to the 2 million people in the Somali, Oromia and Southern
regions of Ethiopia, 1 million people in the rest of the Horn of Africa
nation require urgent help, said the EHCT, which includes representatives of
United Nations agencies, international and domestic non-governmental
organizations and donors. The figure for the south and south east will be
updated in early May, it said.
“Additional funds will be needed in the second half of the year,” Kristen
Knutson, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, said in a phone interview from Addis Ababa. “We will have a better
idea of further requirements once they have the results of the assessment.”
About 3 million of Ethiopia’s 80 million people are in need of emergency
food assistance, the government said on April 12. Another 7.8 million people
receive food or cash under an aid program, World Food Programme spokesman
Susannah Nicol said in a phone interview yesterday from Addis Ababa.
The government issued an appeal on April 12 for funds needed in April and
May. Recent rains in the region raised government hopes that the problem may
be easing, said Akloweg Nigatu, information officer at the Agriculture
Ministry’s disaster management agency.
“If there is rain there will be a lot of grazing land,” Akloweg said.
In addition to the drought, farmers have had to contend with high food and
fuel prices exacerbated by a drop in demand for cattle because of political
unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, ECHT said.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via
Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson in Nairobi
at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
*******
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/04/11/355404/ethiopian-army-to-get-bluebird-uavs.html
DATE:11/04/11
SOURCE:Flight International
Ethiopian army to get BlueBird UAVs
By Arie Egozi
Israeli manufacturer BlueBird has won a contract to supply unmanned air
vehicles to the Ethiopian army.
The company declines to reveal details about the order, but sources say it
includes upgraded versions of the
Boomerang<http://www.bluebird-uav.com/Products_Boomerang.html>and
SpyLite <http://www.bluebird-uav.com/Products_SkyLiteB.html> systems, plus
the establishment of local maintenance facilities and technology transfer.
BlueBird claims that its fuel cell-powered Boomerang can provide an
endurance of over 10h while carrying day and night sensor payloads weighing
up to a combined 1.3kg (2.8lb). However, an enhanced version with canards on
its forward fuselage could achieve a flight time of 15h and reach an
altitude of 15,000ft (4,570m), it adds.
The company's smaller SpyLite mini UAV is designed for "over-the-hill"
surveillance applications.
Israeli sources say African nations are becoming big potential customers for
UAVs, due to their need to monitor long borders and to control areas with
natural resources such as oil.
BlueBird's success follows that of fellow Israeli firm Aeronautics Defence
Systems, which recently won a deal to supply Orbiter air vehicles to Uganda.
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