From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sun Aug 16 2009 - 04:11:19 EDT
TIME Partners with CNN
August 15, 2009
Drought and Famine: Ethiopia's Cycle Continues
By Kassahun Addis / Addis Ababa
As Ethiopia remains caught in a deadly cycle of drought and famine, aid
agencies warn that erratic rainfall and ever-rising food costs are
compounding the problems carried over from last year's drought to leave
6.2 million people in need of food assistance, on top of the 7.5 million
already getting aid from the government.
Close to 14 million Ethiopians - 20% of the country's total population -
now have difficulty finding enough to eat, including, according to
UNICEF, 62,000 children under five in the worst-affected areas who
received treatment for severe acute malnutrition during the first half
of 2009. And that number is set to rise. "There are growing concerns
about the impact of relief food shortfalls on already vulnerable
children," UNICEF said on Aug. 6. "As therapeutic feeding programs reach
more hot-spot districts, the number of severely malnourished children
receiving treatment will increase." The U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) says the problem in the ethnic Somali region,
Ogaden, is complicated even further due to "insurgent activity and
security operations" that are disrupting trade networks and the movement
of people and livestock. (See pictures of Ethiopia's harvest of hunger.)
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1829664,00.html
Reports of rising numbers of nutrition-related deaths and illnesses in
Ethiopia are coming out amid tense times for humanitarian organizations,
who face various obstacles in their attempts to deal with the effects of
the drought. Unlike in previous years, the current crisis is not getting
much play in the media. Part of the reason could be that after last
year's drought put Ethiopia in the headlines, the country's government -
no fan of negative attention - decided this time to take matters of food
relief into its own hands, pushing international NGOs to the sidelines.
"Giving publicity to the issue angered the government so much that this
year they decided to handle most of the activities by themselves, far
away from the spotlight of non-governmental actors," a coordinator of a
European NGO (who requested anonymity) tells TIME. (See pictures on the
front lines of hunger.)
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1814302_1723557,00.html
Earlier this year, Ethiopia's parliament passed a tough new law seeking
to regulate charities and foreign humanitarian groups in the country.
The law, which labels as foreign any local organization that gets more
than 10% of its funding from abroad, restricts charity work on issues
related to gender, ethnicity, children's rights and conflict resolution,
and bars advocacy activities. The government says the law is meant to
ensure that charities focus on development, but many fear it will deter
those working in the field from taking bold actions like advocating for
the hungry.
International aid organizations are also struggling with a shortage of
supplies. So far this year, donors have contributed a total in cash and
kind of almost $176 million, equivalent to 271,000 metric tons of food -
less than 50% of last year's contributions. Many aid workers blame the
financial crisis, but while recession-hit donors are keeping their
wallets closed, the situation in Ethiopia is only getting more urgent.
(Read: "Ethiopia: Pain amid Plenty.")
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1829841,00.html
Ethiopia's rain-fed agriculture is "shockingly vulnerable" to small
variations in the patterns of rainfall, says one Western diplomat, and
the country has no chance to recover from the last drought before the
next one hits. "The impact of last year works through this year," says
Jolanda Hogenkamp, the World Food Program's Deputy Head of Programs in
Ethiopia. "The picture we see now is more or less the same as last year.
Largely the same numbers and same areas." (Read: "Famine: Hunger Stalks
Ethiopia Once Again.")
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966291,00.html
Another top Western diplomat puts it more plainly: "This year's problem
is very serious because last year's was serious." And with aid funding
drying up and the Ethiopian government restricting help from NGOs, next
year can only be more serious still.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1915544,00.html
Children wait at an Outpatient Treatment Center for treatment on June
10, 2008 in Lerra village, southern Ethiopia.
<http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2009/0908/ethiopia_famine_0810.jpg>
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