From: Yemane Natnael (yemane_natnael@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Sep 22 2008 - 12:11:28 EDT
World Food Programme warns of worst Ethiopia crisis since 1984
Mon, 22 Sep 2008
Addis Ababa - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday
appealed for 460 million dollars as a food crisis in Ethiopia and the
wider Horn of Africa continued to grow.
"The Horn of Africa region is
facing the worst humanitarian crisis since 1984, and Ethiopia is caught
in the middle," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a
statement.
"We know what needs to be done - we just need the funds to go out and do our job, protecting the hungry," she added.
The WFP said that it needed to funds to feed 9.6 million people hit by drought and rising food prices in Ethiopia alone. Pastoralist
communities have lost half of their cattle, people are skipping meals
and children are being pulled from school to beg for food, the WFP
said.
A similar crisis is unfolding in Somalia, where it is
being exacerbated by a bloody insurgency. The WFP says that 3.25
million Somalis - almost half the population - people are in dire need
of assistance.
However, food deliveries to Somalia are
complicated by the fact that they must be brought in by a sea teaming
with pirates. Pirates are currently demanding ransom for a dozen ships
seized off the Somali coast.
A Canadian ship has been escorting
humanitarian aid, but it will end its mission on September 27 with no
replacement lined up, the WFP said. Parts of Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda are also facing a food crisis.
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