Posted on 10-10-2002

Drought + War = Famine

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, October 8, 2002 (ENS) - On the western shore of the
Red Sea, three drought stricken countries are locked in a food emergency
that is threatening the lives of millions of people. Ethiopia, Eritrea, and
Sudan have all been engaged in complex military conflicts that, together
with the failure of the region's crops, have placed residents and refugees
alike at risk of starvation.

Already under pressure due to the famine affecting 14 million people in
Southern Africa, the relief agencies are bringing what resources they can
muster to avert the famine in the Horn of Africa. "The early warning signs
of a large scale humanitarian crisis are already visible. It is obvious to
anyone that there has been a massive crop failure," Kenzo Oshima said
Monday. The United Nations Under Secretary General and Emergency Relief
Coordinator is in Addis Ababa during his two week tour of Africa.
Accompanying Oshima on this leg of the mission are senior officials from
the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the European Commission and the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID).

A recent multi-agency assessment in Ethiopia estimated that the number of
people requiring immediate food assistance would reach 6.3 million by the
end of the year. Just to the north, one million people in Eritrea, with
whom Ethiopia fought a border war from 1998 until June 2000, are hungry
too. The border lands are littered with hundreds of thousands of landmines,
making agriculture extremely hazardous even when rains arrive. Rainfall has
been poor since October 2001 in Eritrea with almost total failure of the
March-June rains and the late onset of June-September rains, threatening
the food security situation of thousands of farmers and pastoralists who
make up most of Eritrea's working population.

Oshima, speaking in Addis Ababa at the launch of a joint UN-Government
appeal for 2003, said the best available assessments suggest that more than
10 million people will need relief help next year. "These are indeed
dreadful prospects, provoking memories of the terrible visions that were
broadcast to the world from the Horn of Africa in the early 1980s," he
said. "Two years ago, Oshima said, famine was averted in the Horn of Africa
thanks to fast and early action, effective response and good coordination.
Nevertheless, overall success was muted by unfortunate suffering and death.
We must learn from such past experiences and strive to do better." Oshima
concluded his mission to Ethiopia today and flew to Asmara, Eritrea, to get
a first hand look at the effects of drought in that country.

The current poor agricultural season could not have come at a worse time
for Eritrea, just recovering from a devastating border war with neighboring
Ethiopia, according to the UN agencies. A large number of people, including
farmers, are still displaced and thousands of soldiers are yet to be
demobilized. The continuing resettlement of Eritrean refugees returning
from Sudan is an extra strain on the country's resources. Meanwhile, over
the weekend in Sudan, the government lifted a flight ban over the southern
part of the country, enabling the resumption of aid activities on the
ground in those areas. Last week during his trip to Khartoum, Oshima held
talks with Sudanese authorities in an effort to get them to lift the flight
restrictions.

Still, the UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan noted the continued use of other
restrictions, and called for all parties to recognize the principle of
unhindered access to those in need. The lack of prior notice of the ban has
resulted in hundreds of international staff being stranded in southern
Sudan. On Thursday, USAID Administrator and Special Humanitarian
Coordinator for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, said, "This denial of access
continues the government of Sudan's pattern of using humanitarian
assistance as a weapon of war."

For the past 18 years, Sudan has been embroiled in a complicated civil war,
but this was the most restrictive flight ban in years. It denied access to
63 specific locations in opposition controlled areas, shut down all
humanitarian operations, forced the evacuation of humanitarian staff and
placed vulnerable civilians even more at risk. The International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is undertaking a first, targeted
response to the worsening food crisis in Ethiopia with a preliminary appeal
for 821,000 Swiss francs (US$548,000) to help almost 35,000 farmers and
their dependents in Ethiopia's drought stricken northern highlands. The
Ethiopian Red Cross Society will target the households of 34,920 farmers in
Ambassel, in South Wollo, who are in need of emergency assistance following
the failure of the mid-season harvest earlier this year. The Red Cross
operation aims first, to provide cash or food to the equivalent of 15
kilograms (33 pounds) of grain per person per month between October and
December 2002.

The second goal is to implement employment generation plans that will
provide work for the representatives of 10,000 households, who would be
paid cash for their efforts. This work will include terracing, road
maintenance, water resource development and environmental sanitation. The
provision of employment opportunities is especially important, says a joint
report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food
Programme, to prevent aid recipients from becoming too dependent on relief.
The report says that while emergency food aid needs in Eritrea during 2003
will be extensive, in many areas, "there is a risk of people developing an
over-reliance on food aid with the expectation that this assistance will be
provided on a regular basis."

The agencies say, "This is proving destructive to some traditional coping
strategies, and creating a vicious cycle that can lead to dependency.
Therefore, it is critical that emergency food aid be provided only to those
who cannot survive or will become destitute without it."