U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

ETHIOPIA: Over 8 million in need of food aid

ADDIS ABABA, 26 July (IRIN) - The Ethiopian government has warned that over eight million people are in need of food aid after failed rains in the country.

According to the government's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), a further 3.7 million were in need of assistance, over and above the 5.2 million people it had warned at the beginning of the year would need food aid.

The revised figure was announced by Birhane Gizaw, the DPPC's deputy commissioner, at a press conference held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday. He said more than 2.3 million people began facing food shortages after poor rains during the belg, or short rains, from March to May. Birhane said a further 1.4 million people had been hit by poor rains during the meher, or long rains, due to start in June.

The total population in need of food aid was established following a countrywide survey conducted by the DPPC over the last two weeks.

"The belg rains have been bad in many areas," a DDPC spokesman told IRIN. "They didn't totally fail, but they were poor. We need more help from the international community, because at the time when we first made an appeal we said only 5.2 million needed help. Now it is more."

Afar region, home to around 1.4 million people, is one of the areas hardest hit by a current drought. Assessment teams from international organisations and the UN are conducting surveys to evaluate the scale of the problem there.

But many farmers in areas in the highlands of Ethiopia are also living a hand-to-mouth existence and are in need of help.

The DPPC spokesman added that the commission was planning to distribute 45,000 mt from the food aid reserves - which could only be used in emergencies. The international community would then top up the reserves. Some 6,500 mt had been distributed so far - all in Afar State.

[ENDS]

IRIN-CEA
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
Email: [email protected]

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: [email protected] or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002