Argaw Ashine
11 October 2009
Addis Ababa — Ethiopian Prime minister Meles Zenawi has accused food aid agencies of lacking genuine interest to end hunger and poverty in Ethiopia.The country's 6.2 million people are reported to be in need of food aid.
During an extraordinary parliament session over the weekend, Mr Meles told Ethiopian MPs to be wary of food aid agencies with hidden business interests.
Jane Some/IRIN
Ethiopians receive food aid.
He termed the agencies "food aid industry", which benefits from their intermediary role between the hungry people and the donors in rich nations.
Some agencies, charged Mr Meles, were reporting exaggerated numbers of affected people for the sake of their ideological, economic and political interests.
The PM described the aid agencies as "lords of poverty", naming some key players, including food supply firms, retailers, transporters and distributor agencies.
"We have never been given more than 60 per cent of aid we required for the last 18 years of our administration," Mr Meles said.
A week ago, international charity organisation Oxfam and the UN humanitarian office issued an appeal for 6.2 million Ethiopians in need of emergency humanitarian assistance due to severe drought.
"Some 6.2 million Ethiopians hit by two-year recurrent drought are facing starvation and need emergency assistance," Mr Abera Tola, the head of Oxfam America in East Africa, told reporters.
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This is a true statement made by PM Zenawi. For many years Ethiopia has the stigma of a starving nation and it seems to get worse year after year. It’s obvious that the food aid agencies have other motivation aside from feeding the hungry. They all hail from the developed nations with capitalistic agendas and structure- they always need customers to continue to solicit aid from the donors. I should admit that some of these agencies may be providing genuine food aid to Ethiopia and many other poor, staving nations of the world. But the real dilemma is the lack of developmental vision to eradicate starvation on the continent. A large scale agricultural development in Africa, with its naturally fertile land, would stop starvation, at least. Then poverty will be next. Just like many involvements with the west, Africa never really realizes true independence from their firm grip. We're like a "crack addict" who keeps coming back for more. And that's the system they have created for us. To be fair, it will be unwise and childish to utterly blame them for everything. I believe that we're equal participants in our demise. Our leaders have not done much to help us. Yes, there are real forces against such endeavors, but when we all come together we can defeat all forces by God's grace.
Would you rather they just go away and let people starve? Isn't their goal to feed the hungry, as best they can, not to show them the way out of poverty? That's what government is for.
Africa in general, and Ethiopia in particular have a lot of hungry citizens. This is a fact that needs no research. Let's admit our weakness and accept the truth. Yes, Meles Zenawi and most African leaders talk much about their success. Meles is not starving and he doesnot know what the feeling is. It suffices to look at the hungry faces of Ethiopians walking on Addis Ababa roads to justify how much food security is falled in Ethiopia. Let Meles says what he feels.
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