Washington — "In the last couple of years the rainy seasons have failed," says Ethiopian Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos, explaining the drought that continues to batter his nation.
Although the official statistic of 8-million affected may seem to echo the devastating 1984-85 drought and famine, the Ambassador is hopeful that the human devastation of that crisis won't be repeated. "In terms of people dying in thousands, people being displaced out of their houses and villages, people being put into camps," he says, "that hasn't happened yet and I don't think that it will."
One big difference between then and now, Gebre-Christos argues, is that the military regime which ruled Ethiopia for two decades ignored or minimized problems while his government is committed to preventing the starvation and famine that accompanied past droughts. New agencies like the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) have the country better prepared, he says. There is a strategic food reserve and "local people are able to mobilize resources and energy instead of simply folding their hands."
While acknowledging that eight million affected people is a sizable number, Ambassador Gebre-Christos emphasizes that most of Ethiopia's 60 million people remain productive. "We talk about this 'disaster,' but that does not mean the entire population is affected. It means certain regions of the country have not produced food. In other parts of the country farmers have produced food that can be purchased and transported to drought-affected areas."
Lack of a developed infrastructure, however, adds to the problems caused by weather. "If you have a disaster in Florida, you can easily move what you need from other cities." Besides internal transportation bottlenecks caused by lack of resources, the simmering conflict with neighboring Eritrea makes receiving drought aid from outside the country more difficult. Traditionally, landlocked Ethiopia has used Eritrean ports.
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And despite being better prepared, worry about the weather is never far away. The ambassador and others agree that because "Beleg" rains that should have begun four weeks ago have yet to fall, Ethiopia's food situation threatens to worsen. Speaking at a recent Food Security forum of a Social Studies conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, the country's acting minister of agriculture, Dr. Mengistu Huluka, warned that without significant international assistance, "tragedy of immense proportions" is possible.
On March 22, the head of the government's drought commission, Simeon Mechale, said food aid from foreign donors still falls far short of anticipated needs. The United States, Britain, Germany and the UN World Food Program have promised to provide 382,660 metric tons of food. About 800,000 metric tons are needed.
After a four-day visit to Ethiopia as part of a two-week tour of the Horn of Africa, USAID Assistant Administrator for Humanitarian Response, Hugh Parmer, concluded that worsening conditions required immediate assistance from the United States.
On March 23, he announced an airlift of blended foods, therapeutic milk, and high-energy biscuits for the especially hard-hit Southern and Southeastern areas of Ethiopia. "Unless the rest of the international community mobilizes immediately to respond to the U.N. and Ethiopia's requests for help, we are in danger of having a preventable food shortage turn into widespread famine, Parmer warned."
