The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr Meles Zenawi, warned yesterday that some eight million people in his drought-stricken country were threatened by famine. He appealed to the West to send aid before it was too late.
"Some eight million Ethiopians face the risk of starvation, and some areas there have been reports of deaths." Mr Zenawi was speaking a day after the UN issued a warning that the Horn of Africa countries would be affected by a big famine if the drought continued.
Ethiopia is the worst-hit of the seven east African countries where the third drought-induced crop failure in three years has left 12.4 million people in need of food relief.
The UN's World Food Programme plans to distribute 371,050 tonnes of food this year to 6.1 million people in the region at a cost of $205 million.
Mr Zenawi urged Western countries to quickly extend aid to Ethiopia if they wanted to save lives and avoid a repeat of the terrible famines which ravaged the country in 1984-85 and left around 800,000 people dead.
In Rome, the head of the World Food Programme warned yesterday that more than 12 million people faced starvation in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa this summer. Ms Catherine Bertini, who is executive director of the UN's agency fighting global hunger, said international aid was needed urgently.
Ms Bertini said a prolonged drought compounded by conflicts had strangled food supplies, and she was concerned that rains might not arrive in time to save the summer harvest. "The hunger crisis is already upon us," she said. "But what we want to prevent is starvation, and we want to prevent famine. If we have a strong concerted effort led by the UN, we will be able to help people avoid malnutrition and starvation."
Ms Bertini estimated that the Horn of Africa might need up to one million metric tons of relief food assistance this year.
She said Ethiopia was the country with most people in need, but Eritrea, Somalia and Kenya were all at risk, and there were drought-like conditions in some parts of Uganda and Tanzania.
Ms Bertini said she was disappointed with the response by the international community to a UN inter-agency appeal for Ethiopia for $190 million for the year 2000. The US has promised about half that amount, but no other countries have confirmed pledges, which are voluntary.
Ms Bertini said the aim of her mission to the Horn of Africa was to plan the delivery of food aid to the hungry, a task complicated by the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Last month Mr Hugh Parmer, a senior official with the US Agency for International Development, visited the Horn of Africa and warned that tens of thousands could die unless the international community responded swiftly with food aid.