| Simon Roughneen, 27th April 2006
One the verge of famine and in political crisis, international
organisations are mobilising once again to meet Ethiopia's humanitarian
needs. Simon Roughneen reports from Ethiopia.
At least five million people are chronically food-dependent in
Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation. In the Somali and
Oromo regions, failed rains mean failed water sources for animals
and for people. Failed rains mean no pasture or foliage for the
cattle, camels, donkeys and goats that people depend on for food
and livelihoods.
Prices for animals plummet, meaning that sale prices cannot do
much to help people purchase food and other essential items. As
animals die, people are left vulnerable. Mohamed Yusuf, a herder
moving his animals on the Moyale-Yabelo road in southern Ethiopia
said;
"This is dangerous for us. No water, no rain. We can't feed
the animals. 21 of my cattle have died. I have no other source of
income. And now I can't sell any animals. The price is one-fifth
of the real value before the drought".
And although a little rain has fallen on the parched land, it
is just that: a little. And the rains due for the next two months
will likely be insufficient in any case.
But he rain brings its own problems. A poisoned chalice poured
from the sky, with animals and people weakened from malnutrition,
rain makes both prone to diseases such as measles. And when rivers
and lakes are watered again, malaria becomes a serious threat, and
what is left of northern Kenya's infrastructure has been threatened
by flash floods.
In Somalia a non-existent state is prey to warlords and gangsters,
making delivery of aid difficult at best and downright dangerous
at worst. And recent weeks has seen dozens killed in cattle-raiding
in northern Kenya, as resources are depleted and the stakes are
raised for men with guns.
And with pre-famine conditions rife in the drought-affected region,
there is not much time left if another full-scale famine hits Ethiopia,
and across the horn of Africa. The UN has launched a half-billon
dollar appeal to deal with this crisis. The new Central Emergency
Response Fund (CERF), a rapid response emergency finance mechanism
designed meet humanitarian needs quickly, has been mobilised.
Ethiopia is isolated from the rest of Africa for much of its history.
It is one two African states (the other being the US-backed freed
slave protectorate of Liberia) that escaped colonisation. It has
retained a distinctive identity through out history, with its' own
eastern Christian church, and a former royal dynasty that traces
its lineage to the Biblical King Solomon. The last emperor, Haile
Selaisse, is worshipped by Rastafarians the world over as the leader
to those of the Rastafari faith, he was seen as a living manifestation
of Jah, all-seeing and all-knowing God. His base of Ethiopia is
classed as Zion or Heaven on Earth to those of the Rastafarians.
In 1896, at the Battle of Adwa, a 100,000 strong Ethiopian army
inflicted the first defeat in modern history by an African nation
against a European coloniser, when the invading Italians were sent
packing, to lick their wounds until Mussolini defied the world in
1935.
Ethiopia is going through a political crisis. Disputed election
results from 2005 leading to street protests, followed by a coercive
military response, with civilians and opposition activists shot
in a number of incidents last year. Ethiopia is the home of coffee
- with its' eastern district of Kafe reputedly the source of the
name for western society's favourite morning kickstart. Coffee plantations
dominate the lush and temperate highlands in the west and centre
of the country.
But this is contrasted by the arid, remote, dusty and baking-hot
southern regions. As you drive towards the Kenyan border. Coffee
plantations give way to some rugged pasture, and soon after, semi-desert
bushland where crops cannot grow. The same applies as one moves
north and east from the highlands - toward Somalia, and into the
Tigray area bordering Eritrea, from where many of the ruling élites
in Ethiopia hail.
GOAL has launched an Africa drought appeal and is working in northern
Kenya and southeastern Ethiopia to bring food to vulnerable people
in advance of the next harvest season. GOAL is also working against
chronic food shortages and malnutrition in Malawi, Niger, Zimbabwe,
in refugee and displaced-person camps in Sudan and Uganda.
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