Eritrea stops food aid
2005-10-21 21:44
Asmara - Eritrea has halted the distribution of most food aid to its impoverished population in an apparent bid to promote self-reliance among its 3.5 million people, diplomats and aid workers say.
In a move questioned by concerned donors and aid workers, and not denied by the government, Asmara last month stopped as much as 80% of free food handouts around the Horn of Africa nation, they said.
"Eritrea apparently doesn't want any more free distribution of food aid but wants a food-for-work programme," one senior Asmara-based foreign diplomat said.
"Most food aid distribution has been stopped since September," the diplomat said.
Sources with the United Nations, which has said that two-thirds of the Eritrean population will require food assistance this year, confirmed the diplomat's account as did aid workers.
"Since September, only 20% of food aid is being distributed," one aid worker said, adding that such assistance appeared only to be reaching the neediest of Eritreans.
"It is given to the most vulnerable populations like school children, sick people and displaced people," the worker said.
Yemane Gebremeskel, the director of Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki's office, declined to comment directly on the claims but did not dispute them and expressed annoyance that they had been raised.
"Why do they lecture us? It is up to the government to decide how food distribution is carried out."
"There has never been enough food aid in Eritrea and deliveries are always late," Yemane said.
"During the critical months, it is the Eritrean government which purchases food and provides it to the population."
"Do you think we want to be dependent on food aid forever?" he asked.
In recent weeks, Eritrean media, all state-controlled since 2001, have published numerous articles warning of the dangers of dependency on aid and the need for self-reliance.
- SAPA