Ethiopia faces food shortages

2005-02-23 09:11

United Nations - Ethiopia faces a critical food shortage and grain stockpiles are expected to run out by March, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 2.4 million Ethiopians need food aid this month and that figure will rise to 2.9 million in March.

The agency said only a quarter of scheduled emergency food aid for January had been distributed. The World Food Programme has recently said it hasn't been getting enough contributions and has had to focus on only the most desperate areas.

Quoting the World Food Programme, the humanitarian affairs office said donor nations had provided just 11% of the emergency food required in March. That has led to a shortfall of 39 000 metric tons of grain.

Ethiopia, with 67 million people, is one of the world's poorest countries, with a life expectancy of 43.9 years. Just over 75% of the population lacks access to safe drinking water and just 15% use adequate sanitation facilities.

Ethiopia has been crippled by a bloody two-and-a-half year border war with Eritrea that ended in December 2000. The dispute over the 1 000km border has never been settled, and 3 800 United Nations peacekeepers currently patrol a 25km security zone.

- AP