Ethiopia donor response 'slow'

2006-04-11 11:09

Addis Ababa - The Ethiopian government and aid groups on Monday lamented slow donor response to the Horn of Africa nation, where an acute drought had affected at least 1.7 million people, said officials.

Wodayehu Belew, an official with the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency, said there was a huge shortfall on non-food items although an appeal was made four months ago.

Belew said: "On the non-food items, about 82% was still missing. This is worrying, even more so considering we are now in April, four months since we made our appeal to the donors."

According to the government and the United Nations, So far, only $19m of the $111m needed for water and food distribution had been received.

Critical malnutrition rates identified

Paul Hebert, head of the UN humanitarian affairs in Ethiopia, said: "If resources are not made available quickly, we will be unable to feed the malnourished children, and we fear they might start to die.

"We have already identified critical malnutrition rates in the Somali region, with 20% of malnourished children. This was more than the 10% considered as serious malnutrition problems."

Herbert said the food available would only last until the end of next month if donors didn't contribute for new stocks.

The UN children's agency had warned that the current famine ravaging the Horn of Africa nation risked claiming as many lives as in 2002, after some 100 000 succumbed to famine, if donors failed to respond quickly to the situation.

- AFP