In 1985, musician and activist Bob Geldof organized the legendary Live Aid charity concerts in London and Philadelphia to raise funds in response to the devastating two-year famine in Ethiopia.
However, if the latest predictions and calculations of experts turn out to be correct, today more than ever there is a need for a new initiative like Geldorf’s almost 4 decades ago: according to the UN World Food Program (WFP), 20 million people in Ethiopia urgently need help with their nutrition.
A former SPP chief, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press (AP) that the Horn of Africa country is once again “going to starve.” The assessment is also confirmed by the words of Getachew Reda, president of the interim administration of the besieged Tigray region, who recently warned that more than 90% of the region’s population is at risk of starvation and death. According to Tigray authorities, the scale of the disaster is similar to the 1984-85 disaster that killed thousands.
The government in Addis Ababa initially tried to dismiss these publications as “inaccurate” and accused Reda of “politicizing the crisis”.
From conflict to famine
In 2022, a UN expert panel published a report accusing the Ethiopian government of using “famine as a method of warfare” as well as other human rights violations committed during the Tigray conflict. Amid growing awareness that the government is also to blame for the hunger problem in recent years, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed softened his accusatory tone a bit: he agreed to a joint statement with the United Nations linking the current situation to the conflict in the region , says Letisha Bader from the human rights organization “Human Rights Watch”. After years of bloody clashes, the government has quietly admitted that the people of Tigray and Amhara are now facing a new enemy – hunger.
Between war and drought
According to the latest figures for the last six months, at least 372 people have died of starvation in the restive northern part of Ethiopia. Food shortages have been exacerbated by the war in Tigray and unrest in the neighboring Amhara region. Meanwhile, the worst drought in decades in the Horn of Africa has only worsened the dire situation. This is especially true for Tigray.
“There is no doubt that in northern Ethiopia right now, conflict and drought are inextricably linked. They are contributing to the devastating food insecurity situation there,” says Bader. A constant state of uncertainty – both over political developments and agricultural challenges – meant that only half of Tigray’s agricultural land was used during the main planting season last year, according to UN figures. Only about a third of the crop was usable. There are also reports that in some areas of Tigray the yield was as low as 2 percent.
“None of what we planted was able to produce any kind of harvest. And now there is hunger,” Fitzum Woldegbril from Eastern Tigray told DV. She adds that in the entire year of 2023, rain fell only twice in the area. The 65-year-old woman also says that she no longer knows how she can feed her family: “In the past, when there was a similar problem, a person would go somewhere and beg for something to eat. Now we no longer have the strength for that either,” she adds.
Corruption at a high level
In March 2023, the World Food Program decided to suspend food aid to Tigray following reports of mass theft, particularly of grain. Later in June, the organization expanded the measure and suspended aid to all of Ethiopia in response to ongoing corruption in food donations.
It is still unclear who benefited from the aid thefts. There are suspicions of wrongdoing by government officials, other accusations point towards Ethiopia’s military. Since the discovery of the massive fraud, the World Food Program has taken a number of precautions to prevent future fraud. Only 6 months ago, the organization resumed part of the limited distribution of aid to the country. The US did not renew its program until December.
Only a minority of people in Tigray say food aid reaches them. According to the Tigray Food Cluster, a group of aid agencies, more than 3 million people in the region are in need of aid, but only 14 percent of the region’s distressed population has actually received food.
Author: Certan Sanderson
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2024-02-07 09:49:00
#Terrible #disaster #Ethiopia #heading #starvation
