DEVELOPMENT-ETHIOPIA: Millions In Need Of Emergency Food

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, Jun 25 1998 (IPS) - As the Ethiopian government called upon its nationals to prepare for war against Eritrea, the World Food Programme (WFP) revealed that some 4.3 million people in the country are in need of emergency food aid.

The WFP said this week that it had decided to establish and expand alternate transport and logistics arrangements to ensure the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian food aid to the vulnerable people in Ethiopia.

On behalf of other partner UN agencies, WFP has negotiated with Ethiopian officials, Djibouti seaport representatives, and transport companies to ensure that in the coming months, 240,000 metric tonnes of much-needed food will be regularly processed through the port and safety delivered by rail and truck.

Ethiopia’s access to the Red Sea ports of Massawa and Assab has been disrupted by the border dispute with Eritrea. Massawa and Assab were Ethiopia’s main foreign trade routes before Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia and established an independent state in 1991, following a 30-year bush war.

The country’s passage to the ports was formally severed on May 23, nine days after the Ethiopian government publicly announced the “invasion and occupation” by Eritrea of Yigra Triangle, a rocky territory covering 400 square kilometres, which lies along Ethiopia-Eritrea border. The crisis has forced Ethiopia to re- route its goods through neighbouring Djibouti, a former French colony situated along the Red Sea.

WFP said the food had been committed to vulnerable populations in Ethiopia prior to the outbreak of hostilities, but added that shipments of food may be slowed down since Djibouti’s port is expected to become increasingly congested.

A WFP assessment mission also recently concluded that if Djibouti becomes the main point of entry for shipping to Ethiopia, then the local port infrastructure may need to be upgraded. This in turn will require international financial support.

WFP said it is also in the process of hiring some 200 commercial trucks to ensure that once food aid is released from the port, it can be quickly delivered to the needy. Since hostilities began last month, there has been a general scarcity of vehicles.

“When it became evident that the conflict between the two countries was not going to be resolved any time soon and that people could go without food, we quickly dispatched a WFP logistics mission to find a solution,” said Ramiro Lopes Da Silva, WFP’s Director of Transport and Logistics and Head of the Mission.

“By expanding our operations with a dedicated trucking fleet, we’ll create a new lifeline for millions of Ethiopians and refugees in that country who depend on food aid to help them and their families make it through to the next harvest,” he said.

Through the combination of more expedient port clearances and the increase in rail and trucking capacity, WFP said it is confident it will be able to move a minimum of 30,000 tonnes of food aid from the port each month.

The agency said it also has additional storage space outside the Djibouti port to hold 24,000 tonnes of food aid. The additional space, which now brings WFP’s total storage capacity in the port area to 34,000 tonnes, will give the agency a buffer in case of unforeseen transport problems in the months ahead.

“Even in this current conflict, I’m glad to be able to say that vulnerable people will continue receiving food aid,” said Da Silva. “We all know the potential disaster Ethiopia would face if this food aid didn’t make it on time to those who need it.”

The 240,000 tonnes of food were contributed to Ethiopia by WFP, the European Union (EU), the United States and Canada. A small portion of the aid will go to ngos working in Ethiopia.

Meanwhile, the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea shows no signs of ending. The dispute surfaced on May 13 when the Ethiopian Council of Ministers accused Eritrean forces of occupying part of the northwest of the country on May 12. Eritrea promptly denied the accusation, saying its forces merely retaliated after Ethiopian militia violated its borders on May 6.

Ethiopia’s government spokesperson, Selome Taddesse, said on Wednesday that Eritreans fired on an Ethiopian position Wednesday morning near the town of Zalambessa on the Ethiopian-Eritrean border. She said Ethiopian troops returned the fire and the artillery exchange was brief.

The two countries’ history is closely intertwined. Sections of what is now Eritrea were part of the Ethiopian and Ottoman empires, and even of the Sudanese and Egyptian fiefdoms until 1889, when Italy occupied the area.

Italian occupation was followed in 1941-1952 by British military administration, and later by a federation between Eritrea and Ethiopia. However, then Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie gradually reduced Eritrea’s autonomy, sparking a guerrilla war that began in 1961, one year before he reduced Eritrea to an Ethiopian province.