Bloomberg
By Ryan Flinn
July 24, 2008
An estimated 4.6 million people in Ethiopia need emergency aid, almost double the amount who needed help at the start of the year, according to a statement by Oxfam, the U.K.-based aid agency. In Somalia, 2.6 million people require emergency assistance, a figure that may rise to 3.5 million, or half the population, by year-end, the group said.
``This is a catastrophe in the making,'' said Rob McNeil, a spokesman for Oxfam, in the statement. ``We have time to act before it becomes a reality.''
McNeil, who visited Somali and Afar regions of Ethiopia, said people in one village were pounding animal food pellets into porridge to feed their families, while some roads ``were littered with dead livestock,'' because of a lack of pasture and water.
Oxfam joins aid organizations including Doctors Without Borders and the United Nations that have issued warnings about the worsening situation in East Africa this year.
Aid agencies trying to alleviate the problem are facing a $211 million shortfall and may be forced to cut food rations for hungry families, the UN's humanitarian agency said this week. The U.S. Agency for International Development pledged to provide $112 million in assistance two days ago, in addition to the $400 million the U.S. government has already given this year.
Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders, based in Geneva, said on June 26 that Somalia is facing a humanitarian ``catastrophe'' as an escalating conflict restricts aid agencies' efforts to provide food and medical supplies.
Somalia has been riddled with violence since the government ejected Islamic fighters from southern and central areas in January 2007. The UN estimates 1 million Somalis are displaced within the country as people flee fighting between the Islamists and government forces, which are supported by Ethiopian soldiers.
East Africa is heavily dependent on food imports, though the cost of food has risen by 500 percent in some regions, according to Oxfam.
``We need to act to save lives in the short term, but without investment in the long term as well, scenes of destitution will continue to haunt our shared conscience,'' Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive, said in the statement.