Humanitarian situation worsening, UN says

A UN report released on Monday warned that the humanitarian situation in Eritrea was deteriorating, mainly due to recurrent drought and the protracted stalemate in the peace process with Ethiopia. Drought has caused "failed harvests, loss of livestock and food insecurity throughout all parts of the country - both rural and urban," according to the report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Rains have failed for the fifth consecutive year, said the report, and recent surveys showed that pastures in Eritrea’s three most fertile regions - Anseba, Gash Barka, and Debub - were at their driest since 1998. Experts were quoted as saying that coping mechanisms were being worn down by the continued drought, and that the closure of Eritrea’s borders with Ethiopia and Sudan had hindered the search for better farmland. Research in the report revealed that in four out of six administrative regions (zobas), acute malnutrition affected up to 15 percent of children under five. Moreover, between 30 percent and 60 percent of women suffered from malnourishment. The rate of malnutrition in adult females was said to have increased as a result of household food insecurity - not because of lack of water and sanitation, or disease, as is often the case. OCHA has forecast that two-thirds of the 3.6 million population will need food aid in 2005. "The stalemate in the peace process has continued to constrain the full realisation of demobilisation activities, and has continued to impact the country’s capacity to fully engage in recovery activities," the report said. An estimated 300,000 Eritreans were serving in the armed forces or doing national service, and some 40 percent of households were headed by women. Demobilisation has been delayed while tensions with Ethiopia remain. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war between 1998 and 2000, and relations between them have barely improved since. The two armies continue to face each other across a 25 km-wide demilitarised zone, patrolled by some 3,300 UN peacekeepers. Observers believe a reignition of the border war is possible. The Eritrean army has helped with crop harvesting and threshing, but shortages of labour elsewhere have created high wages for agricultural work, so some critical field operations have been neglected. Eritrea’s most fertile agricultural land is within the demilitarised temporary security zone, and landmines still impede the normal movement of more than 655,000 people, according to the report. In the UN Human Development Index, Eritrea is ranked 156 out of 177 countries, with an average of US $130 per capita annual income. The IMF expects economic growth for 2005 to be 0.7 percent, while UN estimates for 2001 to 2005 put demographic growth at 2.6 percent.