Five million in need of relief aid

Over five million people will need relief assistance in Ethiopia this year, a drop on previous years due to an improvement in the humanitarian situation and relatively good harvests. Presenting an agreed strategy for 2002 in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, the government's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), the UN and other partners noted that 557,204 mt of food grain would be required this year to address both acute and chronic needs. Nearly 5.2 million people would require assistance, DPPC Commissioner Simon Mechale said. He warned, however, that problems in areas that were chronically food insecure "can easily switch to acute if not addressed adequately and in a timely manner", the pro-government Walta Information Centre reported. Georgia Shaver, the Ethiopia country representative for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), said two relatively good crop production years had helped reduce the number of people needing assistance by nearly 20 percent, compared to last year. "The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia has improved since the most recent crisis years of 1999 and 2000," she told the launch of the 'Assistance Requirements and Implementation Strategy 2002'. "But five million people, less than 10 percent of a population of more than 60 million, is still an impressive figure of needs that persist in this country," she stressed. "Despite good rains and crops, we still have a common responsibility towards these millions of Ethiopians who find themselves unable to meet their basic daily needs." WFP's spokesman in Ethiopia, Wagdi Othman, told IRIN that according to official figures, 6.2 million people were in need of relief assistance last year, although the figure dropped to 4.6 million in August. Simon Mechale emphasised the need to purchase relief food locally, particularly from areas which traditionally produce a surplus amount. He added that the reduced emergency needs this year would enable all stakeholders to use food resources in effective ways. Shaver said the UN had taken a "conscious and collective decision" to support the DPPC in developing the strategy and "in bringing its partners together under the roof of one document". "As a result there is no UN appeal this year," she said.