Gov't appeals for help for Afar

The Ethiopian government has appealed for more help for tens of thousands of pastoralists in drought-stricken Afar region – scene of widespread devastation after failed rains last year. According to the government's emergency arm, the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), some 740,00 people need support. Afar – on the northeast fringes of Ethiopia, bordering both Eritrea and Djibouti – was one of the first areas of the country to be hit by the current famine. The government now estimates that the region lost more than half of its cattle in the drought. “Years of recurrent drought have hit hard people’s main source of survival and caused massive deaths of livestock in 2002,” the DPPC said. It said that pasture in the region was at critical levels in most areas and water resources had “considerably reduced”. This had prompted unusually early migration. Officials also stated that the region lacked medicines and health services to cope with any serious outbreaks of disease. The warnings came in the government’s Special Early Warning System report, which was released to journalists on Thursday. In it, the government stated that food aid and emergency support to the country should be extended to an additional 2.4 million people because of poor rains earlier in the year. Some 600,000 people – on top of the 12.6 million hit by the famine – will need food aid, the report concluded. The report is an assessment of the food needs of the country up until December 2003 following the short (belg) rains (March-May). The rains are crucial, according to the DPPC, for maize and sorghum – staple foods in Ethiopia – as well as coffee production which is the country’s biggest export earner. But humanitarian organisations are starting to report that the country is now receiving good rains which fall during June and September across the country. The US government's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) said “good rainfall distribution since the beginning of June has made this year better than last year”.