US Warns on Horn of
Africa Drought
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States is pledging 650,000 metric tons of food aid to the
Horn of Africa, where about 15 million people are threatened by crop failures resulting
from prolonged drought, officials said Tuesday.
According to official estimates, about 8.1 million people could be affected in
Ethiopia, 2.7 million in Kenya, 2.4 million in Sudan, 1.2 million in Somalia,
730,000 in Uganda and 545,000 in Eritrea.
``Unreliable rainfall over the past few years has led to complete crop failure in these
countries, and many of their animals, especially their cattle, have died,'' said Brady
Anderson, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
He told reporters the U.S. commitment of 650,000 tons is about half the 1.3 million
tons sought from donor countries by the World Food Program, a United Nations agency. No
other countries have pledged help as yet.
Anderson said he is optimistic that loss of life can be minimized, given past successes
in overcoming the effects of severe drought, including one in Mozambique in 1993.
``Famine was avoided then, and I know it can be know,'' Anderson said. Much of the food
will consist of wheat and wheat flour.
Anderson said AID was well aware that a dangerous situation was developing in the
region as a result of a system that monitors rainfall, climate and soil conditions.
Hugh Parmer, assistant administrator for the bureau of humanitarian response, said the
famine could be comparable to the one that occurred in 1984-85 in Ethiopia, where 7.5
million people were imperiled and about 800,000 starved. Three successive harvests in the
region have been damaged severely by the current drought.
Parmer said he was going to visit, starting this weekend, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti
and possibly parts of Somalia to assess the
situation and examine the food distribution situation.
Parmer acknowledged a border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea complicates food
distribution in those countries.