Addis Ababa (dpa) - Germany is to
provide funds for the local purchase of 1,400 metric tons of food, 100
metric tons of edible oil and 50 metric tons of seed grain for drought
victims in Borena, south-eastern Ethiopia, the German embassy in Addis
Ababa announced Wedsnesday.
German Ambassador Herbert Honsowitz had visited the area near the border
with Kenya last week and seen the extent of the seriousness of the situation,
an embassy press statement said.
Honsowitz toured the Borena area of the Oromiya regional state, which received
litte or no rain over the last two and a half years, in response to an
appeal earlier this year by the Ethiopian authorities for over 7.5 million
people in need of food aid this year on account of the drought in parts
of the country.
The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), which runs the Borena
lowland pastoral development programme, is to handle the organisation of
the local purchasing of the assistance for the needy in the area.
The German ambassador said after visiting Borena that the area was "in
dire need of assistance to surmount the problems of the people," according
to the embassy press release.
Close to eight million people are in need of food aid in Ethiopia this
year, of whom some 350,000 are internally displaced persons on the account
of the ongoing border war with neighbouring Eritrea.
With the delay of food aid promised by donors late last year and again
early this year, the Ethiopian government earlier this month allocated
funds for the purchase and distribution of 100,000 metric tons of food
grain to be purchased locally in parts of the country where there was surplus
production during the 1998-99 harvest season. dpa gh ct wo
Deutche Presse-Agentur; 23 February
2000; 04:33EST (09:33GMT)
Disclaimer
- Deutsche Presse Agentur
- Copyright (c) dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH