- Title: ETHIOPIA: 12 MILLION PEOPLE IN ETHIOPIA FACING SEVERE FAMINE
- Date: 26th May 2003
- Summary: WESTERN HARAGHE REGION ETHIOPIA (RECENT)(REUTERS ACCESS-ALL) 1. SMV WOMEN SORTING GRAINS INTO MORTAR 0.08 2. VARIOUS OF THE WOMEN POUNDING GRAIN (4 SHOTS) 0.28 3. VARIOUS, MOHAMMED LIFTING BABY AND ACCOMPANYING OTHER PEOPLE LEAVING AREA 0.38 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Amharic) AREA RESIDENT, FATUMA AIME SAYING: "We're going to Badesa, there's no food or water here." 0.43 5. SLV PEOPLE WALKING AWAY 0.44 6. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Amharic) AID WORKER, WOINSHET ABEBE SAYING: "If it goes on like this, people will start dying, because they have not harvested anything at all. The cattle have already died. If it continues, the people here will start fleeing this place, to save their lives." CUTAWAY OF BONES OF CATTLE (3 SHOTS) 0.59 7. WIDE OF CROWD OF PEOPLE SEATED UNDER ACCACIA TREE 1.02 8. SMV ELDERLY FEMALE AND CHILD LOOKING ON 1.05 9. WIDE OF CROWD 1.07 10. SMV ETHIOPIAN WOMEN WITH THEIR CHILDREN LISTENING TO JAMES MORRIS, HEAD OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME 1.10 11. WIDE OF CROWD OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN 1.13 12. WIDE OF WFP OFFICIALS TALKING TO DROUGHT VICTIMS 1.17 13. FAMILIES GATHERED TOGETHER AT MEETING 1.21 14. SMV WOMAN HOLDING CHILD 1.26 15. VARIOUS, (SOUNDBITE)(English) WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME, JAMES MORRIS SAYING: "We admire your courage and please know that you are not here alone, the rest of the world loves you and cares for you and will do its very best to provide food, to be helpful." 1.37 16. VARIOUS OF FOOD CONVOY MAKING WAY THROUGH ARID DESERT ROAD (2 SHOTS) 1.44 17. SCU TRUCK DRIVER IN RADIO COMMUNICATION 1.46 18. WIDE OF FOOD CONVOY DRIVING THROUGH DIRT ROAD 1.50 19. CLOSE OF RELIEF FOOD IN INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS CONTAINERS 1.52 20. WIDE OF QUEUES OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR FOOD RATIONS 1.57 21. VARIOUS, ETHIOPIAN VILLAGERS CARRYING AWAY SACKS OF FOOD 2.03 22. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) RED CROSS DELEGATE, STEPHEN WILLIAMS SAYING: "The people had very very low food stocks, the Last harvest was between ten and twenty percent of the usual harvest. This meant that if there was no food aid provided that the people would run out of food by the end of March beginning of April and basically we would see severe malnutrition here before the next harvest which is planned in July." 2.27 23. WIDE OF PEOPLE SEEK AID AT THE WFP FOOD CENTRE 2.32 24. VARIOUS OF MAN POURING OUT GRAIN RATIONS INTO BOWL /CLOSE OF GRAIN (4 SHOTS) 2.42 25. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Amharic) TAHAK TADIR SAYING: "Because of this drought we have been forced to beg and begging is very shameful in our Oromo culture, so it's really shameful for us but we don't have any option. The only option we have is just to get this food aid." 2.59 26. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Amharic) UNNAMED VILLAGER SAYING: "They told me I'm entitled to a food ration but now it turns out I'm not on the list. I have six children, I can't go back to them without food." 3.09 27. VARIOUS, PEOPLE LINING HOLDING SACKS FOR MEAL QUOTA 3.15 28. CLOSE OF YOUNG CHILD CLINGING TO MOTHER'S ARM 3.18 29. SMV GROUP OF PEOPLE LOADED IN TRUCK 3.21 30. SLV OF MEN RIDING ON THE BACK OF LORRY 3.25 BARENTU, ETHIOPIA (RECENT)(REUTERS ACCESS ALL) 31. WIDE OF PEOPLE ARRIVING AT AID CENTRE 3.29 32. SLV YOUNG BOY HELPED OFF A DONKEY 3.33 33. WIDE OF DONKEY SEARCHING FOR PASTURE IN ARID VILLAGE 3.37 34. WIDE OF MAN MAKING HIS WAY TO MAKESHIFT STRUCTURES HOUSING FAMINE VICTIMS 3.41 35. SLV WOMAN OUT SIDE HUT COLLECTING CONTAINERS FOR WATER 3.44 36. WIDE OF GROUP OF HELPLESS ERITREA WOMEN SEATED 3.48 37. SLV MAN CARRYING SACK OF FOOD AID AWAY FROM BUILDING 3.54 38. WIDE OF PILED SACKS OF WFP FOOD RATION 3.58 39. VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN WAITING TO FETCH WATER AT A COMMON WATER POINT (2 SHOTS) 4.05 40. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME SPOKESPERSON, BRENDA BARTON SAYING: "The situation in Eritrea is absolutely desperate. The place is an entire dust-ball, we are not getting the resources we need and we don't know what to do." 4.11 41. VARIOUS OF GRAIN BEING POURED INTO SACK (3 SHOTS) 4.22 42. WIDE OF GROUP OF PEOPLE POURING INTO THE AID CENTRE 4.26 43. SCU ELDERLY WOMAN WEARING NOSERING IN A PENSIVE MOOD 4.30 44. SMV WOMAN COLLECTING GRAIN RATION 4.35 45. SLV OF RATIONS LOADED ONTO CART 4.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOCATIONS: WESTERN HARARGHE REGION, ETHIOPIA AND BARENTU ERITREA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Reuters ID: LVA4ZOCUHDYUYLG70FK4EQ2QKCWM
- Story Text: More that 12 million people face severe famine in
Ethiopia and Eritrea. Food stocks are running low and
ironically the world's focus is elsewhere, Iraq.
The women and children of the Mohammed family are
preparing dinner. This portion of maize is all they have
left. The Mohammed's live in Ethiopia's western Haraghe
District.
Severe drought has killed their crops and livestock.
The meal they will soon eat could very well be one of
their lasts. Then, just like millions of other Ethiopians
this year, they will go hungry.
The Mohammed's neighbours have already run out of grain.
And they've decided to try their chances elsewhere.
"We're going to Badesa, there's no food or water here,"
says Fatuma Aime.
"If it goes on like this, people will start dying,
because they have not harvested anything at all. The cattle
have already died. If it continues, the people here will
start fleeing this place, to save their lives." Woinshet
Abebe an Aid Worker adds.
Memories of the 1984 famine that killed a million
Ethiopians are still fresh. The head of the World Food
Programme, James Morris visited Ethiopia early this year. He
has appealed for urgent international aid. But the world's
eyes are focused on Iraq, making it hard to follow up his
encouraging words with donor action.
"We admire your courage and please know that you are not
here alone, the rest of the world loves you and cares for
you and will do its very best to provide food, to be
helpful." Morris told the gathered people.
The United Nations and aid agencies such as the Red
Cross are trucking food and other relief materials to the
most remote regions.
It means that families already weak from hunger won't
have to walk long distances for food.
But these are just a few of the twelve million people
that the World Food Programme says are at risk of hunger
this year.
Other agencies are like the International Committee of
the Red Cross are also trying to help the people.
"The people had very very low food stocks the last
harvest was between ten and twenty percent of the usual
harvest. This meant that if there was no food aid provided
that the people would run out of food by the end of March
beginning of April and basically we would see severe
malnutrition here before the next harvest which is planned
in July." explains a Red Cross delegate Stephen Williams.
This distribution centre is forced to take extreme
measures. It's slashing its rations of food. If each family
or each person takes a bit less then more people can be fed.
"Because of this drought we have been forced to beg, and
begging is very shameful in our Oromo culture. So it's
really shameful for us but we don't have any option. The
only option we have is just to get this food aid." complains
Tahak Tadir.
Others are more emotional in their outbursts.
"They told me I'm entitled to a food ration but now it
turns out I'm not on the list. I have six children I can't
go back to them without food." says this sobbing villager.
The Ethiopian government is also making some efforts. It
helps willing farmers relocate to areas not affected by the
drought. More than a thousand people have been moved to
greener pastures so far.
But the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments may be
aggravating the hunger crisis.
Over 260,000 of Eritrea's people are living in refugee
camps like this, in and around the town of Barentu.
They fled here during the 1998 border war. Their homes
and farms lay in the disputed territory.
They now rely entirely on food aid. It's an extra burden
for a country with over 1.4 million hungry people.
So far only forty-seven percent of the funds needed to
feed them have been raised.
The international aid agencies are also trying to cope
with the crisis.
"The situation in Eritrea is absolutely desperate, the
place is an entire dust-ball, we are not getting the
resources we need and we don't know what to do." says World
Food Programme spokesperson Brenda Barton.
The Ethiopian government recently rejected a UN
resolution giving Eritrea the border region.
If the two countries clash again, their dead soldiers
will be a small percentage of the casualties. The majority
will be innocent people whose lives will have been traded in
for expensive weapons of war.
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