Floods and failed rains caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon have sparked a dramatic rise in the number of people going hungry in large parts of Africa, with southern Ethiopia an area of especial concern/XINHUA-File
ETHIOPIA, May 4 – Stuck on a track in eastern Ethiopia, trucks carrying food for the starving are forced to turn back.
After one of the worst droughts for decades, the rains have finally arrived, but now only add to the complication of the delivery of food aid.
Flash floods have effectively transformed dry dirt tracks into impassable quagmires, adding to the woes of the victims in remote areas, some of whom have received no help for weeks.
A year of drought has pushed 10.2 million Ethiopians into dire conditions needing food aid to survive, according to the United Nations.
Here in Sitti province, in the far east of the Horn of African nation, times were tough even before the drought. The region is classified as “emergency”, according to UN monitors, one step short of famine.
In the small village of Derela, cattle herders come from far for aid. Dozens of carcasses of goats and cattle testify to the magnitude of the drought.
“All my animals died,” said Ali Boor, installed in a makeshift camp with his wife and their seven children. From his 200 cows, only six survived.
“Without any help, there was no hope,” he said. “We heard that here we could have food and water.”
Floods and failed rains caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon have sparked a dramatic rise in the number of people going hungry in large parts of Africa, with southern Ethiopia an area of especial concern.
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