ADDIS ABABA (AFP) – More than one million people in eastern Ethiopia’s drought-hit Somali region face critical water shortages, the United Nations said Wednesday.
“A joint multi-sectoral Drought Emergency Response Plan… has been released by the regional government. The plan indicates that more than one million people are currently facing critical water shortage,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.
“The response plan, which focuses on life-saving interventions in health and nutrition, water and sanitation, and livestock and agriculture, aims to mitigate the impacts of drought due to poor consecutive seasonal performance in 2007 coupled with the current dry season,” the statement added.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the regional authorities were seeking over three million dollars (1.9 million euros) to address emergency requirements for a period of six months.
The mineral-rich region, also known as the Ogaden, has also been wracked by a separatist rebellion, against which government troops have launched a fierce crackdown.
One thought on “One million Ethiopians face water shortage”
Nowadays, thanks to Meles Seitanawi, Ethiopians are almost short of everything: they are short of water, short of rain, short of food, short of medical care, short of physicians, short of housing, short of land, short of trees, short of modern transportation, short of laptops, short of gas, short of good political leaders, short of effective judges, short of law and order, short of a well-disciplined army, short of seaports, short of peace and prosperity, short of freedom and democracy, short of a spiritual patriarch, short of good neighbors, and short of the fear of God, especially among the governing politicians. Who will take them out of all these shortages? Their leaders? Their Church fathers? Their astrologers? Their witchcrafts? Their economists? Their mighty armies? Their OAUs? Their distant allies Washington and London? I don’t think there are any easy answers for all these difficult questions; however, if a country has a good and unselfish leader, most of these questions can be easily answered, but does Ethiopia have one?