EDITOR’S NOTE: Today, the Ethiopian Television was showing Addisu Legesse, the Minister of Agriculture and Deputy Prime Minister, saying that there are no more than 50,000 people who are facing starvation and that the problem is being purposely exaggerated to spoil the ‘good name’ his government. So who is telling the truth? Addisu or the United Nations?
UN NEWS CENTER — United Nations relief agencies and the Ethiopian Government have drastically increased their appeal for funding to help people caught up in the country’s drought and the resulting widespread crop failures as the number of Ethiopians affected by the crisis continues to soar.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today that more than $325 million is now needed to meet aid demands – nearly five times the $68 million that authorities and aid officials estimated was required just two months ago.
Emergency food supplies, water, sanitation, agricultural assistance and health-care are all priority items in the appeal, which is aimed at assisting 4.6 million people, a leap from the estimated figure of 2.2 million a few months ago.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes warned that some 75,000 children, already suffering acute malnutrition and illness, will deteriorate further unless there the world responds “quickly and seriously” to the crisis.
“The urgency of this launch cannot be overstated,” said Mr. Holmes, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. “Humanitarian agencies are already on the ground helping the Government of Ethiopia respond to the emergency, but limited resources are hampering the efforts of both the Government and its humanitarian partners to help those in need.”
Southern and south-eastern Ethiopia are among the hardest-hit areas, with humanitarian assistance most needed in three administrative states: Oromia, Somali Region and Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR).
Seasonal rains have either failed completely or been extremely poor in many parts of the Horn of Africa country, hurting crop production, the availability of pastures and the raising of livestock. Rising food prices are also exacerbating the situation.
Mr. Holmes added that he was confident that Ethiopian authorities would facilitate the increased presence of UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to deal with the crisis.
One thought on “U.N. drastically revises appeal as Ethiopian drought intensifies”
Pride and poverty are two distinct issues one should not mix up as Meles Zenawi confuses the two every time when he is asked whether or not there is poverty in Ethiopia.
For example, Meles’ Deputy Prime Minster, Addisu Legesse, has said that “there are no more than 50,000 people who are facing starvation….” On the other hand, we have enough information that about 4.6 million Ethiopians need “food supplies, water, sanitation, agricultural assistance and health-care.”
A government that prides itself by telling lies to the world that the Ethiopian people that are not facing starvation are very few, that there is no humanitarian disaster in Ethiopia because of lack of food, and that the government is capable of handling its current problems is beyond one’s comprehension and imagination.
Meles Zenawi wants the money, and at the same he wants to avoid the stigma that comes with receiving donated money from a foreign government because he is too conceited to recognize that he has received donated money and is running his government with donated money supposed to help the millions of Ethiopian poor people.
If a person hides his disease and refuses to see a doctor for a treatment, then he dies of it; in the same way, if Meles Zenawi hides that there is no poverty in Ethiopia, then the poor Ethiopians will die in a great number, but since the people that are affected by the disease are the destitute Ethiopian people but not the Meles family, he continues to hide their miserable conditions until it becomes a world wide news.
A person can have a pride on the good things he does to his people and a regret for what he has failed to do because of unavoidable circumstances; however, Meles Zenawi is not used to accept his mistakes, his deliberate lies and deception, and especially he refuses to take responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of Ethiopians in the 2005 election alone.
To Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi), the UN’s and the world wide media’s report about the hunger in Ethiopia is false, and hunger, according to Meles, does not exist in Ethiopia; therefore, all the lies he has been telling for 17 years will come to haunt him, and finally they will destroy him completely.
Nevertheless, before that happens, millions of Ethiopians are going to die, and Meles wants the deaths of all Ethiopians but the Tigray people, and if all Ethiopians die, then he and the Tigray people will gladly take the land and refill it with only Tigrean people. When this happens, everything Oromo, everything Amhara, and everything Gojam or other regions will be systematically destroyed; only the Tigray culture and language will dominate Ethiopia then.
The West, then, would say “a new nation is born in the Horn of Africa,” and this new nation is Tigray Abay. It is this idea of separation or cessation from the rest of the Ethiopian provinces that is driving Meles Zenawi to be cruel on the people of Ethiopia except on his own people. He wants the Ethiopian people, the Tigray people not included, to be “liquidated” sooner or later so that he could declare himself as the sole legitimate king or emperor of Tigray Abay or Ethiopia. This is, of course, a false illusion because Eritrea supported by all the Ethiopians in diaspora will never allow Meles’ dream – cessation from Ethiopia – to be realized. Eritrea, on the other hand, does not want to have a strong Tigray Abay next to its door; strong Tigray will be a menace to the existence of Eritrea.
For the time being, Meles will remain tormented between pride and poverty; pride: there is no poverty, there is no disease in Ethiopia; Poverty: over 4.6 million Ethiopians need food and medical assistance, so Meles has failed to reconcile pride and poverty; instead, he has appointed two agents; one that tells there is no poverty in Ethiopia, and that Ethiopians are proud people; they don’t need any foreign aid while the second agent announces that there is a severe poverty in Ethiopia and an immediate help (about $900 million) is needed to fight poverty in Ethiopia. Meles has been sending such mixed and confusing messages to the world for almost 17 years, and the world continues to send him millions of dollars every year despite his lies and mixed messages.