EDITOR’S NOTE: The stupid regime in Ethiopia yesterday asked for $400 million in emergency food aid, and yet it cannot even get delivery of food aid caught up in the Djibouti port.

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (PANA) – Ethiopian authorities said Tuesday efforts were underway to transport more than 60,000 metric tonnes of food aid caught up for months in the Port of Djibouti following congestion at the facility. State Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Mitiku Kassa said the government had made arrangements to free at least 3,000 metric tonnes of food aid, delaye d at the Port of Djibouti, further inland.

Ethiopia has no port and the government has to arrange for its imports to move further inland, using heavy trucks.

The delay in having the food aid delivered inland saw government cancel the food aid distribution for January.

However, Kassa said the country did not face any emergency food aid distribution in January and there was no need for urgent distribution.

“We had to move sufficient number of trucks to Djibouti to ferry the food to the central warehouses inland,” the minister said after unveiling Ethiopia’s nation a l appeal for food aid assistance for 2009.

Ethiopia uses the Port of Djibouti for its imports but the port lacks sufficient storage capacity, often leading to congestion.

“There is congestion in Djibouti. We are working to avoid this. This has been du e to the lack of warehouses. We have discussed with the Ethiopian Embassy in Dji b outi and the port officials. The issue now is about transport and lack of wareho u ses,” the minister told journalists.

Ethiopia is facing acute famine this year, which could affect up to 4.9 million people unless well-wishers provide enough funds to enable the country buy food a i d.

The country requires some 591,000 metric tonnes of relief food.

Efforts to have the 60,000 metric tonnes of food still locked up in Djibouti are , however, progressing.

“There are 3,000 metric tonnes of food crossing into Ethiopia daily,” the minist er disclosed.

The government says it has been forced to use some of the cereals in its national grain reserves on loan basis to provide assistance to those in dire need of food.

However, the amount of food already utilized from the national food reserves mus t be returned when the food aid arrives in the country.

Ethiopia keeps between 400,000 to 500,000 metric tonnes of food aid for emergencies.

The government also says the national food reserves have recently improved by so me 170,000 metric tonnes.