In a bid to encourage leaders in the Horn of Africa who have been meeting on humanitarian issues in Addis Abeba, the U.S. Congress this week approved new legislation designed to alleviate hunger in the region.

The Horn of Africa Food Security and Recovery Act marks an important development in U.S. foreign policy in the region, according to Sharon Pauling, Africa policy analyst with Bread for the World, a major non- governmental supporter of the legislation.

Pauling said that the new law “sets a course that is based on the expressed needs of the people of the Horn, rather than primarily on U.S. short-term political interests.” The bill, expected to be signed by President George Bush, is intended to move U.S. policy toward providing long-term solutions to the recurring famines which have plagued the region.

The law specifically targets development and reconstruction assistance to grassroots groups and operations and prohibits aid to governments until sufficient progress is made towards democratic rule and the observance of human rights. It also calls on Washington to significantly increase support for United Nations efforts in peace negotiations and relief operations.

The U.N World Food Program currently estimates that 23 million people are at risk of starvation in the region.

This week’s action by the U.S. Congress also includes provisions removing certain legal obstacles to providing U.S. development aid allowing the release of $80 million in development aid to Ethiopia and Somalia. The law bans the provision of any military aid or training to Ethiopia, Somalia or Sudan.

Over a million people are facing severe famine in Southern Ethiopia. At least 7,000 people have already died and more are dying everyday. The famine has been caused by two years of failed rains and widespread civil strife mainly in the provinces of southern Shoa and Sidamo.

In one southern area bordering Kenya, 5,000 people have died in the last five months and at least 10 people are reportedly dying each day.

The first Horn of Africa Summit meeting was held in Addis Abeba on April 9. The heads of state of Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the leader of the provisional administration of Eritrea attended the meeting.

An agreement was reached to allow emergency food aid to reach millions of victims in numerous conflict ravaged areas. More than 2,000 refugees a day are pouring into Kenya from the fighting in Somalia, Sudan and Southern Ethiopia, stretching that country’s meager resources.

President Meles said the summit had charged him with the task of organizing a peace conference to bring together Somalia’s warring factions. In a news conference, Ato Meles said that the region will cooperate in the search for peace in Somalia.

A foreign aid worker was murdered in the town of Gode on April 1. Lourenco Mutaca, a Mozambican working with the U.N. High Commission of Refugees, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen. A few days later the government announced that two individuals suspected of the murder have been apprehended. After the
incident, U.N. officials had told all staff working in Gode and other towns in the area to leave.

Concerned about the conflict between the EPRDF and OLF, the U.S. government and the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) arranged a meeting in Mekele which reportedly produced an immediate ceasefire agreement in mid-April. The two sides stressed the need to prepare the ground for regional elections, according to a statement broadcast by Ethiopian radio on April 16. According to this agreement, both sides will recall their forces to their respective camps within a week.

The agreement reportedly required 15,000 OLF fighters to go into specially-created camps. An additional 5,000 fighters will follow later and the EPRDF military presence will also be scaled down.

Both sides also agreed to pave the way to hold “free and just” regional elections. The proposed elections have been postponed several times due to hostilities.

Newly-appointed Ethiopian ambassador to China, Haile Girogis Brook, presented credentials to Chinese President Yang Shangkun in early April. Ato Brook arrived in Beijing on March 23.

In early March, the newly-appointed Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia, Jin Sen, presented his credentials to President Meles Zenawi.

Ethiopia and the U.S. also exchanged new ambassadors. President Meles Zenawi appointed Berhane Gebre Christos as the new ambassador to U.S. President Bush appointed Mark Baas, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Addis Abeba, as ambassador.