The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said last week it was forced to cut assistance to malnourished mothers and children in Ethiopia because it could not respond to increasing hunger resulting from the drought in southern Ethiopia.
The UN agency said that, due to funding shortfalls, it has less food in its warehouses than it needs, and as of the end of last month, it was forced to scale back food assistance to beneficiaries in drought-affected areas.
It said that, despite evidence of malnutrition in some drought areas, a food deficit will prevent the agency from providing nutritious life-saving food supplements to all of the acutely malnourished children and mothers on the agency’s Targeted Supplementary Food (TSF) Programme, which it said provides a special fortified food that facilitates rehabilitation of malnourished children and mothers.
According to the statement, in 2007, the TSF Programme assisted over 1.1 million beneficiaries.
“This year, WFP has had to cut back the number of districts where TSF is operational from 342 to 163, leaving malnourished mothers and children in many areas, with no assistance,” Mohamed Diab, WFP’s Country Director in Ethiopia said in a statement.
“This scaling back of support during a drought threatens to de-rail the Government’s successful strategies for combating food insecurity in Ethiopia,”he added.
The recently launched Ethiopian Government and Partners Joint Document called for US$ 13.7 million to assist some 238,500 mothers and children under five living in areas worst affected by drought through WFP’s Targeted Supplementary Programme. Some 13,285 metric tons of nutritious food supplements is required.
But the organization said it urgently needs a further US$ 28 million to assist malnourished mothers and children who live outside of the immediate drought stricken areas. In addition, WFP faces a shortfall of US$ 48.4 million to support the government’s emergency relief programme.
The world’s largest humanitarian agency said it remains concerned over serious gaps in meeting other food assistance requirements, particularly as the number of people suffering from drought and harvest failure may increase over the next few months.
Over 200 million children around the world lack basic health care, and nearly 10 million youngsters under the age of five die every year. These are some of the findings of Save the Children’s 9th annual State of the World’s Mothers report.
This year, the global humanitarian organization’s report included the first-ever Basic Health Care Report Card. It ranks 55 developing countries according to their ability to reach children with basic health care.
At the top of that list are the Philippines, Peru, South Africa and Indonesia. Although these countries have been able to extend health care services to many children, the benefits usually go first to the richer segment of society.
“The poor are dying at alarmingly higher rates,” Save the Children’s Mary Beth Powers. “We really have to double efforts to reach the poor with basic health care.”
Powers says common diseases among children in developing countries, like pneumonia, diarrhea and measles, can be treated easily and inexpensively. However, millions of mothers still lose their children to these diseases every year. They are either unaware of the treatments or unable to get them.
“As a mother, the tragedy of losing a child is, I imagine, unbearable,” says actress Jessica Lange, Save the Children’s newest spokesperson, “but to lose a child for something that’s treatable is a thousand times worse.”
Last month, Lange, a mother of three, visited Ethiopia, which ranks last on the Basic Health Care list. Eighty-three percent of Ethiopian children don’t get basic services, such as immunizations, antibiotics and skilled care at birth.
“In Ethiopia, only 6 percent of deliveries are attended by a skilled practitioner,” she says.
During her trip to Ethiopia, Lange visited a community-training program that Save the Children established in a remote area.
“I think one of the biggest things that surprised me was the idea of the community training of health care workers and establishing clinics that are accessible to people because traditionally transportation was almost impossible for them,” she says. “They would talk about having to walk a full day to bring their child who was sick to health care centers.”
Training local caregivers in remote areas is essential for bringing health care services closer to home, according to Mary Beth Powers. Those local health workers, she adds, can also help raise awareness among mothers who are usually uneducated.
“Knowing the difference between a bad cold and something that’s more severe, suggesting pneumonia, that’s a critical judgment,” she says. “A lot of parents are not well enough educated to know the difference so you need a health worker or a Mom in the village who can help them make the assessment.”
Another section of Save the Children’s report compares the well-being of mothers and children in 146 countries. Sweden is rated the best country in which to be a mother, Niger is last.
The United States ranks 27th, and Powers says there’s a reason. “So many mothers do not get adequate health care during pregnancy and at childbirth,” she says. “We have high rates of maternal mortality and child mortality especially among minority communities in the U.S.”
Save the Children Ambassador Jessica Lange says fixing the U.S. health care system is one of the top issues in this year’s Presidential election campaign. She’d like to see more health services available for all Americans regardless of their financial situation. She also hopes the United States and other Western countries will do more to help save children’s lives in the developing world.
“I think people have to become aware. They have to become conscientious about it,” she says. “We have before the Congress right now the Global Child Survival Act. I think people, if they care about children around the world, can contact their [representatives in] Congress and let them know how important it is for this to be passed.”
The act would expand funding for proven health measures like antibiotics and immunizations. Passing it, Lange says, will recommit the United States to leading the way in improving children’s health. She says with such efforts, the global community will be able to save millions of young lives every year.
(Press TV) — Landmine explosions have killed more than 12 Ethiopian Woyanne troops, and eight Somali government soldiers, in the war-torn East African nation.
Anti- Ethiopian Woyanne groups detonated a massive landmine in Towfiikh district, killing at least eight soldiers, and destroying their vehicle, Press TV correspondent in Somalia reported on Monday.
Elsewhere, at least four Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers were killed and more than 10 others injured in southern Mogadishu when their vehicles hit land mines near a military base.
In another incident on Monday, at least six Somali government troops were killed as their vehicle exploded by a land mine, near the Adan Adde International airport in Mogadishu. More than two other Somali soldiers were also killed in attacks in Mogadishu’s Buulo Hubey.
Meanwhile, security forces have arrested at least 25 civilians for unknown reasons in Baidoa.
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Three civilians killed in Somalia attack
MOGADISHU (AFP) — At least three civilians were killed Monday when Islamist insurgents attacked an Ethiopian Woyanne military convoy south of Mogadishu, witnesses said.
“Heavily armed insurgents ambushed an Ethiopian Woyanne military convoy that left Afgoye and the attack occurred between Lego and Jameo,” local resident Hussein Abdullahi told AFP by telephone.
Lego is a small town around 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of the capital.
“The Ethiopian Woyanne forces killed three civilians after the attack and their dead bodies were brought here in Yakbiriweyne,” Abdullahi said.
“We heard an intense gunbattle that lasted for about 35 minutes just after the Ethiopian Woyanne military convoy passed through our village,” said Madkarin Moalim Nur, another resident.
“There were casualties (among the fighters) but we could not confirm a figure except the three civilians that the Ethiopians Woyanne killed in a nearby village after the attack,” he explained.
Sheikh Abdirahim Ali Ise, a spokesman for the insurgents, claimed responsibility for the ambush and said Ethiopian Woyanne troops were killed.
“Our forces ambushed a military convoy of Ethiopian Woyanne invaders near Lego. We destroyed three of the trucks and killed many of them,” he said. No separate confirmation of this claim was available.
(Press TV) Ethiopian Woyanne troops have removed the governor of central Somalia’s Hiiran district from his post and disarmed his supporters, a report says.
Hundreds of Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers marched into the main town of Baletweyn in Hiiran district and asked governor Yusuf Ahmed Hagar and his supporters to surrender and lay down their guns, a Press TV correspondent reported Sunday.
Hagar and his supporters refused to give in first, but the soldiers managed to take the governor’s headquarters and beat his supporters.
The Ethiopian Woyanne army disarmed Hagar and his supporters collecting at least 2000 guns and 21 military vehicles.
They said they would appoint a new governor for the region who is due to come soon from Baidoa.
This is part of Woyanne’s preparation to invade Eritrea. They did the same thing — creating a puppet Somali government — before invading Somalia.
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ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — A coalition of Eritrean opposition groups elected a chairman over the weekend, ending a long-running leadership dispute that had crippled efforts to topple the Asmara regime, officials said Sunday.
The Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA), made up of 13 opposition groups, elected Tewolde Gebreselassie as its new leader on Saturday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
“Following agreements reached among members, we will now be able to step up our efforts against the government in Eritrea,” Tewolde told a press conference Sunday.
“We will enhance our activities on the diplomatic front as well as holding demonstrations and propaganda (campaigns).”
The EDA had failed to elect a new leader during last year’s conference in Addis Ababa because of tribal rivalry.
The coalition is also hoping to strengthen ties with Eritrea’s large diaspora, which is nearly the same size as the entire population at home.
The Eritrean government relies heavily on the hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances it receives each year as budgetary support from its citizens abroad.
“The diaspora has urged us for a different outcome. They are against (President) Issaias (Afeworki) but they aren’t with us because of our differences,” Noor Idris, head of an opposition party, told AFP.
“They are seeking our unity because the tyranny there is committing abuses,” he added.
Mohammed Noor Ahmed, another opposition official, added: “If we can mobilise our people, there will surely be uprisings. The Eritrean people definitely want to overthrow the government because of its violations.”
Only a few of the group’s members have armed wings to face Issaias’ 300,000-strong army, but they claim to have carried out sporadic hit-and-run attacks inside Eritrea.
Their leaders admit to receiving support from Ethiopia, Eritrea’s arch-rival.
Authorities in Asmara generally charge that opposition movements meeting in Ethiopia have no legitimacy and are nothing more than stooges of the regime in Addis Ababa.
Two of my favorite characters were in the news last week. I do not think they know each other. I am sure of that. But they were both in the news. One was pleading for his life in jail somewhere in the Iraqi desert. His African counterpart was duplicating his past deeds and misdeeds. You know sooner or later he is going to find himself in the same predicament as the Iraqi prisoner. Some of us do not learn from history. Some people think they think they are an exception. ‘That won’t happen to me’ syndrome. Anyway I was surprised to read the small headline in the second page way down at the bottom, ‘Tariq Aziz goes on trial in Baghdad.’ Good old Tariq is still around. I had completely forgotten him.
Let me refresh your memory. His Excellency Tariq Aziz was the former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. For some reason he is always the Deputy. We have no idea who the Prime Minister was. Tariq Aziz was an advisor to Saddam Hussein, and the ‘voice of Iraq’ to the outside world. Saddam was not much of an English speaking urbane and savvy leader. He did not care for the foreign press.
Saddam was a Sunni Muslim from the central part of Iraq. His father left before he was born. His stepfather was a brutal person and Saddam left home and was raised by his uncle. He drooped out of Law School and joined the Iraqi Ba’ath Party. In 1959, with the backing of the CIA and US intelligence he took part in an attempt to assassinate the head of state General Qassim. The coup failed. Saddam’s next attempt in 1968 was a success and he was appointed Deputy President and Deputy Chairman of the party’s ‘Revolutionary Command Council.’ He consolidated his power and became President of Iraq in 1979.
Saddam and Tariq Aziz met in the 50’s as activists in the Ba’ath Party. When Saddam assumed the presidency, Tariq Aziz became Information Minister. The madman and his sidekick were inseparable. One was prone to moments of irrational action while the other will dutifully try to explain the logic of the madness.
In June of 1972 Iraq nationalized all the assets of the western oil companies. (http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/5873nation.htm) The Oil crisis took place in 1973. The price of oil had a dramatic increase. Iraqi economy was booming. Education, health and welfare showed a marked difference and Iraq was becoming the envy of the Arab world. Politically, Iraq was weaning itself from the ‘iron fist’ of the West and forging closer ties to the ‘Soviet bloc’. Iraq became a member of the ‘non aligned bloc’ of countries.
It was under these circumstances our friend Saddam assumed the presidency. The most logical and rational policy would have been ‘steady as she goes’. Build up the education system and the infra structure of the country and lay a solid foundation for future growth. Unfortunately matters took a wrong turn.
Saddam of Tikrit village was not born to lead positively. The aphrodisiac of power went to his head. He believed his own press and the sycophants around him. He was viewed as the most intelligent Iraqi alive. The year he became president was the year the Shah was overthrown in Iran. Iran was in turmoil. Saddam thought he saw an opportunity to control the Gulf. He invaded Iran. Bad mistake. Iran fought back with everything it got. The war went on for eight years. Iraq lost miserably. It was stuck with $75 billion debt with its economy in ruins.
Saddam was in debt to western banks and rich Arab monarchy’s. The price of oil was dropping and his economy was in trouble. His response was to invade Kuwait. He figured he can control the oil fields and decrease production at the same time forgive himself of his debt to Kuwait.
This became his undoing. The west helped him to come to power. They encouraged him with his war against Ayatollah Khomeini and Islamic power. He was doing their dirty job. They turned a blind eye when he used poison gas against both Iran and his own Kurdish minority. They forgave his human right abuse so long as he did not join the Soviet camp.
Control of the vast Kuwaiti oil field was a no no. Friend Saddam became public enemy number one. All his past transgressions were brought up. There was no lack of evidence. All those massacres, tortures and corruption came back to bite him. He was no longer the ‘enlightened’ leader. No more the ‘bulwark’ against communism. Just a two bit dictator made into playing cards ‘wanted dead or alive’ poster boy.
So we come back to Tariq Aziz. Since the Ba’athist days he stuck with Saddam. First he was the “Information Minister’ then Deputy Prime Minister. He gave interviews and tried to make sense of all the irrational and bizarre acts of Saddam. He had the toughest job in the world. In one of his interviews he said ‘Saddam Hussein is my friend and my leader. But I have to be honest in my description of this man. Saddam Hussein is really a special leader. He cares about everything concerning the life of the people, and the development of the country. He gets interested in any minute detail when it concerns the fate of the country.’
Today Tariq Aziz is a jail in a US run prison camp somewhere in the Iraqi desert. The evidence against him is his signature on a paper ordering the execution of Iraqi citizens found guilty by Saddam’s court. As we all know Saddam was hanged unceremoniously. Aziz is waiting his turn.
What brought all this was an interview with special advisor to the PM of Ethiopia Ato Bereket Semeon. When asked about the PM running for the fourth time he is quoted to have said ‘I think that is the right signal that he can give. He is a loyal soldier and leader of the party who is exemplary in everything. It is for the EPRDF to decide on each one of our fates because we are soldiers of the party. I do not think that we, as individuals, can decide where we work; the culture of the EPRDF is such that any member takes his assignment whether it is to his liking or not and delivers on his task. That has been the case in the past and it will remain so in the future. The party does not believe that the Prime Minister has finished his job. None of us believes that; he has a lot to do and he is capable of doing a lot of things. The party knows its strategic interests and we will adhere to them.’
Well said Ato Bereket, but this proximity to the PM might pay negative dividends in the long run. The once mighty have this tendency to fall from grace with changing of the priorities of the ferenji masters. What is considered a friend is described as a fiend tomorrow. The fernjis have this nasty habit of freezing all accounts and investments, denying of residency permits and even hauling their former allies in front of the International Tribunal in The Hague. No one is immune. Aziz used to wine and dine with President Ronald Regan, Cyrece Vance, US Secretary of State, the Pope and other notables. Today he is dining in a small cell using aluminum plates and plastic forks. Watch and learn.
