MEKELLE (IRIN) – The humanitarian situation in the drought-affected north and north-eastern Ethiopia continues to deteriorate as severe drought bites.
“Rainfall in October, which was unexpected, was not of great help to the crops that were planted in May; only the livestock benefited temporarily, now the people are facing a significant crop failure,” a humanitarian worker, who requested anonymity, told IRIN on 23 November.
The area has experienced successive failures of the Belg (short rains ending in May) and Meher (long rains, which start in late July) in the past few years, resulting in low crop yields in some parts and near-crop failure in others.
The aid worker, a member of an inter-agency assessment mission to Tigray in the Eastern Zone in the northeast, said signs were that the situation could deteriorate, with rising malnutrition rates, crop failure, water shortages, population movement to areas where drought was less severe, as well as greater dependency on relief aid.
The findings of the assessment, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Disaster Management and Food Security Sector, the Tigray Regional Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Department, OCHA, the World Food Programme, the UN Children’s Fund and several NGOs, including Relief Society of Tigray, will be concluded by end-November. These results will determine how many people will require emergency food aid and non-food assistance in 2009.
The Ethiopian government Woyanne and its humanitarian partners issued an update on 14 October, seeking emergency aid for an estimated 6.4 million people across the country.
A multi-agency rapid assessment of the drought situation in Tigray at end-September, and included in the October requirement document, recommended the provision of emergency food aid to an estimated 600,000 in nine “hotspot” woredas (districts) countrywide.
Tigray authorities requested the multi-agency assessment team in November to cover 27 woredas out of 34 in the region, a sign that drought was spreading fast.
Some residents of woredas affected in the Eastern Zone, such as Kilte Awlaelo, Atsbi Womberta and Tse-se Tsada Ambat, told IRIN they were considering migrating to other parts of the country, while others were contemplating selling their livestock, despite falling prices, to survive.
Gebremedhin Gebregergis, a farmer in Kihen Tabia of Kilte Awlaelo woreda, said his one-acre Teff crop had almost failed and he expected to harvest less than one quintal (100kg) and leave the most stunted for his one oxen and one cow.
“To survive, I have to sell some of the livestock, mostly the sheep and goats; but this will not be enough as the animals don’t fetch much on the market,” Gebremedhin, who has eight children, said. “Already I cannot send one of my children to high school even though he has completed Grade Eight because I cannot afford it; the priority is to be able to feed my family.”
Malnutrition rising
A health extension worker in Kilte Awlaelo said malnutrition rates had increased compared with three months ago and the health ministry had intensified efforts to prevent increases in cases of diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, eye ailments, worm infestation and pneumonia.
“In June, we screened 746 children under-five for malnutrition but the figure dropped to only 415 in October because some of the children had moved to other parts of the country with their parents while others were no longer attending school because of the drought,” the health worker said.
They were now planning to screen the children every month, instead of every three months, to capture those severely and moderately malnourished early. “We were also screening pregnant women and lactating mothers every three months but we will also shift to screening them on a monthly basis.”
Escape by migration
Birizaf Tsegay, 17, a resident of Wukro village in Atsbi Womberta woreda, said the drought had reduced the harvest from her mother’s two-hectare farm to such an extent that migration by some family members was inevitable.
“What we harvested recently is not enough for our family; it may not even last one month,” she said. “I dropped out of school from Grade Three because I was unable to buy exercise books, my elder sister is also out of school, only my two younger brothers are still in school; to survive, some of us, including myself, will have to move to look for work in other woredas so as to send money home.”
In its September Focus on Ethiopia report, OCHA reported that emergency aid in Tigray had been extended to November due to poor food security in the region.
“There is a limited supply of cereals in most markets compared to livestock availability,” OCHA said.
EthiDolls, established in 2003 and based in New York City, is the maker of the eye catching Queen of Sheba Doll, Makeda. Makeda comes fully dressed in hand-woven hager lebse and even has tattoos on her neck. Patti Gindoff is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for EthiDolls. “My job is to garnish as much exposure as possible. I do that by getting in touch with newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations,” she explains. EthiDolls has been featured on CW11, BET J, Forbes.com, Addis Fortune and The Star-Ledger, Ebony, and Uptown Magazine to name a few. “The two co-founders, Salome and Yeworkwoha, came up with the idea to create dolls because they wanted to tell the world about African women rulers from history,” she says. “They wanted to do something educational and entertaining,” she adds. Salome Yilma is the Chief Executive Officer for EthiDolls and Yeworkwoha Ephrem is the Executive Vice President. Yeworkwoha is also owner of two Ethiopian restaurants, Ghenet, in Manhattan and Ghenet Brooklyn.
An illustrated book and audio book can be purchased along with Makeda, The Queen of Sheba Doll and Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa of the Asante Doll. “The stories and life journeys of these rulers are told from the point of view of an African American grandfather telling these stories to his granddaughter. Storytelling is an art that is still practiced today,” says Patti.
“We wanted to have it familial with an extended African American family; so we decided it would be nice to have a grandfather of African descent tell the story to his granddaughter.” As the story of Makeda is being told, krar, an ancient Ethiopian stringed musical instrument, plays in the background….Read More
Somalia’s radical insurgents on Monday vowed to fight on despite Addis Ababa’s Woyanne’s pledge to respect a UN-sponsored deal reached a day earlier that allows for a pullback of Ethiopian TPLF troops Thugs.
The Somali government and an Islamist opposition umbrella group on Sunday agreed to implement a dormant June ceasefire, paving the way for pro-government Ethiopian Woyanne troops to pull back from the country.
But Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for Shebab militants, said: “We have already rejected the (peace) conference and its agreements. We are now saying again that we will not accept them.
“We will continue fighting against the enemies of Allah,” he told reporters in Mogadishu.
The accord calls for Ethiopian Woyanne troops to pull out of areas in Mogadishu and the central garrison town of Beledweyne by November 21, leaving them under the control of African Union troops in Somalia (AMISOM).
Under the deal, the Somali government and opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) are to assemble a 10,000-strong police force to help the peacekeepers control the areas.
Ethiopia Woyanne said it would respect the agreement.
“We will respect this encouraging decision reached by the transitional government of Somalia and the ARS,” Wahide Belay, a foreign ministryspokesman Woyanne puppet, told AFP.
“The agreement is in line with the Ethiopian Woyanne position on orderly troop withdrawal,” he said.
Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s arch-rival Eritrea said Somalia’s stability required “the immediate, unconditional and full withdrawal of the occupying Ethiopian TPLF army,” a foreign ministry statement said.
Ethiopia Woyanne “not only exacerbated the situation but also committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” it added.
Asmara also called for the withdrawal of African Union peacekeepers Dictators-R-us toy-solders, accusing them of being “a party to the conflict.”
Regional leaders will this week meet in Kenya to discuss the Ethiopian Woyanne’s pullback retreat, a key demand of the Shebab insurgents Somali freedom fighters who are continuing to fight in Mogadishu.
The meeting, organised by the Inter-Government Authority on Development (IGAD), will attempt to reconcile warring factions.
The meeting is “a build-up of the UN talks in Djibouti. We shall discuss agreements reached there, including implementing the ceasefire and Ethiopian Woyanne troop pullout,” an IGAD spokesman told AFP.
And another source inside IGAD said: “The conference will recommend ways of dealing with the Shebab and bringing the group into the peace process.”
Shebab rebels Somali Freedom Fighters have refused to participate in the talks and recognize the accords until Ethiopian forces Woyanne withdraw from the country, with one leading Islamist, Hassan Dahir Aweys, rejecting the June agreement.
Foreign ministers from IGAD nations — Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia — would meet both factions on Tuesday before a presidents’ summit on Wednesday, the IGAD spokesman said.
A delegation from the ARS, dominated by moderate Islamists and based in Eritrea, was also expected to attend the meeting, he added.
Details of the Ethiopian pullback Woyanne retreat would be worked out by the two governments, IGAD and the United Nations, said officials.
In the capital meanwhile, the violence continued Monday.
Two people were killed in fighting that erupted after EthiopiaWoyanne-backed Somali forces raided rebel hideouts in northern Mogadishu, witnesses said.
Ethiopian troops TPLF Thugs intervened to prop up the feeble Somali government at the end of 2006 and eventually drove theIslamists Freedom Fighters from much of the country’s southern and central regions, where they had established Sharia law.
Since then, the Islamists Freedom Fighters have killed numerous government officials and vowed to fight until the Ethiopians TPLF and AMISOM troops, whom they regard as occupiers, withdraw.
Somali lawmakers, who have already endorsed the agreements, expressed support for the accords.
“We are always for peace and it has been proven beyond doubt that reconciliation is the only way out of the conflicts,” said Musa Sudi Yalahow, a former Mogadishu warlord and now a lawmaker.
Somali has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. A resultant power struggle has defied numerous UN-backed attempts to end violence and restore a functional government.
Intense battle erupted on Saturday morning in Somalia in an area between Lego and Yaqbariweyne in the Bay region (south) when Al-Shabaab forces ambushed Ethiopian TPLF and Somali government troops heading to the capital, Mogadishu, residents said.
Sheikh Muqtar Robow Abu Mansorsaid, Al-Shabaab spokesman told reporters in a teleconference that their troops were responsible for the attack, claiming that they chased away the country’s troops and their Ethiopian Woyanne allies.
“This morning Allah’s forces waged an ambush attack against Allah’s enemy,” Abu Mansor said.
“One of our solders died and four others were wounded but we chased them and forced them to retreat,” he added.
Heavy weapons and machine guns could be heard in the surroundings, according to residents.
“Early in the morning we heard sounds of heavy weapons and we thought of a battle between Ethiopian TPLF and Islamist forces Somali Freedom-fighters” Anab Mumin, resident in Lego told APA by phone.
Abdirihim Hussein another resident near Yaqbariweyne told APA “I was near the battle area and I narrowly escaped. I thought I would die.”
South and central Somali regions have been the hardest-hit with insurgents’ attacks, including roadside bombing and guerrilla war against the government forces and their Ethiopian TPLF allies.
Somalia is plunged into anarchy since the overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, when warlords used their clan based militias to remove him.
Thereafter , they started to fight one another as they could not agree on leadership.
As a result, many Somalians have died and others are displaced in their own country.-APA
South Korean police said Thursday they had arrested three Nigerians for allegedly obtaining millions of dollars from Citibank with a forged document purportedly from Ethiopia’s central bank.
Police said the suspects were caught Monday in the Yongsan district of Seoul following a tip-off from a local bank employee as they tried to withdraw money from a bank account. It had been frozen at Citibank’s request.
In August the trio allegedly sent a forged payment request from the Ethiopian central bank to Citibank in New York. They asked for more than 30 million dollars to be sent to bank accounts in several countries, including South Korea, China and Tanzania.
“Citibank apparently transferred most of the money, including nine billion won (6.4 million dollars) sent to four local banks in Seoul,” Detective Jung Hyun-Soo at Yongsan police station told AFP.
It was unclear whether money was withdrawn from accounts in other countries, he said.
Of the nine billion won transferred to South Korea, police said the Nigerians had already withdrawn eight billion and were detained while trying to obtain the remaining one billion.
Han Jeong, a senior police officer at Yongsan, told Yonhap news agency the Nigerians had already handed over most of the eight billion won to unspecified Ethiopians.
“After belatedly discovering that the documents had been forged, Citibank notified the Korean banks,” Han said.
Two of the suspects were in South Korea on business visas while a third was an illegal immigrant. Their names were withheld.
“We’re working closely with police in their investigation,” a Citibank Korea spokeswoman said.
Police said Citibank officials told them that the forged document looked authentic and had the signatures of the central bank governor and directors.
Inflation in most East African countries is said to be rising this year. In Ethiopia it moved from 33.6 % in August to37.2 % in September; In Kenya from 27.6% in August 2008 to 28.2% in September 2008 and In Tanzania a 10-year high point of 11.6 percent in September.
Inflation in Ethiopia for the month of September 2008 rises to 37.2 % from 33.6 % in August and from 27.6% in August to 28.2% in September in Kenya, while annual inflation in Tanzania surged to a 10-year high point of 11.6 percent in September owing to soaring food prices, official data from the National Bureau of Statistics show.
Inflation on food items in Ethiopia for the month of September 2008 has also reached 51.8 % from 46.9% in August. After the Ethiopian government TPLF announced lifting subsidy on fuel and shifted to importing wheat, many people including the opposition parties expressing their fear that the current inflation in the country will get worse.
According to critics, it is better for thegovernment Woyanne to continue subsidizing at least kerosene along with importing wheat and selling it with cheaper prices for the low income groups, which represents the majority of the around 80 million population of Ethiopia.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicated that the overall year on year inflation rate increased from 27.6% in August 2008 to 28.2% in September 2008. Underlying inflation, excluding food prices, rose more modestly from 13.1% to 13.3%.
On a monthly basis, food items (2%), housing costs (2%) and medical goods and services (1.4%) showed the strongest price increases. Year on year, food and non-alcoholic drinks (37.2%), fuel and power (31.6%), transport and communications (19.1%), alcohol and tobacco (15.6%) and medical goods and services (14%) had the largest price increases.
In August this year, the inflation rate in Tanzania was 9.8 percent. The recent surge indicates a 1.8-point increase within a month. In February this year, inflation was 8.9 percent.
Analysts say the government would not be able to bring down the inflation rate to seven percent by the end of the current financial year.
Dr Honest Ngowi of the Mzumbe University, said: “The seven percent goal is now unrealistic since, under the current system, Tanzania has nothing in place to control food and fuel prices, the two most dominant factors in the country’s inflation basket,” according to the citizen newspaper in Tanzania.
He said since the inflationary spiral was mainly on food, fuel and other production factors, it would be very difficult for the country to control it in the short-term.
“It could be easily contained if it was caused by excess money supply on the market. However, this is due to production factors,” he said.
He said this could worsen considering that the holiday season was just around the corner.
“Inflation will now be fluctuating between 10 and 12 percent. It requires magic for the government to bring it back to seven per cent,” said Dr Semboja Haji, of the University of Dar es Salaam’s Economic Research Bureau (ERB).
He criticized the government for having no mechanism in place to protect the country from the negative effects of economic developments outside.
