United Nations, Aug 9 : Humanitarians in Ethiopia are focusing on the more than 16 million inhabitants to provide drought relief while over 1.7 million people are in danger of flooding the country, an UN spokesperson stated. The most severe drought in 40 years led to increasing levels of malnutrition to millions, according to Stephane Dujarric, Chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Monday.This drought has also killed more than 3.5 million animals.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity due to four rainy seasons that failed across Somalia Northern Kenya and eastern and southern Ethiopia.
Experts believe that the fifth season of rain that is dry for this fall could be expected.
“At the same time, some parts of Ethiopia are at possibility of flooding in the coming weeks,” Dujarric added.
“In northern Ethiopia the humanitarian aid continues in the Tigray region however our capacity to distribute them is limited due to a lack of cash and fuel.”
But, he cited two positive developments.The first was the 12 tankers carrying 600,000 litres of fuel that arrived in the northernmost, war-ravaged region of Tigray on Wednesday.The second was the distribution of food aid in three districts that are difficult to reach of the Amhara region’s Wag Hamra zone for the first time in more than one year, Xinhua news agency reported.
The spokesman stated that around 2 million litres of fuel are required every month to support the humanitarian efforts in Tigray.The food supplies for 30 000 people who are unable to access the difficult Amhara districts arrived in the region on the 27th of July.
Deliveries of additional food aid including nutrition and health items, is planned.
In the first quarter of this year over 13 million men, women and children received aid for humanitarian needs in areas that are affected by drought, with over 7 million who received food assistance, he added.
The spokesperson said that the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has announced that it is scaling the urgent purchase of fertilisers to aid farmers in Tigray plant their fields in an important planting season.The operation is the result of the approval of a loan of $10 million granted by the United Nations’ Central Emergency Response Fund.
int/khz/
.
