Ethiopia Facing New Famine With 4.5 Million Children In Danger Of Starvation

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-6-2008 | Caroline Gammell

[blam]

Ethiopia facing new famine with 4.5 million children in danger of starvation

By Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 1:33PM BST 06/06/2008

Ethiopia is facing a new famine as drought and rising food prices threaten starvation for 4.5 million children, aid agencies warned. Children under five are worst affected with more than 75,000 suffering from severe malnutrition and in need of urgent care, according to Unicef.

An estimated 3.4 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid over the next three months while nearly double that figure are at risk of malnutrition.

The World Food Programme estimates that £75 million is needed to help look after those children at risk of hunger.

An Ethiopian woman holds her severely malnourished child

A United Nations food summit to address the global food crisis will begin in Rome on Tuesday.

Unicef said thousands of families were gathering at relief feeding centres across the country, desperate to get food.

In Ethiopia's Siraro district, 220 miles south of the capital Addis Ababa, 300 people are being looked after at the Ropi Catholic Church, which is full to capacity.

"We had nothing to eat after the corn crop failed," said Dureti Degefi, one of the mothers at the centre. "I am telling you our story because they say you will listen. My stomach is hungry. And my baby is sick. We need help."

Malnourished children are being treated at an outpatient clinic near the church and given the therapeutic food, such as high protein plumpynut paste and milk formulas which provide essential nutrients.

But there is criticism that the relief operation is not working fast enough and the government's national "safety net" programme does not extend far enough.

Ethiopia's last major famine between 1984 and 1985 claimed a million lives which prompted Sir Bob Geldof to organise Live Aid.

[blam]

Remember, it was the Ethiopian Army, at our request, that went into Somalia and rousted Al-Qa'eda there for us last year.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

The UN bears a large part of the responsibility for this famine — because of the panic sown by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. If it weren't for the IPCC (plus, Al Gore & other co-conspirators; and their enablers in the MSM) we wouldn't be turning food into fuel; nor would we be facing high oil prices — both of which have driven up the cost of food.

[tbw2]

Ethiopia also has:
* 90% income tax over 3K in income, which discourages big farms or related income
* massive import taxes, to protect local industry, but prevents importing good equipment
* really lousy property rights, so why invest in the property any way
People only grow enough food for their own family, and if the harvest is bad, all the families starve.
This is a famine by socialism, not capitalism.

[Mamzelle]

I hear that the Rev Jerry Wright of the African Liberation Theologians has a $10M line of credit he could draw on...Where’s Obama? Is he still dreaming about his father and hoping audaciously?

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

IMHO, you’re right on all counts.

In addition to the UN, and bad socialists governments — another evil is protectionism. While it’s an understandable human reaction to a perceived food shortage — when nations cut off trade and attempt to dictate local prices (as India and others recently did for their rice); they’re guaranteeing that there will be much worse food shortages.

[yldstrk]

And WHY African ;eaders are so effing dumb is the question........

[yldstrk]

leaders