Averting Famine In The Horn Of Africa
As it fends off criticism for not moving more quickly to help victims of flooding in Mozambique, the Clinton Administration is taking steps now to prevent another disaster -- this one a famine -- from striking Africa.
The administrator of the U. S. Agency for International Development, J. Brady Anderson, says that in the six countries in and around the Horn of Africa, about 15 million people "are at risk for famine."
Anderson refers to more than eight million people in Ethiopia, nearly three million in Kenya and hundreds of thousands of others in Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
There is what Anderson calls a "massive" food shortage and the reason is drought. There have been complete crop failures in the past few years, and, in addition to crops, farmers have also lost many of their animals, especially cattle.
USAID funds a Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) and because of this system and other indicators, USAID has known what would happen if emergency food aid wasn't sent to the region, and it is moving now to avoid a repeat of what happened in 1984 when 800,000 people died in Ethiopia.
The administrator of the U. S. Agency for International Development, J. Brady Anderson, says that in the six countries in and around the Horn of Africa, about 15 million people "are at risk for famine."
Anderson refers to more than eight million people in Ethiopia, nearly three million in Kenya and hundreds of thousands of others in Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
There is what Anderson calls a "massive" food shortage and the reason is drought. There have been complete crop failures in the past few years, and, in addition to crops, farmers have also lost many of their animals, especially cattle.
USAID funds a Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) and because of this system and other indicators, USAID has known what would happen if emergency food aid wasn't sent to the region, and it is moving now to avoid a repeat of what happened in 1984 when 800,000 people died in Ethiopia.
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