Red Cross to provide vital link in Ethiopia
10 April 2000

In a race against time, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is working to help to avert a famine in Ethiopia that is threatening more than 8 million people across the country.

An appeal for 5.2 million Swiss francs has been launched to help nearly 80,000 people in Ethiopia's northern highlands where the belg rains, which normally fall from February to April, have failed for the fourth successive year.

The Federation, in conjunction with the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, will initially be focusing on two districts in South Wollo - Ambassel and Kutaber, where a six month supplementary feeding programme was put into operation last year for 40,000 people. The Red Cross is the only international aid organisation to work in these two areas, scene of some of the worst famine in 1974 and 1984.

The Ethiopian Red Cross has been working in Ambassel and Kutaber for more than ten years. Its role and that of the Federation's has been vital in supporting the poorest sections of the community and it will continue to be so during the next year.

The Federation and the Ethiopian Red Cross will also be assessing the possibility of aid interventions in other areas of the country. In addition, the Federation will be coordinating with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which will be conducting relief operations in various districts in the Somali National Regional State.

"The Red Cross provides an essential and reliable link between those who want to give and those in need. Our presence on the ground ensures that," says Richard May, the Federation's head of delegation in Addis Ababa. Two million people in South Wollo are dependent on the belg rains for the production of short cycle crops and for planting the high yield, long maturing crops such as corn and sorghum in April. Successive failures of the rains have left dwindling stocks of food and rising levels of malnutrition among the farmers who've had to sell off livestock and other belongings to buy what food they can. Many have deserted the land in search of other sources of income and food.

Nearly 140,000 people in Ambassel and Kutaber are now badly affected by the drought. The Red Cross will be helping the most vulnerable amongst them - the farmers. Speed is of the essence if their lives are to be saved.

Funds raised for the appeal will help provide food rations for up to 15,500 farmers for eight months, supplementary feeding for 23,250 at-risk individuals including children under five, pregnant women and mothers with new born babies.

The Red Cross will also initiate an employment generation scheme that will provide work for approximately 12,400 households. The money earned will enable the people to buy food on the open market.

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact:

Caroline Hurford, Information Delegate, Addis Ababa
Satphone: (873) 682 282 080
Hotel tel: (2511) 518 400

Richard May, Head of Delegation, Ethiopia
Tel: (2511) 51 45 71

Media Service, Geneva
Tel: (41 22) 730 4214
Mobile: (41 79) 416 3881

The International Federation, the ICRC and the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies together constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.