UN Humanitarian Chief To Visit Drought-Ravaged Ethiopia
The United Nations relief chief will travel to Ethiopia next week to assess the situation in the Horn of Africa country
first-hand, where millions of people need humanitarian aid because of a devastating drought and the soaring prices of
many basic foods.
John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, is slated to arrive
in Ethiopia next Monday and hold talks with Government officials, relief groups and individuals affected by the drought
and food crisis.
Mr. Holmes – who is also the Coordinator of the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis – will visit
the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) and the Somali region, among the areas hit hardest by
the current crisis.
UN agencies, which have appealed for urgent funds to widen their operations, have estimated that at least 4.6 million
Ethiopians are in need of aid, mainly because of a drought that has afflicted the entire Horn of Africa region. About
75,000 children are classed as severely malnourished.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported yesterday that children suffering from severe
malnutrition continue to be admitted for medical treatment in SNNPR and in Oromiya region, while new cases of acute
watery diarrhoea are also being diagnosed in Oromiya.
ENDS