From Africa Recovery, Vol.14#1 (April 2000), Watch page

DROUGHT
Famine looms again in the Horn of Africa

Famine threatens to engulf over 12 million people in the Greater Horn of Africa in the May-July 2000 period unless nearly a million tonnes of food supplies are rapidly mobilized and sent to the region, according to UN and non-governmental agencies. Ethiopia alone needs about 800,000 tonnes of food for 7.8 million people. They said major rains had failed for the past three years, particularly in south-eastern Ethiopia and drought conditions were moving north. Other countries hit by drought -- in some cases, compounded by armed conflict -- are Kenya, where 2.7 million people are at risk, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. The World Food Programme (WFP) aims to distribute 371,000 tonnes of food to 6.1 million people, but puts total needs at around 940,000 tonnes.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini as his Special Envoy to spearhead efforts to avert a famine. She was scheduled to travel to the region in April with journalists and representatives of other UN agencies to raise public awareness of the famine threat and seek commitments from governments and other belligerent parties to provide safe access to affected populations for humanitarian agencies.

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