| BRITAIN is to monitor funding to Ethiopia annually, after serious concerns were raised by the International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander, who visited the country last week.
Mr Alexander witnessed what appeared to be attempts to disguise the scale of a worsening humanitarian crisis in which millions are at risk of starvation because of lack of rain, and rising food prices.
Ethiopia has a population of 77 million, 81 per cent of whom are living below the poverty line. The UK increased its aid by £20 million in July, to scale up emergency feeding programmes and to further relief work in the Somali region.
Aid workers discovered that severely malnourished babies and mothers had been taken away from the infant-malnutrition ward at Kebri Dehar hospital in Somali. They believe that they had been removed before Mr Alexander’s visit, in order to avoid embarrassing press images that might deter foreign investment.
Mr Alexander said in a press statement: “Last week, I saw for myself the suffering in Ethiopia, really as a result of a perfect storm in the Somali region of rising food and fuel prices, drought, and the continuing conflict affecting this part of the country. It’s very clear from the non-governmental organisations, doctors, and nurses, that there’s a very real threat of severe malnutrition for a large number of people.
“That is why we’ve already committed £50 million in immediate humanitarian assistance for the Horn of Africa. There’s about 17 million people across the region who are vulnerable to poverty, and in particular to malnutrition, and we remain committed to providing them with support.”
A spokesman for the Department for International Development confirmed on Tuesday that multi-annual agreements of between three to five years’ commitment would be withdrawn. “Because of concerns that [the Minister] had around human rights and particular things that are happening in Ethiopia at the moment, he will only be committing future finance on a yearly basis,” he said. “The idea is to allow the UK government to keep the situation under monitor and to see how that situation progresses.”
The Ethiopian government is reportedly not providing aid workers with the necessary permissions and military escorts to go into the affected areas. “Some of [the issues] are around the access and freedom of movement that NGOs get,” the spokesman said. “Obviously they are playing a massively important role in delivering aid and in general development work, and if their situation were to change, we should need to consider how that will impact on future programmes.”
Banking restrictions imposed by the governor of the Zimbabwean central bank, Gideon Gono, viewed as President Mugabe’s personal banker, have limited cash withdrawals to £1.20 a day, making it impossible for businesses to pay their staff and for aid workers in the country to buy and distribute food. Inflation is running at 231 million per cent, and cash is the only form of transaction.
The Herald newspaper said that the measures were to prevent illegal dealers from purchasing foreign currency. The paper reported that “People interviewed welcomed the development, saying this would go a long way in cushioning vulnerable people from unjustified price hikes.”
The ban, which prevented the distribution of aid, was lifted only in August. Millions face starvation as the power-sharing agreement, made on 15 September between President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party and the MDC, appears to be collapsing. |
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