US sending more food aid

Ethiopia and Eritrea, both reeling from severe drought, are to receive an additional 200,000 mt of food aid from the US. According to a statement from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US government has pledged 186,540 mt of food aid for Ethiopia, while Eritrea will receive some 13,500 mt of wheat. According to aid agencies, the harvest in Ethiopia is down by as much as 25 percent and Eritrea has suffered its worst crop failure in a decade. The USAID statement said the pledge demonstrated the government's commitment to the crisis in the Horn of Africa. “We are pleased to be able to continue to help Ethiopia and Eritrea address this dire situation,” said USAID head Andrew Natsios. The additional food is part of a US emergency food assistance programme for Africa called the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, of which the two countries are the main beneficiaries. The trust fund allows the US to respond to unanticipated food crises around the globe for humanitarian relief in developing countries. The Eritrean government has purchased 80,000 mt of grain on the international market, but says 476,797 mt of food aid are required. The international community has pledged 112,330 mt, but so far the response has only covered about 24 percent of this amount. The government has warned that in a few months' time, farmers will have consumed their "negligible" harvest, their assets and their livestock. Meanwhile, the US embassy in Addis Ababa said the Ethiopian shipment is part of a response to the latest government food appeal issued in early March. “Use of the reserve will help ensure that sufficient commodities are available to respond to urgent needs in Ethiopia,” the US embassy in Addis Ababa said. It added that the trust fund was being used because “US food aid programmes are fully allocated for this fiscal year”. The aid, which is expected to arrive over the next few months, will be distributed mainly through private voluntary organisations and is expected to arrive over the next few months, the embassy said.