Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia has managed to contain the humanitarian crisis

Addis Ababa, August 26 , 2011 – Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia has managed to contain the humanitarian emergency caused by the drought in the Horn of Africa region. The Prime Minister made the remark yesterday in a statement he delivered during the African Union Pledging Conference held to help raise funds for the worst drought to hit the region in sixty years. “I am pleased to report that at the moment we have managed to contain the humanitarian emergency in our country,” Meles said in his statement to African Heads of States and representatives of the international community. He attributed the achievement to the effectiveness of the drought risk management capability that the government has developed over the years.m“Although many of our people had lost their lives due to recurrent drought and famine in the past, this time around we have been able to save the lives of the drought affected population,” Meles said. The Prime Minister said the government had foreseen the current drought situation and had made an appeal for urgent humanitarian assistance.“While waiting for outside help, we have been distributing food to those in need from our Emergency Food Security Reserve,” Meles said adding that his government has decided to buy and import 300,000tons of wheat to replenish the country’s reserve and ensure adequate food in the pipeline. The first ever AU Pledging Conference, which was held under the theme ‘One Africa, One Voice Against Hunger’ aimed to raise funds for the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa. More than 350 million dollars towards the relief effort in the horn region is pledged in addition to 28 million dollars in-kind donations. The contribution will go far to bridge the 1.4 billion dollars gap out of the 2.48 billion dollars needed. Stressing the need for now to focus on addressing the current emergency situation, Meles also urged stakeholders to address the root causes of the problem.“It is important to highlight the fact that the center of gravity of the food insecurity challenge of the region is shifting from the settled farmer communities to areas of pastoralists,” said the Prime Minister. He said while agricultural programmes among farmer communities are beginning to deliver results, there has been limited success in the pastoralist areas. “Clearly pastorlaism as a way of life is fast becoming unviable,” Meles said.(waltainfo)