Ethiopian Crisis Worsens

NAIROBI - Jan 17/06 - IRIN -- Failed rains in southern Ethiopia have left some 1.75 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned.

"Failed meher [June-September] rains have left Ethiopia's southern Somali region and the Borena zone of Oromiya region confronting an escalating humanitarian crisis," it said in a statement released on Monday.

OCHA added that the people estimated to require assistance from January to June 2006 were "above and beyond the 5.5 million people already receiving food assistance in the country". Ethiopia is one of the world's most food aid-dependent nations.

The agency also warned that a crisis loomed in the northeastern Afar region, where pastures had dried up and communal grazing lands had become "dust bowls".

It noted that the growing number of measles cases in the Somali and Afar regions were also a matter of concern. More than 30 people died from the disease in the two regions between October and December 2005.

"The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that very low immunization levels in Somali region, combined with population displacement, which has been exacerbated by the drought, could indicate wider transmission throughout the region," it said.

OCHA added that to avoid further outbreaks in 2006, UNICEF estimated that US $18 million would be needed for anti-measles programs for 12.6 million children throughout Ethiopia. Plans are already underway to immunize some 750,000 children in Somali region in the coming weeks.

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006

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Copyright (c) 2006 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs