"As we enter Ethiopia's lean season before the harvest,"
the U. N. World Food Program warned, "the number threatened by
starvation has shot up from 11 million to 12.5 million, and our best
estimates are that it is still climbing."
In Ethiopia, famine remains an endemic threat due to recurring droughts,
as well as man-made failures. From 1982 to 1984, northern Ethiopia had
no rain, and starvation became rampant. Yet, the Communist dictator
Mengistu Haile Mariam denied the problem and obstructed aid deliveries
to punish the opponents of his regime. Roughly one million people starved
to death.
Over 80 percent of Ethiopia's 68 million people rely on subsistence
farming. Drought destroyed 15 percent of last year's harvest. It also
reduced the coffee production that accounts for 60 percent of Ethiopia's
export earnings. Worse yet, world coffee prices have dropped by 70 percent
since 1997. Insect plagues and soil erosion further reduce agricultural
production. Since few farmers irrigate, crops fail even more rapidly
when there is no rain. When there are no crops, livestock mortality
rises rapidly. Lack of roads raises the cost of seeds and fertilizer
and makes it more difficult to get crops to market.
Unfavorable climatic conditions are aggravated by lack of technological
know-how and skilled manpower. Although the law provides for free compulsory
education for all children from age 7 to 13, only 35 percent of the
population is literate. In Ethiopia, as elsewhere throughout the world,
the rich get richer, and the poor get children. Presently, the country's
annual population growth rate stands at 2.6 percent, compared to 1.3
percent worldwide, and .9 percent in the U.S. Yet, only of 12 percent
of Ethiopia's land area is arable.
Forty-seven percent of the population is under 15 years old, compared
to 21.4 percent in the U.S. Three percent are over 65, compared to 12.4
in the U.S. Average life expectancy is 43 years, compared to 76.9 in
the U.S. Currently, a third of all Ethiopians infants die of malnutrition.
After the overthrow of the Mengistu regime in 1991, Ethiopians began
to produce more food. Nevertheless, since the drought of 1984, the country
needed a million tons of food aid every year. From 1998 to 2000, moreover,
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government launched into a senseless war
with neighboring Eritrea, thus further draining manpower and supplies
from food production.
Insensitive, incompetent, and corrupt leaders have been aggravating
the danger of starvation not only in Ethiopia but also in other African
countries. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is deliberately withholding
support from starving people whom he suspects of opposing his regime.
The king of Swaziland is said to be more interested in buying a private
jet than aiding the hungry. The government of Zambia rejects any American
food that is genetically modified. As a positive step, the Ethiopian
government set up an early warning system to prepare both the people
threatened by famine and the potential food donors. Last fall, the U.S.
pledged 93,000 tons of food but at least another 2 million tons are
needed. In neighboring Eritrea, the conditions are worse. Out of its
population of 3 million, 2.3 million are reported to need food aid.
HIV/AIDS has had a catastrophic effect on Ethiopia, with some 3.5 million
people living with the virus, the third highest infected population
in the world. Some one million children have been orphaned. The epidemic,
however, may be receding. A limited five-year study showed that HIV/AIDS
prevention programs did change risky sexual behavior and reduced the
rate of infections. In the U.N. Human Development Index of 162 countries,
Ethiopia ranks 158. In 2000, the country's per capita gross domestic
product for 2000 was $600, compared to $7,200 worldwide, and $36,200
in the U.S.
Maybe President Bush will find a few more million dollars for aid to
Ethiopia in his two trillion dollar budget. After all, the Ethiopian
government joined "the coalition of the willing" in the war
against Iraq.