ETHIOPIA: UN envoy calls for greater flexibility in providing aid

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ADDIS ABABA, 29 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - Greater flexibility in providing aid to Ethiopia is needed to tackle widespread hunger and underdevelopment in the region, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa, Martti Ahtisaari, said on Sunday.

"Our difficulties now are in the non-food [area]," he said.

While donors had provided more than 130 percent of food needs for the country, he said, vital areas like emergency health, water and sanitation were seriously underfunded.

Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, said seven million to eight million Ethiopians would survive on foreign aid in 2005. He also said the government was working to end problems with its flagship safety net scheme, which is aimed at ending perennial hunger in the country. Under the scheme, five million chronically hungry people are to be given food or cash - around six Ethiopian birr (US $0.70) - in return for engaging in public works tasks such as road building.

However, the government's Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit reported in July that as of the end of May, only 11 percent of cash and 44 percent of food had actually reached the needy, although the scheme started in January.

"There have been problems with higher than expected grain prices and capacity at local level in effecting transfers, especially during the time of the election process," Ahtisaari said. "There were also problems in timely provisions of cash and food resources in the first two months of the year."

He said the government was working to correct the problems. "It is critical during this period of transition that all partners build capacities of local communities to achieve food and livelihood security," he said.

"Our common aim must be working towards self-reliance and not expect this to happen overnight," he told reporters at a news conference in the capital, Addis Ababa.

He also urged donors to continue aid despite the postelection violence in June, which has human rights groups claiming that security forces shot dead 42 people protesting against alleged electoral fraud.

"Whatever has happened, humanitarian assistance should never be politicised. All those that are in need should be helped," he said. "I sincerely hope that the elections will not affect the donor preparedness."

Britain froze 20 million pounds sterling ($36 million) in aid to Ethiopia following the postelection civil unrest.

Ahtisaari spent eights days in Eritrea and Ethiopia, where at least 10 million people are in need of food ai

[ENDS]