ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Meles Zenawi warned on Friday that eight million people in his drought-stricken country are threatened by famine. He has complained of a slow response by the international community to help prevent a repeat of the mass starvation of the mid 1980s. Ethiopia is the worst-affected of the seven East African countries where the third drought-induced crop failure in three years has left a total of 12,4-million people in need of relief food assistance. The World Food Programme plans to distribute 371050 tons of food this year to just over 6,1-million people in the region at a cost of $205-million.