OWN CORRESPONDENT, Addis Ababa | Wednesday 5.00pm.
THE looming famine in southern Ethiopia “symbolises” the many perils threatening the country’s very survival, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said, while admitting the border war with Eritrea might have aggravated the disaster.
“The current drought-induced crisis we are facing symbolises in a very painful manner the enormous challenges we face to ensure the survival of our country and a dignified existence for our people,” Meles said at the opening of a conference on the country’s economy and society in the 1990s.
Some eight million Ethiopians are believed to be at risk of starvation following three years of drought.
“Our agricultural sector is our Achilles’ heel and the source of Ethiopia’s vulnerability,” Meles said.
“Drought situations are not simply for us recurring phenomena taking place at more or less given intervals, but rather part of our regular agricultural life which will require new approaches to effectively combat their consequences,” he added.
The prime minister also admitted that a two-year-old border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea may well have aggravated the famine by diverting government resources and blocking access routes for aid supplies.
“We have made a choice over the last two years, and this has had consequences for our economy,” he said. “Is it possible for countries such as Ethiopia to make socio-economic progress while maintaining their dignity as nations and maintaining their independence as sovereign countries?”
The conference, organised by the non-governmental Inter-Africa group, is due to be attended by several ministers, diplomats, UN and aid agency representatives and economic experts. — AFP