International backing is vital if Eritrea is to succeed in reducing poverty and ensuring adequate food supplies for its people, the UN special envoy for the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa has said.
”Now the real challenges start, because the (Eritrean) government is working on poverty reduction program and food security programme. It is of utmost importance that the donor community responds positively, because without that, it is not possible for the government to carry out those efforts,” said Martti Ahtisaari late on Wednesday.
Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, arrived in Eritrea on Sunday after spending four days in neighbouring Ethiopia.
The aim of his visit, which ended on Wednesday, was to review the overall humanitarian situation in the two Horn of Africa countries, where some 16-million people are affected by drought.
Ahtisaari said he was ”pleased that during the half year there has been an improvement in the response of the donor community and I think we have been able to avoid a major disaster.”
International aid so far this year has allowed the Eritrean government and UN aid agencies working in the country to meet 70% of food and non-food aid needs in 2003, he said.
The UN and the government in Asmara said when they launched their joint aid appeal for 2003 late last year that an estimated 2,3-million people out of Eritrea’s total population of 3,3-million needed food aid to survive.
The numbers have been revised for the aid appeal for 2004, Ahtisaari said without going into detail. The 2004 aid appeal is due to be launched on November 19. – Sapa-AFP