The United Nations has warned that nearly two thirds of the population of Eritrea, 2,3-million people, will need food aid this year, news reports said on Wednesday.
The tiny Horn of Africa country is facing severe food shortages in 2005, following several successive droughts in the main grain-producing areas of the country.
Several parts of the country have also seen heavy destruction caused by the 1998-2000 border war with neighbouring Ethiopia.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Eritrea would need 262 000 tonnes of food aid this year to supplement the inadequate harvests.
Earlier in the week, the UN envoy to Ethiopia and Eritrea, Lloyd Axworthy, said millions of people remain in poverty as a result of the border war, which has been followed by a five-year stalemate.
He said both countries were missing vital trade and social opportunities that would lift millions out of poverty.
The two-year border war killed tens of thousands of people and tensions remain, with both countries keeping troops by the border. – Sapa-DPA