The European Union said on Friday it is giving â,¬6-million in humanitarian aid to Eritrea and â,¬3-million in aid to Ethiopia to help those affected by drought and conflict.
The money, which will be given to United Nations agencies, will help cover costs to provide urgent food and water supplies to people in Eritrea.
”The immediate challenge is to improve the health and nutritional status of those most at risk,” said EU development commissioner Louis Michel in a statement.
Michel urged Eritrean authorities, however, not to hinder the work of aid agencies, ”to facilitate the work … as much as possible, for the sake of the country’s most vulnerable”.
The European Commission said Eritrea is not able to cover its annual food-consumption needs.
The aid for Ethiopia is to benefit 300 000 people, the commission said, and will be used to pay for programmes to fight malnutrition and disease and provide medicine, safe drinking water and sanitation.
The commission has given â,¬14-million in emergency aid to Ethiopia and â,¬11,6-million in similar aid to Eritrea since 2004.
Efforts to deal with droughts and disease have been complicated by tensions between Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea following a failure to demarcate their border.
Eritrea fought a 30-year war for independence from Ethiopia that was followed by the 1998-2000 border war five years after separation. The border war claimed tens of thousands of lives and cost both impoverished countries an estimated $1-million a day. — Sapa-AP