Agency Reports on Food Crisis in Ethiopia

Two million people in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia are facing serious food shortages this year following the collapse of the main rains

By Kenneth Chan, Monday, October 04, 2004

Two million people in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia are facing serious food shortages this year following the collapse of the main rains a UK-based agency reported Monday. News of the food crisis comes as Prime Minister Tony Blair heads to the region.

"Nearly two million people in Tigray face severe hunger. That is almost half the population of the region," said Beverley Jones, the representative in Ethiopia for the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD).

Jones, who recently returned from Tigray said, "Some Ethiopians are comparing the situation with the one they experienced in 1984. If they are not given assistance soon, they will be forced to sell everything they have just to survive. Soon they will have nothing left to sell."