Severe drought leaves Ethiopia facing worst food crisis in 30 years

Ten million Ethiopians could be left without food after the worst drought in 50 years. Save the Children has said emergency food aid will run out by April unless donors provide £170m by the end of the month. The money will cover the cost of food aid for Ethiopia for the three months from May to July. The charity said the window for action “is rapidly closing” as it can take four months to buy food aid and transport it into landlocked Ethiopia via neighbouring Djibouti’s congested port.

If these emergency funds do not arrive in time, there is no question that there will be a critical fracture in the food aid supply pipeline.

Country director John Graham

Experts have said the El Nino weather phenomenon has caused both drought and flooding in different countries across Africa. In the south, around 20 million people are starving with 14 million suffering in the east, according to the UN. Famine, triggered by war and drought, killed one million people in Ethiopia in 1984. The nation now has one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies but many people are still small-scale farmers and herders dependent on seasonal rains.

Ethiopia drought