asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he is monitoring the situation on an up-to-date basis in relation to the continuing food shortage in Ethiopia; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Ethiopia Food Shortage.
32.
My Department are carefully monitoring the situation in Ethiopia by means of situation reports from the major international relief agencies, information which is made available to it by Irish NGOS involved in relief activities in Ethiopia and through media coverage of the situation. Ireland contributed £0.369 million in funding and 3,300 tonnes of food aid in 1987 towards the relief operations launched by international organisations and Irish NGOS.
The most recent reports available indicate that over 5 million Ethiopians will need famine relief assistance during 1988 and that approximately 1.3 million tonnes of food aid will be required for that purpose. That figure is even higher than food aid receipts during the 1984-85 famine. However, we are pleased to note the recent announcement by the Secretary General of the United Nations that pledges of food aid donations have already reached 1.04 million tonnes.
As regards the transport and logistics sector, the UN Secretary General announced that donors have contributed $30 million against overall requirements estimated at $32 million. Similarly, the donor community is strongly backing the emergency airlift operation in the drought affected north, co-ordinated by the Ethiopian Relief and Rehabilitation Commission and the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRO). To date, $8 million has been pledged to the United Nations Emergency Transport Fund, and further funding of $6.8 million has been provided by the European Economic Community, Caritas and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Large consignments of food aid are currently arriving in Ethiopian ports and although there is a certain amount of port congestion the offloading of these supplies, though slow, appears to be regular. Civil strife in the severely drought affected regions of Eritrea and Tigre has resulted in the destruction of over 90 trucks since October 1987. Although the security situation remains tense and precarious food supplies appear to be getting through at present to the worst hit areas both by road and by airlift, but the situation could deteriorate at any time.
The relief organisations are determined to prevent the formation of relief camps with their attendant risks of epidemics and good food distribution is one of the main ways of avoiding this. The physical condition of people collecting rations at distribution points throughout the most affected areas is still relatively satisfactory. This indicates that in these areas relief operations have been timely and effective in helping to avoid famine conditions. As long as news of continuing food supplies continues to come through, settlement in the feeding centres should not be a major problem. However, the relief operation is an extremely vulnerable one on account of the security and logistics situation which will face additional strains over the next few weeks as a significant increase in dependency is expected, particularly in the north, as the populations' own meagre food resources are exhausted.