Parched Earth

By Zoher Abdoolcarim

Should food aid to a needy country be tied to how its government behaves? For these two forlorn children in the drought-ravaged wasteland of Ethiopia's southeast, the answer may well determine if they live or die. The pair number among millions of largely nomadic people in the vast Horn of Africa region, threatened once again by famine. Three straight years of scant rainfall have caused the blistering of large tracts of grazing land, killing off herds of livestock and resulting in the death of hundreds of people, a figure that could rise alarmingly in coming months. Several countries are affected, with Ethiopia hardest hit. "Villagers cite the death of camels as a proxy for the severity of water scarcity," says Gerald Martone of the New York City-based relief organization International Rescue Committee. "The demise of these hardy animals is a testament to the wrath of this drought."

The situation is not yet as grim as Ethiopia's great famine of the mid-1980s, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, but neither is it as straightforward. In the battle against hunger, geopolitics has intruded into the picture. Currently, Ethiopia is locked in a border war with Eritrea over an inconsequential strip of no-man's-land. The conflict, experts estimate, is costing the Ethiopian authorities about $1 million a day. Politicians and aid officials in donor countries think that money should be used to buy food rather than guns.

For now, donors are setting aside any misgivings and, led by the U.S., shipping in tons of much needed supplies. The Ethiopians welcome the help but refuse to back down over the war. "We do not wait to have a full tummy to protect our sovereignty," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told reporters. "[It's not] a luxury" for rich nations. But it might be too high a price for Ethiopia's distressed poor to pay.

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