Ethiopia said on Tuesday that 4.5 million of its people needed emergency food aid — more than 1 million more than an earlier estimate of 3.4 million.
High food prices and the failure of rains have cast Africa’s second most populous nation into a crisis reminiscent of its devastating 1984-1985 famine, which killed more than 1 million.
“It is a critical food shortage,” said Simon Mechale, head of the government’s Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency. “Only 33 percent of our food requirement can be covered.”
The government says 75,000 children are severely malnourished in the country of more than 80 million, while last week the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF gave a higher estimate of 126,000 children.
UNICEF said rising prices worldwide meant the government and aid agencies could currently only afford food for around 33,000.
The U.N. World Food Programme has appealed for $147 million to tackle the impact of the drought in Ethiopia, while UNICEF is looking for $50 million.
“We can ride out this temporary crisis if we get the necessary resources,” said Bjorn Ljungqvist, UNICEF representative in Ethiopia.
Mechale said the 4.5 million figure does not include more than 8 million Ethiopians in drought-prone areas who regularly receive food or cash from a government programme.
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