Saturday, July 30, 2011
 |
| Somalis from southern Somalia carry their belongings as they make their way to a new camp for internally displaced people in Mogadishu Somalia, Saturday July 30, 2011. (AP / Farah Abdi Warsameh) |
Cambridge, Mass., United States
Roughly 100 million people inhabit the Horn of Africa, consisting of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. It is a region that is unfortunately known for the seemingly endless problems of wars, droughts, famines and diseases.
The Ethiopian Global Initiative is deeply concerned by the current drought and famine situation plaguing millions of people in the Horn of Africa. We applaud the international community’s efforts to quickly respond to the regional malnutrition and starvation of the people. The effects of famine also include the spread of epidemics and the increase of mortality rates.
It is nothing short of a scandal for humans to suffer from famine in the 21st century. With the technological and economic advancements over the past decades, famines, regardless of location, should be a thing of the past. Food security and healthcare must be placed as a top priority for governments in the Horn of Africa and other developing states.
The vulnerability of pastoralists, who are at the mercy of nature, and poverty are two important causes of drought and famine in the Horn of Africa. We at the Initiative believe that a long-term development strategy is necessary to combat the problems of food security. Emergency aid is indeed useful, but we encourage the Horn of Africa’s governments, intellectuals and diaspora to come together to find long-term solutions that are sustainable and meet the needs of the people.
Some of the poorest of the world’s poor live in the Horn of Africa, and it is not fair or justifiable to them to live at the hand of the international community’s generosity. The Ethiopian Global Initiative reaffirms its commitment to Ethiopia’s transformation, forming a long-term development strategy that focuses on economic prosperity, literacy, improved access to healthcare and the status of children, youth and women.
Samuel M. Gebru
President and Chairman
Leul Yohannes
Director of Operations
afte all those songs of " we are the world" we are still in food crisis, even though it is a natural disaster, it is shame just to hear that we are still begging for food.Imagine if this is in America,it wouldn't be this much horrifying.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this encouraging statement of truth motivated only by your love for Ethiopia in our best long-forgotten tradition of fairness. It is young people of Today that gives us that maybe Ethiopia's best days are still ahead. That one day we may indeed transition into a genuine democracy built only by love to preserve one of the world's oldest civilizations. I agree 100% food security should be the country's number one priority. Period. A legal method must be set-up to make Famine illegal or unconstitutional.
ReplyDelete