Ethiopia: catch all

[SWJED]

22 July NY Times - Ethiopia Is Said to Block Food to Rebel Region by Jeffrey Gettleman.

The Ethiopian government is blockading emergency food aid and choking off trade to large swaths of a remote region in the eastern part of the country that is home to a rebel force, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation, Western diplomats and humanitarian officials say.

The Ethiopian military and its proxy militias have also been siphoning off millions of dollars in international food aid and using a United Nations polio eradication program to funnel money to their fighters, according to relief officials, former Ethiopian government administrators and a member of the Ethiopian Parliament who defected to Germany last month to protest the government’s actions...

[Beelzebubalicious]

I wonder how long Ethiopia can hold it together? I have to admit that Meles Zenawi has lasted longer than I ever thought he would. But, it can't last forever and when Ethiopia implodes (or explodes), what happens in the horn?

[tequila]

Aid agency warns of possible starvation in eastern Ethiopia - McClatchy, 4 Sep.

A leading relief agency said Tuesday that Ethiopian government forces had blocked relief efforts and food supplies in parts of the rebel Ogaden region, adding the threat of starvation to a rapidly growing humanitarian crisis.

Doctors Without Borders said that Ethiopian forces — which are trying to crush a long-running separatist movement in the eastern region — repeatedly had denied its teams access to two of the worst-affected areas in recent weeks, citing security operations.

Agency staff members who traveled along some main roads in the harsh, rock-strewn Ogaden in June, July and August saw villages burned and abandoned, severe shortages of even basic medicines and widespread signs of malnutrition. They said that at least 400,000 people urgently needed help. Some doctors said Ethiopian troops were enforcing partial food blockades in certain areas ...