Ethiopia's famine conjures up the horrors of starvation. The image of a 3-year-old child dying captured by cameraman Mohammed Amin and reporter Michael Buerk was witnessed by 470 million people around the world. This was in 1984. The inconsolable image of Africa was forever changed and made indelible by an emaciated boy.
For at least two years up until those images hit the airways, Ethiopians were struggling to feed themselves, suffering from terrible droughts and brutish leadership. Menigstu Haile Mariam, head of the Ethiopian Marxist government banned all news of the famine. Visas were denied to Western news organizations. At the same time, he spent 46% of the country's GNP on military activities.
Now today. All these years later, history as it so often does, repeats itself like clockwork. On Friday 13th, the UN released an urgent appeal to increase the food aid of some 5 million hungry Ethiopians.
Ethiopia is suffering from a series of terrible droughts exasperated by a global increase in basic foodstuffs and fuels. 75,0000 children are currently afflicted with acute malnutrition and illness. In the meantime, the Ethiopian government decides to increase its military defense budget to $400 million, twice the amount it spends on feeding its people. The UN needs $325 million to buy and distribute 400,000 tons of food aid.
