The BBC recently reported on the recent Eritrean government’s decision to reject international food aid in an effort to promote self-sustaining measures for domestic food growth and measures for prolonged self-sufficiency/sustainability. Eritrean ambassador to the EU, Girma Asmerom, stated quite matter-of-factly “Food aid demonizes the local population and makes them lazy.”
The current government strategies of confiscating and distributing food from areas that have had a bumper harvest have been met with mixed results. Some Eritreans that have fled across the border to refugee camps in northern Ethiopia have attributed their government’s policies to causing widespread hunger.
Food aid officials, including U.N under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief John Holmes have been skeptical of the Eritrean government’s approach, saying, “When we ask the government if they need help they say ‘no’, but we remain concerned to track the situation.”
Posted by Patricia Lee
