THE ETHIOPIAN CRISIS: A PRIMER                 

CRISIS
11 million Ethiopians at risk of starvation.

REMEMBER
In the 1984-85 famine, eight million people — about 18 percent of the population — suffered food shortages. The crisis hit hardest in the north.* About 1 Million Ethiopians died.

NOW
The looming crisis in 2003 is expected to affect more than 11 million people, or 16 percent of the expanded populace.*

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
There are many reasons. The direct reason is the lack of rainfall.

Indirect reasons include:
-A fall in global coffee prices--coffee being Ethiopia's largest export.
-Persistent political instability which holds hostage the country's long term economic growth.
-A long and expensive border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in which each country was estimated to have spent $1MM per day.
-Agro-Economics: Families divide their land among their children. Individual farmers are thus left with very small plots of land. Communities must organize and access micro-credit in order to invest in large irrigation systems which can benefit many landowners at the same time.

CURRENT LEADERSHIP
The current Prime Minister of Ethiopia is Meles Zenawi. Unlike the Derg military regime that ruled Ethiopia during the 1984 famine, Mr. Zenawi is not hiding the crisis from the international community. The Prime Minister is inviting and urging foreign countries to donate food and aid.

Prime Minister Zenawi has toured drought-affected regions with reporters in tow and has called on international agencies for help. This time, the government's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission has been warning of deaths for months, long before any disaster set in.*

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?
You can donate money to Oxfam (learn), GOAL (learn), CCF (learn).
You can read more about the crisis and write to your local representative.
You can join the Foreignaid.com Ethiopia Volunteer Committee.

THINGS TO REMEMBER
Not all Ethiopians are poor. Meet the leaders at Ethiopian Airlines.
Not all Ethiopians are uneducated. Meet Dr.T.B.Gebre-Egziabher of the EPA.

QUESTIONS?
Email: The Foreignaid.com Ethiopia Volunteer Committee. 

Sources:
*Fears of Famine in Ethiopia by Marc Lacey, New York Times 1/5/03

Links:
A great photo essay about Addis Ababa
News and multimedia about Ethiopia
Eritrea - Ethiopia Conflict FAQs
Biography of Meles Zenawi Prime Minister of the FDRE

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