Eritrea:
Food on its own not enough to solve humanitarian crisis
"My message to the donors is first and foremost to
increase their humanitarian assistance, and not to forget the non-food
assistance,". "Food on its own is not enough to solve the
humanitarian crisis," UN resident humanitarian coordinator Simon Nhongo
told AFP Thursday after bemoaning derisory response to Eritrea appeal.
ASMARA, June 25
(AFP) - Barely
a quarter of the 147 million dollars sought by the UN for humanitarian
assistance for 1.9 million drought-affected Eritreans this year has been
provided by the international community, the UN has lamented.
"The
overall response is 25.7 percent," UN resident humanitarian coordinator
Simon Nhongo told AFP Thursday.
He
noted that the response rate for the previous appeal, for 2003, was 41 percent.
The
population of Eritrea, a small country which lies next to Ethiopia, is 3.3
million.
While
the original appeal, launched in November, was based on an estimation that 1.7
million Eritreans depended on humanitarian aid, the UN increased that figure to
1.9 million earlier this month.
Nhongo
explained that reduced transportation and handling costs meant that the
humanitarian requirements had been revised downwards to 118 million dollars.
"My
message to the donors is first and foremost to increase their humanitarian
assistance, and not to forget the non-food assistance," he said.
"Food
on its own is not enough to solve the humanitarian crisis," he added.
Some
66 percent of the population lived under the poverty line in 2003, he
explained, adding that the short rainy season earlier this year delivered less
water that average levels in some areas.
The
effects of drought in Eritrea have been compounded by those of a bitter war the
country fought with Ethiopia between 1998 and 2000.
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Unlimited, high
