Al Jazeera and
agencies. "Millions at risk as severe drought hits Ethiopia." 05 Sept
2015 Al Jazeera. O7 Sept 2015
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/ethiopia-drought-150905084538285.html
Millions at risk as severe drought hits Ethiopia
Ethiopia says it is managing crisis though UN says number in need has increased by more than 55 percent this year.
Around 4.5 million Ethiopians could be in need of food aid because of a drought in the country, the UN has said.
Hardest-hit areas are Ethiopia's eastern Afar and southern Somali regions, while pastures and water resources are also unusually low in central and eastern Oromo region, and northern Tigray and Amhara districts.
Reacting to the UN's claims that the number in need had increased by more than 55 percent this year, Alemayew Berhanu, spokesman for Ministry of Agriculture, told Al Jazeera that Ethiopia had "enough surplus food at emergency depots and we're distributing it".
"When we were informed about the problem, the federal government and the regional state authorities started an outreach programme for the affected people," he said.
"When we were informed about the problem, the federal government and the regional state authorities started an outreach programme for the affected people," he said.
In August, the Ethiopian government said that it had allocated $35m to deal with the crisis that has been blamed on El Niño, a warm ocean current that develops between Indonesia and Peru. The UN says it needs $230m by the end of the year to attend to the crisis.
"The absence of rains means that the crops don’t grow, the grass doesn’t grow and people can’t feed their animals," David Del Conte, UNOCHA'S chief in Ethiopia, said.
One farmer in the town of Zway told Al Jazeera that he was selling personal belongings to stay alive.
"There is nothing we can do. We don't have enough crops to provide for our families. We are having to sell our cattle to buy food but the cattle are sick because they don't have enough to eat," Balcha, who has a family of nine, and grows corn and wheat, said.
The onset of El Niño means the spatial distribution of rainfall from June to September has being very low. According to the UN children's agency (UNICEF), the El Niño weather pattern in 2015 is being seen as the strongest of the last 20 years.
Experts say it could be a major problem for the country's economy, as agriculture generates about half of the country's income.
Climate shocks are common in Ethiopia and often lead to poor or failed harvests which result in high levels of acute food insecurity.
Approximately 44 percent of children under 5 years of age in Ethiopia are severely chronically malnourished, or stunted, and nearly 28 percent are underweight, according to the CIA World Factbook.
UNICEF says that about 264,515 children will require treatment for acute severe malnutrition in 2015 while 111,076 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition between January and May 2015.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Response:
Ethiopia
has been strongly affected by a severe drought for a long time. People are having to sell their personal
items to survive. The other effects that the drought has had on Ethiopia this
year are clearly laid out by the author of the article. He also reiterates that
this drought has been going on for a long time. The author appears to have a
biased against the Ethiopian government. He stated that the Ethiopian
government had announced that they would need to allocate $35 million to combat
the drought but the UN said in reality they would need $230 million. There are
evident contradictions between what the Ethiopian government
and the UN estimates the cost will be. Also this statement
"Reacting to the UN's claims that the number in need had increased by 55
percent this year…." shows the reader that UN have taken charge over the
situation despite the government's claims that they have it under control. The
author of this article seems skeptical of the government's efforts to support
their people and highlights that UN Aid is necessary. I then researched the background of Al
Jazeera and Ethiopia's relationship to find out where this bias originated.
This
article was published by a news agency called Al Jazeera which is based out of
Qatar. This year, Qatar announced that it was taking drastic measures within
its own borders to combat desertification and drought. Because Qatar is
interested in combating drought, Al Jazeera may want to make world leaders more
aware of the situation in that part of the world. But the Ethiopian
government and Qatar have had a rocky relationship in the past which was
directly linked to footage that Al Jazeera published of the plight of civilians
in Ogaden, Ethiopia. In 2008, they cut
economic ties because the Ethiopian
government accused Qatar of bringing unrest to
the country. They accused Al Jazeera of publishing propaganda on
Ethiopia because the Qatar government did not like them. Later In 2012, an
article was published by Al Jazeera that highlighted the government's neglect
of this region that was suffering under a severe famine. The same area of
Ogaden has been greatly affected by the recent droughts.
Al
Jazeera may have decided to report on this situation in a less abrupt and
accusing manner in order to not upset the Ethiopian government. But the author
of the article still highlights areas of the governments neglect. I do not
think that the author of the 2012 article also wrote this more recent article
but I think he was aware of the situation. This article is targeted at aid
agencies and people who can make a difference in the situation.
Citation
for Al Jazeera Article written in 2012:
Al
Jazeera and agencies. "Changing Fortunes in Ethiopia's Ogaden" 17
Sept 2012. Al Jazeera. 07 Sept 2015.
Article
about Al Jazeera propaganda against Ethiopia:
Damte,
Behailu. "Qatar’s Al-Jazeera Propaganda Targets Africa, Ethiopia."
Nazret. N.p., 21 Apr. 2008. Web. 8 Sept. 2015. http://nazret.com/blog/index.php/ethiopia_qatar_s_al_jazeera_propaganda_t?blog=15
Article
about Ethiopia cutting ties with Qatar:
"Ethiopia
Breaks off Diplomatic Ties with Qatar." The New York Times. The New York
TImes, 24 Apr. 2008. Web. 8 Sept. 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/world/africa/21iht-21ethiopia.12201267.html?_r=0
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