Above:Donald Booth, President Barack Obama’s nominee to
be next US ambassador to Ethiopia promised to be forward-
leaning on Human Rights.
AFP
Feb 2, 2010
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next US ambassador to Ethiopia pledged on Tuesday to press the government in Addis Ababa to improve human rights, free political prisoners and make upcoming elections fair. Donald Booth said the United States had “complex interests” in Ethiopia, and that the two nations, while differing in tactics, saw largely eye-to-eye on the need to bring stability and prevent an Islamist takeover of Somalia. Read More.
MyFox — Police say it all started with a beer run and ended
with the death of an innocent driver, identified as 27-year-
old Abel Abebe, an ASU student from Ethiopia.
FOXNews: Food 101 – Dishes of Ethiopian Cuisine From New York’s Queen of Sheba
Above: FOX’s Food 101 features New York’s Queen of Sheba
Ethiopian restaurant located in midtown, Manhattan.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Saturday, January 30, 2010
New York (Tadias) – FoxNews.com’s Diane Macedo explores how to prepare authentic Ethiopian cuisine at New York’s Queen of Sheba restaurant.
The eatery was also one of thirty-three favorite restaurants of Voice food critic Robert Sietsema, author of Secret New York. Sietsema has reviewed more than 2,000 restaurants in the last 14 years.
Among those dishing out delicious and eclectic cuisine at last year’s second Choice Eats tasting event organized by The Village Voice, was the staff of Queen of Sheba, serving injera rolls with fillings of either spicy lentil or beef sauces. Eager tasters waited patiently in rows to pick up the wraps. In it’s description of the Queen of Sheba restaurant, the event publication wrote: “New York finally has its own Queen of Sheba, providing intriguing and sometimes fiery spice combinations.”
Diane Macedo explores the unique flavors of Ethiopian cuisine
Related Video from Tadias: QS at Choice Eats 2009
State of the Union: Obama Calls Jobs ‘Number One Focus’
Above:President Obama said Wednesday night that leaders in
Washington face a “deficit of trust,” as he used his first State
of the Union address to try to restore public confidence in his
administration. (NYT)
Above:On Martin Luther King Jr. Day a year after the first
African-American president took office, Americans appear
to have mixed views about the impact of President Obama’s
election on race relations. (The Christian Science Monitor)
FOX:During the biggest recession since the Great Depression,
a local Ethiopian family is bucking the trend. They are poised…
to open a new coffee shop. And they’re choosing to do it in the
poorest neighborhood in Washington, D.C.: Anacostia.
Above:Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says his comment
about Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential bid as “light
skinned” and “with no Negro dialect” was “a poor choice of
words.” (Mike Theiler / EPA file)
Video: Reid to Obama: Sorry for ‘no Negro Dialect’ Remark
Above:A homemade video by Zewdy, a talented young artist
from New York City is garnering growing attention on YouTube.
Tadias Magazine Arts & Entertainment News
Published: Friday, January 8, 2010
New York (Tadias) – We recently received several emails directing our attention to a music video by a multicultural artist named Zewdy, born in New York City and of Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage.
Partly owing to the young lady’s savvy use of social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, the homemade clip is fast becoming an online sensation. In a sign consistent with viral videos on YouTube, Zewdi has already received over 15, 000 hits in a span of only six days.
“This is the great promise of YouTube: Your video can soar in popularity through sheer word-of mouth—or rather, click-of-mouth—until eventually people are making T-shirts about it,” writes Chris Wilson, who tracked the traffic trends of more than 10,000 YouTube videos for an investigative article published on Slate Magazine. “I crunched the numbers to find out what percentage of YouTube videos hit it big, cracking even 10,000 or 100,000 views. The results: You might have better odds playing the lottery than of becoming a viral video sensation.”
After one month of observation, only twenty five of Wilson’s ten thousand videos made the high mark: “A mere 25, 0.3 percent, had more than 10,000 views,” he observes. “Meanwhile, 65 percent of videos failed to break 50 views; 2.8 percent had zero views.” Slate Magazine’s advice: Don’t bet your career on launching your show biz on YouTube.
But the vibrant Zewdy is beating the odds. Here is the video in which she celebrates her multicultural background through music and dance.
Above:Ethiopians and other Orthodox Christians who follow
the Julian calendar celebrate Genna (Christmas) today.
Tadias Magazine
Editor’s Note
Published: Thursday, January 7th, 2009
New York (Tadias) – We would like to wish a very merry Christmas (Melkam Genna) to all our readers!
The following is an excerpt from an article entitled “How the Story of Christmas Saved Islam.” It was published on HuffingtonPost.com on Christmas day 2009. The writer shares the story of an Ethiopian Christian King and his decision to grant refuge to the family of the Prophet Mohammad, who arrived in ancient Ethiopia while fleeing from their pagan persecutors. The piece by author and Hollywood filmmaker Kamran Pasha highlights Ethiopia’s historic role in providing sanctuary for the earliest Muslims. We thought we would share it with you in celebration of Genna!
And our Christmas story begins with that first emigration, to the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, in modern day Ethiopia.
In 615 C.E., five years after the prophet’s first vision of Gabriel, persecution of the Muslims had become a life-and-death matter. A Muslim woman named Sumaya, the first martyr of Islam, had been publicly murdered by a Meccan tribal chief. The weakest members of the community, such as the African slave Bilal, were subjected to torture. And the Arab chieftains were coming together to proclaim a ban of trade with the Muslims, prohibiting citizens of Mecca from providing food and medicine to members of the new movement.
Facing the very real possibility of extinction, a small group of Muslims led by the Prophet’s daughter Ruqayya and his son-in-law Uthman, escaped Meccan patrols and managed to get to the Red Sea, where they fled to Abyssinia by boat. They sought the protection of the Negus, the Christian king who had a reputation for justice. Read more.
Cover image: The Saint Yared Choir of D.C (Tadias File Photo)
Above:Etete Ethiopian restaurant in Washington, D.C., has
earned a recognition from Washingtonian magazine as one of
the “100 Very Best Restaurants” (Photo: Mayor Adrian Fenty
poses with the owners in July 2009. – DJ Photography)
Updated: Wednesday, January 6, 2009
Nazret.com has reviewed the hard copy of the 2009 list
and first reported the story here.
The following is a 2008 ranking published in January 2009: Washingtonian’s 100 Best Restaurants
Among local Ethiopians, the name Tiwaltengus Shenegelgn is on par with the name Michel Richard among foodies. Stevie Wonder seeks her out whenever he’s in town. What’s the fuss? Etete, as Shenegelgn is known—it means “mama” in Amharic—cooks with the finesse of a demanding craftswoman, her peppery stews hearty and complex but never burdensome. Read more.
Related from Tadias Archives Photos from Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s Fundraiser at Etete
A fundraiser was held for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty at Etete Ethiopian restaurant in Washington, D.C. on July 30, 2009. The event was hosted by Ethiopian-American businessman Henok Tesfaye, President of U Street Parking, Inc., who gave the restaurant to his mother as a gift. The fundraiser attracted a diverse crowd of both Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians who paid between $500 and $2000 per contributor in support of the the Mayor’s 2010 re-election campaign. Here are photos courtesy of DJ Photography.
Above:An undated photo of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab,
the suspect in the thwarted bombing, was made available
by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Wall Street Journal
HONOLULU — President Barack Obama on Tuesday said a -
“potential catastrophic breach” of security led to the x-mas
Day attempted bombing on a Detroit-bound airplane.
Video: Obama on System Failures CBS
Man claims fellow passenger videotaped attempted bombing The Detroit News
Paul Egan The person was returning from Ethiopia with two adopted children
A Wisconsin man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day says his daughter saw a man videotape the entire flight, including an attempt by a passenger to blow up the aircraft. Charlie Keepman of Oconomowoc said he and his wife and daughter, Ricki, were aboard the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit Metropolitan Airport as the family returned from Ethiopia with two children they had just adopted. “This person actually was videotaping it,” said Keepman, adding that several passengers saw the man, who was seated a few rows in front of them aboard the aircraft. Finding him and his videotape was of great interest to FBI officials who questioned passengers following the flight, Keepman said. Federal officials had no immediate comment. Read more.
Obama Seeks to Assure U.S.; Qaeda Group Stakes Claim The New York Times
HONOLULU — President Obama emerged from Hawaiian seclusion on Monday to try to quell gathering criticism of his administration’s handling of the thwarted Christmas Day bombing of an American airliner as a branch of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility. Read more
Obama vows to ‘keep up the pressure’ on terrorists
.
Above: Former bank official Alhaji Umaru Mutallab,
father of the suspected terrorist. ( FirstBankNigeria)
Press Statement by the Mutallab Family
Our family, like the rest of the world, were woken up in the early hours of Saturday, 26th December, 2009 to the news of an attempt to blow up a plane by a young Nigerian man, who was later identified as Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab. Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab is the son of Alhaji (Dr.) Umaru AbdulMutallab, the head of this Family.
Prior to this incident, his father, having become concerned about his disappearance and stoppage of communication while schooling abroad, reported the matter to the Nigerian security agencies about two months ago, and to some foreign security agencies about a month and a half ago, then sought their assistance to find and return him home. We provided them with all the information required of us to enable them do this. We were hopeful that they would find and return him home. It was while we were waiting for the outcome of their investigation that we arose to the shocking news of that day.
The disappearance and cessation of communication which got his mother and father concerned to report to the security agencies are completely out of character and a very recent development, as before then, from very early childhood, Farouk, to the best of parental monitoring, had never shown any attitude, conduct or association that would give concern. As soon as concern arose, very recently, his parents, reported it and sought help.
The family will continue to fully cooperate with local and international security agencies towards the investigation of this matter, while we await results of the full investigation.
We, along with the whole world, are thankful to Al-Mighty God that there were no lives lost in the incident. May God continue to protect us all, amen.
Finally, as the matter is being investigated by the various agencies, and has already been mentioned in a US court, the family requests that the press should regard this as the only statement it will make for now.
Thank you.
Signed
The Mutallab Family
Abuja, Nigeria
——
Nigerian Charged with Trying to Blow Up Airliner Voice of America Nico Colombant | Washington 26 December 2009
U.S. authorities have charged a Nigerian man with trying to blow up a plane on its descent into the city of Detroit on Friday. The man, who comes from a prominent Nigerian family, was read the charges in a hospital Saturday, where he is being treated for burns. U.S. District Judge Paul Borman read the 23-year-old his charges in a room at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. Read More.
Watch Video: Man charged in US plane bomb plot – 27 Dec 09
Wisconsin family battled fear on targeted flight Associated Press By CARRIE ANTLFINGER | 5:32 p.m. CST, December 26, 2009
MILWAUKEE – Richelle Keepman and her parents were flying home from Ethiopia where her parents just adopted two children when they heard a pop and saw two terrified flight attendants run for fire extinguishers. The 24-year-old, her parents, Charles and Patricia Keepman, and her new 6-year-old sister and 8-year-old brother were sitting near the back of the plane. They were about 20 rows behind the 23-year-old man who is accused of trying detonate an explosive device as the Northwest flight was preparing to land in Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria was charged Saturday in the Christmas Day attempt that only sparked a fire on the flight from Amsterdam. The family was flying from Addis Abeba. Read more.
Father of Terror Suspect Reportedly Warned U.S. Above: Former bank official Alhaji Umaru Mutallab,
father of the suspected terrorist. ( FirstBankNigeria) FOX News | Saturday, December 26, 2009
The alleged father of a Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day reportedly warned the U.S. about his son’s fanatical religious views and activities, the New York Post reported. Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, believed to be the suspected terrorist’s father, told a Nigerian news outlet that six months ago he alerted the U.S. Embassy to his son’s fanatical religious views, the Post reported. He allegedly told Nigerian newspaper This Day that he had informed both the U.S. Embassy and the Nigerian security services of his 23-year-old son Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s activities, the Post reported. Read more.
Above:Ethiopian born Sheba Sahlemariam’s music is a fusion
of many different cultures.
The Jamica Gleaner
Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter
Published: Sunday | December 20, 2009
The singer was born in Ethiopia but her family was exiled from the country when she was only a baby. Since then, she has lived in places like Germany, Guyana, Trinidad, New York, Canada, Kenya, and even Jamaica. Hence, her music is heavily influenced by varied cultures. “We did a lot of travelling when I was young and it has sort of given me a view that is very global. The music that I create sounds as diverse as my life. My life is about growing up in many different places. My life is a fusion of all those things and my music is a fusion,” Sheba told The Sunday Gleaner. “My musical style is fusing all the music that I grew up on; dancehall, reggae, Afro-pop, Ethiopian jazz and urban music. I am fusing all those things which sound like the soundtrack to my life.” The New York-based artiste said reggae and dancehall is also a big part of her music. Read more.
Video: Sheba Sahlemariam Live at Joe’s Pub (New York)
A refugee from the majestic war-torn land of Ethiopia, Sheba Sahlemariam was reared among the concrete jungles of New York City, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. Named after the Queen of Sheba, famed empress of Ethiopia, to whom her family traces direct ancestry – Sheba Sahlemariam is a cousin to Emperor Haile Selassie – which highlights the serendipitous circumstances that moved her family from Ethiopia to Guyana, where she spent her early childhood and later, Jamaica, which deepened her connection to Reggae and Dancehall, the glue to her global and urban sound. Sheba stirs up a unique musical brew that is a mélange of Reggae grooves, Afro-beat, Ethiopian traditional music and jazz, R&B riffs, 16 bar rhymes, and Dancehall Sing-Jaying –souvenirs from her nomadic life.
Sheba’s gorgeous four octave range, soul stirring, provocative lyrics and fierce ability to dial up a diversity of musical styles puts her at the razor’s edge and will expel you from preconceived definitions of urban, pop and world music.
Watch: “Love This Lifetime” by Sheba Sahlemariam
As early as the age of four, she was singing and making up songs, but it wasn’t until a random meeting in Brooklyn, when Sheba forged a musical partnership with Tommy “Madfly” Faragher, that she finally begin to chip away at her lifelong dream to write and record music. Together they began to collaborate on what would be the basis for her first album: The Lion of Sheba. Songs from the forthcoming album are for real music lovers: big vocals, powerful songwriting and beats that challenge your boundaries. The wait is over. You may not be able to get to Ethiopia, but The Lion of Sheba will bring Ethiopia home to you. The Lioness, Sheba…soon come.
Above: Their album, Wudasse, “heard from the front stoops of
a brownstone in Harlem, feels very much like the crisp sounds
of summer jazz.”
Tadias Magazine
CD Review
By Nebiyu Kebede Shawel
Updated: Thursday, December 10, 2009
New York (Tadias) – Wudasse is the brainchild of Ethiopia’s bass legend Fasil Wuhib, paired perfectly with the emerging virtuoso Jorga Mesfin on sax & keyboard and Teferi Assefa, the seamless polyrhythmic drummer.
Wudasse’s debut album titled Selam (Amharic for peace) is piloted with great deft and command. Selam’s bold inroads into jazz is accomplished by the impeccable performances of Ahsa Ahla on percussion, Dale Sanders on guitar and David Bass on Baritone sax, alto sax and flute.
The Music
This is a momentous occasion after decades of stagnation in the Ethiopian music scene, during which uninspiring regurgitation of music from the “classic era” stifled creativity and left the pallets of many music lovers unfulfilled.
The last few years have witnessed a slow but steady shift in the opposite directions. Led by groups such as Wudasse and Bole 2 Harlem, this nascent revolution in Ethiopian music, towards originality and authenticity, shuns the superficial boundaries set by unauthenticated music producers perched atop a musical hierarchy with a jaundiced view of what constitutes marketable music. We will demand more!
The popularity and genius of musicians of “the classic era” as well as their contributions to Ethiopian popular music cannot be denied. The Nostalgic feelings evoked by these artists and their music, however, should not obscure the work of bands such as Wudasse, who are forging a new way forward, by returning to the originality and authenticity, which are hallmarks of the classic era.
The Album
The arts, notably music, have always been at the frontiers and at the root of a cultural identity. Music has always been a forum where intricate negotiations occur within and between cultures. Music sets the tone for a respectable and equitable transmission of cultures. This quality enables music to create a distilled and romantic self -portrait, from a delicate collage of different cultural influences.
Selam, Wudasse’s debut album, demonstrates how this process works by using familiar Ethiopian jingles and a gentle, uninterrupted mingle with jazz, to lure the listener deeper into a far-reaching album.
Opening track, Megemeria (Amharic for the beginning), revolves around a recognizable melody, which creates a comfortable buffer zone for a pleasant musical journey. An engaging conversation between the saxophone, percussion and guitars, is the central building block of this track. The intensity of this conversation is punctuated, at key junctures, by superb virtuoso excursions of each instrument.
Title track Selam, possesses an awesome power to evoke and provoke listeners into roundtable discussions. Selam, which is sixteen minutes long, provides ample room for experimentation and lengthy virtuosos. The track fluctuates between the cadence of a serious jazz work and the relaxed, intimate atmosphere of a jam session of musicians intimately familiar with each other’s vibe.
As Jorga Mesfin on Sax and Dave Bass on Baritone flaunt their Fukera (war call) style dialogue, intruding occasionally into the discussion is the Idir trumpet used to summon the town’s attention and a major cultural bridge in this composition. Bassist Fasil Wuhib responds to the idir’s call, by coaxing chords of the spiritual beguena from his bass guitar, while simultaneously keeping a close leash on Teferi Assefa’s unbounded drumming. Midway through the composition, the flute makes an entry to warn us all about the virtues of peace, accompanied by ruminations from keyboard and percussions. The dust finally settles in a chorus of peace, Wudasse Selam!
Track four, Ete Mete, is an adaptation of a childhood song about a girl’s coming of age, in which her suitor promises to abandon his marriage and elope with her, Ete mete yelomi shita, ya sewye minalesh mata? ……tidarun feto lewsedish alegne….
This track is littered with snippets, which point to the seamless chemistry prevalent within the group on this particular endeavor. A fabulous bass line, laden with chords, and soaring lyrical phrases across bar lines by the Saxophone, beckon to more than just a casual listen.
They are an invitation to delve deeper into the meaning of this song, an exercise that, in my view, has been obscured by the mere fact of its popularity within Ethiopian society. Throughout this meditation, as guitarist Dale sanders deftly drives a slim nail into a crystal ball with precession so not to shatter the glass, the rhythm section, hindered by no such constraints, is constantly stepping on the accelerator.
Heard from the front stoops of a brownstone in Harlem, it feels very much like the crisp sounds of summer jazz, versatile enough to create room for coexistence between the upstairs neighbor’s pulsating turntables and the chorus of young girls from Ethiopia chanting, Aywesdishim tidarun feto melolegnal gasha toroon defto…
The lyrical and abstract hypnotic sounds of the Imbilta (long mono note horns), alongside that of drums, play the dual role of keeping time while making time irrelevant, in Aba Gerima a soulful pearl which tops off Wudasse’s debut album.
This album is not only a tour de force as debut albums go; it thrusts Wudasse into a distinguished group of musical innovators, noticeably absent in the Ethiopian musical orbit over the past decade.
—— About the Author:Nebiyu Kebede Shawel is a writer currently residing in Harlem, New York.
The album reviewed above is available for sale on-line at cdbaby.com and additional information on the artists’ bio is available at wudasse.com
NYT: Formally accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on
Thursday, President Obama robustly defended the use of
military force “on humanitarian grounds” and to preserve
peace. Read more.
Video: Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize (AP)
Video: MTP reflects on MLK’s Nobel
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, President Obama
highlighted the words of Martin Luther King, Jr, delivered in
the same ceremony in 1964. In the following video, Meet The Press
reflects on MLK’s Nobel.
Above:The Virginia couple, pictured here with President
Obama at the White House last week after sneaking into
his first State Dinner without an invitation says: ‘Don’t
Call Us White House Crashers.’
Video: ‘We did not’ Crash, White House Couple Says
Above:Secretary Clinton holds a Bilateral Meeting with Foreign
Minister Seyoum Mesfin of Ethiopia, at the Department of State.
The following video is photo op remarks before their meeting.
(Treaty Room, November 5, 2009).
Derartu Tulu Rings New York Stock Exchange Closing Bell
Above:Derartu Tulu, winner of the 2009 New York City
Marathon, rings the NYSE Closing Bell on Nov 2.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Wednesday, November 4, 2009
New York (Tadias) – Derartu Tulu, winner of the 2009 New York City Marathon, became the third Ethiopian in three years to ring the closing bell on the floor of a U.S. stock exchange on Monday.
President Girma Wolde-Giorgis rung NYSE’s opening bell on March 2, 2007, and Ethiopia-born Ted Alemayhu – Founder & CEO of U.S. Doctors for Africa – became the first Ethiopian to ring the closing bell of NASDAQ on Thursday, March 23, 2006.
37-year-old Tulu was joined at Monday’s ceremony by Mary Wittenberg, President and CEO of the New York Road Runners and Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland, women’s wheelchair winner.
Meanwhile, Meb Keflezighi made an appearance on David Letterman where he presented “The Top Ten List.” Check out the videos below.
25 years after Michael Buerk’s broadcasts from Ethiopia, the documentaries have stopped, but the starvation hasn’t.
Michael Buerk describes them as “by far the most influential pieces of television ever broadcast”. The first of his two BBC News reports that revealed the horror of mass death by starvation in Ethiopia aired 25 years ago this Friday, with the second a day later. They prompted a huge wave of private giving, shamed negligent western governments into action and ushered in a new era in the aid business. Read more.
Oxfam’s deputy humanitarian director says the famine is
reaching a “tipping point”. Watch the video on BBC.
A severe and persistent five-year drought, deepened by climate change, is now stretching across seven countries in the region and exacting a heavy human toll, made worse by high food prices and violent conflict. The worst affected countries are Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda. Other countries hit are Sudan, Djibouti and Tanzania.
Malnutrition is now above emergency levels in some areas and hundreds of thousands of cattle – people’s key source of income – are dying. This is the worst drought that Kenya has experienced for a decade, and the worst humanitarian situation Somalia has experienced since 1991.
The high numbers of people affected – more than double the number caught up in similar food crisis in 2006, when 11 million were at risk – underline the gravity of the situation and the urgent need for funding to prevent the crisis getting worse.
Paul Smith Lomas, Oxfam’s East Africa Director said:
“This is the worst humanitarian crisis Oxfam has seen in East Africa for over ten years. Failed and unpredictable rains are ever more regular across East Africa as raining seasons shorten due to the growing influence of climate change. Droughts have increased from once a decade to every two or three years. In Wajir, northern Kenya, almost 200 dead animals were recently found around one dried-up water source. People are surviving on 2 liters of water a day in some places – less water than a toilet flush. The conditions have never been so harsh or so inhospitable, and people desperately need our help to survive.”
In Kenya , 3.8 million, a tenth of the population, are in need of emergency aid. Food prices have spiraled to 180 percent above average. Areas such as Rift Valley, which have never previously experienced a drought of this intensity are now affected. Conflict over rapidly diminishing resources such as water and pasture for cattle is increasing. Desperate herders are taking their cattle further to look for water and food, sparking tensions with other groups competing for the same resources. Sixty-five people have been killed in Turkana, northern Kenya since June 2009.
One in six children are acutely malnourished in Somalia , and people are trekking for days to find water in the northern regions of the country. Conflict means that people are less able to grow the food, and drought is creating hardship in areas where people have fled. Half of the population – over 3.8 million people – are affected.
In Ethiopia, 13.7 million people are at risk of severe hunger and need assistance. Many are selling their cattle to buy food. In northern Uganda farmers have lost half of their crops and more than 2 million people across the country desperately need aid.
Some 160,000 people mainly around the wild life tourist area of Ngorongoro in north-eastern Tanzania are also at risk. In Djibouti there are worrying levels of increased malnutrition and in South Sudan conflict has put 88,000 people at particular risk.
The aid response to the crisis needs to rapidly expand, but it is desperately short of funds. The World Food Program is facing a $977 million donor shortfall for its work in the Horn of Africa over the next six months. The government of Uganda appealed for donor money to tackle the food crisis, but has so far received only 50 percent of the funding it needs.
Rains are due in October but are likely to bring scant relief or worse still, deluges that could dramatically worsen the situation. There are genuine fears that the region could be hit by floods as a result of the El Nino phenomenon, which could destroy crops and houses, and increase the spread of water-borne diseases. Even with normal rain, the harvest will not arrive until early 2010. People will still need aid to get them through a long hunger season.
Oxfam staff are on the ground helping those at risk but the organisation is appealing for help from the UK public to help scale up its efforts. The agency is expanding its aid effort to reach more than 750,000 people but is in desperate need for funds to do this work. Oxfam is supplying emergency clean water and access to food, and also carrying out long-term projects to strengthen people’s ability to cope with future shocks.
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