Ethiopia aid: Who is giving what?

Europe delivered only half what it promise, says Oxfam

Ethiopia estimates it needs about a million tonnes of food aid to give people a chance of surviving the drought in the Horn of Africa, and it has criticised international donors for not acting sooner.

The European Union is preparing to send 800,000 tonnes of food to the region but says it faces logistical problems getting the aid to those who need it.

A border war between landlocked Ethiopia and Eritrea makes it impractical for aid to arrive at Eritrea's well-placed ports.

Horn of Africa situation was raised at Euro-African summit

The European aid effort includes $3.8m from the UK which International Development Secretary Clare Short said was already on its way.

But Ethiopia's ambassador in London, Beyene Negewo, has complained the British aid was "by no means sufficient to bring safety to those dying people".

Broken pledges

The relief agency Oxfam has also accused European Union countries of dragging their feet by not sending aid quickly enough and not keeping up with their commitments.

Europe provided little more than half the food it promised in 1999 and is now more than one year behind on its pledge, Oxfam said in a statement sent to news agencies.

The European Commission had pledged only 50,000 tonnes of food for 2000, in contrast to the 480,000 tonnes promised by the US, it added.

US aid

Ethiopia says famine victims have been overlooked

To ease the current emergency in Ethiopia, the US says it will donate 400,000 tonnes of aid.

USAID assistant administrator for humanitarian relief Hugh Parmer, who is visiting the region, is reported to have received an Eritrean proposal to use the Red Sea port of Assab to deliver food aid.

However, Ethiopia's foreign ministry issued a statement saying adequate port facilities was not the problem, but rather the "lack of adequate response" to the crisis.

It also dismissed the offer from its rival in the bitter conflict as a "public relations gimmick" which followed what Ethiopia says was the looting of 50,000 tonnes of US food aid to supply the Eritrean army.