Africa Media Watch

Media Watch this week looks at reaction to the threat of famine in the Horn of Africa.

Recriminations

The famine in the Horn of Africa and the difficulties of aid distribution had repercussions throughout Africa this week, with some in the media pinning the blame firmly on the West.

Mantras chanted by the developed world in praise of the 'global village' are increasingly sounding hollow with every major human tragedy on the African continent

The Sowetan of South Africa

In an editorial entitled "Africa must take charge of Africa", The Sowetan of South Africa delivered a broadside against the Western relief effort.

It said the West did not have a sufficient sense of urgency, and its inactivity in Africa compared unfavourably with the crises in the Gulf and Yugoslavia.

"Mantras chanted by the developed world in praise of the 'global village' are increasingly sounding hollow with every major human tragedy on the African continent," it said.

"All they have done so far is to blame the Ethiopian-Eritrean war for their failure to deliver humanitarian aid," it continued.

Over 16 million people face serious food shortages

"This stands in stark contrast to their speedy and decisive intervention in Kosovo and the Gulf region, ostensibly in the interest of global peace and in defence of human rights.

"Fifteen years ago about 800,000 Africans died in the same region after a prolonged drought. Western powers failed to come to the aid of millions of Ethiopians until it was too late."

Ethiopian displeasure

Ethiopia reacted very strongly to charges that its war with Eritrea was hindering relief.

The government in Addis Ababa did not take kindly to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's criticism of the government's handling of distribution.

It should be clear to all concerned that it is only when grain is available that it can be distributed.

Ethiopian Government statement

"The Ethiopian government has high regard for Secretary-General Kofi Annan and is profoundly surprised by the remarks attributed to him," a government statement said.

It said that the international community had not responded to Ethiopia's appeals for food aid in 1998 and 1999 so Ethiopia could not be blamed for the shortage.

"As regards the charge that the real problem is one of distribution and lack of access, it should be clear to all concerned that it is only when grain is available that it can be distributed," the statement added.

"The wrong pill"

In an editorial entitled "Prescribing the wrong pill again", Addis Ababa's Reporter chided Western governments and relief agencies for threatening to withhold aid if the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict continued.

The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea has not helped matters

"It is a well known fact that conflict and poverty are closely intertwined, each forming part of a vicious circle," the newspaper said.

"It does not make sense, therefore, to withhold aid and relief as a means of discouraging the engagement of poor states in conflict."

The paper said the West was exacerbating poverty in Africa, it said, and it was a contradiction to threaten to withhold aid while saying that conflict and poverty were directly related.

"As long as donors are... prescribing the wrong pill for poverty and conflict in Africa, they will continue to be significant players in aggravating both poverty and conflict situations in Africa," it said.

Not enough

But one Ethiopian newspaper admitted that Ethiopia had to bear some of the blame for the crisis. Addis Ababa Tribune said the government had been too optimistic in its food programme in the recent past.

"What was done was not enough," it said.

Livestock has been decimated by the drought

"It was only two years ago that a well-placed Ethiopian government minister proclaimed 'hunger in Ethiopia is already a thing of the past' and that 'it has in fact been eliminated'.

"It was reaffirmed that Ethiopia was self-sufficient in food and that food security, in contrast to food self-sufficiency, will be realised in the next five years."

It urged the government to look beyond the immediate crisis.

"It is a good time to urgently think over what we should do for the short term to avert famine - and what we should do for the long term to be self-sufficient in food."

"Thieves" and "aid addicts"

An Ethiopian government statement accused Eritrea of stealing grain bound for Ethiopia.

"It cannot be forgotten that in May 1998 over 70,000 tonnes of grain, destined for Ethiopia, from the US, Canada and the World Food Programme was looted by the Eritrean regime," it read.

[The Ethiopian Foreign Minister] and his cohorts always expected Western governments to feed their hungry while they went on an arms shopping spree

Eritrean News Agency

Eritrea pointed the finger back. A commentary by its Visafric news agency headlined "Blaming others... as usual" accused Ethiopia of irresponsibility.

"[The Ethiopian foreign minister] seems to have forgotten that the primary responsibility for caring for his people lies first and foremost with his own government.

"But judging by his statement ... one would say that he and his cohorts always expected Western governments to feed their hungry while they went on an arms shopping spree."

The agency said that Ethiopia was "addicted" to aid and using it to feed its military. "Food aid has never stopped flowing through the pipeline to Ethiopia," it said.

"The country has become so addicted to relief aid over the past 25 years one can no longer consider the nature of aid to Ethiopia as emergency or temporary but rather as an indispensable annual subsidy to its budget."

Next Media Watch on 21 April