Britain gives Ethiopia extra £10m

Aid agencies say they are being overwhelmed with cases

The British government is to give a further £10m in aid to help severely malnourished children in Ethiopia, Douglas Alexander has announced.

The contribution is in addition to £5m in aid announced by the international development secretary last month.

More than 125,000 children in Ethiopia urgently need treatment for malnutrition, according to Unicef.

The children's charity also estimates 3.4 million people will need emergency food aid in the next three months.

Some aid agencies running food and medical units say they are being overwhelmed with cases.

Consecutive failed rainy seasons, food-price rises and a lack of resources are all contributing factors in the drought-prone districts of Ethiopia, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) says.

A child with severe malnutrition is in immediate danger of death Viviane Van Steirteghem Unicef Ethiopia hunger grows

The organisation says $50m (£25.5m) is urgently required for health, nutrition and water and sanitation, and the situation is rapidly deteriorating.

Dureti Degefi, one of the mothers at a feeding centre in Ethiopia's Siraro district, said: "We had nothing to eat after the corn crop failed.

"My stomach is hungry. And my baby is sick. We need help."

Unicef's deputy representative in Ethiopia, Viviane Van Steirteghem, said non-governmental organisations were working in 55 districts and, with the government, managing to provide for about 50% of the cases.

"But there is a big capacity gap to take care of the remaining children," she added.

"A child with severe malnutrition is in immediate danger of death."

Long walk

The BBC's Gavin Hewitt visited areas affected by the famine and witnessed the problems facing severely malnourished children.

At one centre, a mother called Muner said she had walked for four hours to get help for her son Sparku.

"I was so tired, and it was very difficult getting here. The cattle are dying and there is hunger," she said.

Our correspondent says what he saw was not just a famine but a crisis in a country that will not see the next harvest until early autumn.