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Ethiopia's
Grim Plight
A
massive lamine reliel
operation is under
way in drought-stricken
Ethiopia.
The East African nation
is one of 17 countries on
the continent in the grip ol
continuing or worsening
lood crises.
Will the emergency
action prove successful?
Or will the early estimates
ol 1,800,000 Ethiopians
dying of lamine by sorne
time in 1985 prove closer
to actuality?
The obstacles–
geographical and
political-to getting food
aid to the starving millions
of Ethiopians, largely in the
country's northern
highlands, have proven to
Coming:
The Smart Card
A
new computerized
bank card will soon
revolutionize the way the
world makes its financia!
transactions. Such a card,
the
carte a memoire
(commonly referred toas the
Smart Card), was created in
1974 by Roland Moreno, a
French journalist.
•
Computerized bank card:
solution to unsafe times?
February 1985
be formidable and
frustrating to national reliel
agencies.
Overland transport inland
from Ethiopia's Red Sea
ports initially proved to be
ineffective because ol lack
of passable roads. Finally,
an "air bridge" was
established linking the ports
and inland food depots
with drop-off points in
the drought-stricken
regions.
The famine is further
complicated by the various
wars between the central
government ol Lieutenant
Colonel Mengistu Haile
Mariam and several-at
least six- rebel armies who
are in pitched battle
against Colonel Mengistu's
rule. As many as two
thirds of the starving
people are caught in the
contested areas , especially
What makes Smart Cards
so intriguing is that they are
almost impossible to forge
and can only be used with a
personal identiftcation
number (PIN). A computer
brain replaces the strip of
magnetic tape found on
ordinary credit or
automatic-teller cards,
making possible expanded
uses.
For instance, the
microcomputer in each card
has three sections . One
contains the manufacturer's
codes and is inaccessible,
one is confidential and can
be accessed only by the PIN
of the card carrier, and one
can be accessed by anyone.
The !alter section could
hold vital inlormation such as
medica! history, emergency
contact nÜmbers and,
somewhat ominously, other
personal information in which
authorities might be
<
interested.
~
=:
Despite the cost, the cards
1
~
are on their way. Experiments
if
in France- the leader in
SmartCard
technology-Norway and the
in the north. Because of
this conflict , until very
recently the central
government army had been
reluctant to divert any
personnel and vehicles
from its task of battling the
insurrections.
Ethiopia's central
government was reluctant
United States have already
begun. Residents in selected
areas in those nations use
the cards just like they would
cash, checks, credit cards or
even identity cards. When a
person wants to buy
something, the merchant
places the card into a special
reader and enters the amount
of the purchase. The owner
of the card then enters his
Personalldentification
Number to complete the
transaction.
Unlike credit cards, the
Smart Card immediately
debits the purchaser's
account and credits the
merchant's. In the long run,
use of the cards could
eliminate a great deal of
paperwork and expense. The
cards could carry information
now carried on credit cards,
bank cards, social security
cards and liqrary cards, lor
example.
Smart Cards are not
available for general use yet.
but many see them as an
intelligent solution to the
unsale times in which we
live. •
to publicly admit the
building crisis. lt took
international pressure and
the sudden blaze of
worldwide publicity to ftnally
move the government to
Water tables plummeted
during Ethiopian drought.
action in cooperating with
international famine-relief
organizations.
All during last
September, Colonel
Mengistu and his
Marxist government were
busy preparing. not for
lamine relief, but l or the
nation's 10th anniversary
celebration. An estimated
200 to 250 million dollars
were spent on the
festivities. The government
refused to permit journalists
attending the celebrations
to visit drought-affected
areas.
Ethiopia's lamine
conditions are expected to
be even worse in 1985
because of the poor
domestic harvests this
year. The current
government plan calls for
the incorporation of hall of
the nation's peasants and
land by 1994 into state
farms and producers'
cooperatives. This
government restructuring ol
agricultural production, with
traditional Marxist central
planning, will likely assure
that future harvests will
also be poor. •
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