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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 21, 1984
PAGE 11
ine concern.••. Good will by foreigners counts for little when
the Ethiopian government responds with near indifference to the
tragedy building within its own borders.
Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest nations. Yet, on September 16, the
government shelled out, it is now believed,
$200-250
million to celebrate
the tenth anniversary of the overthrow of the late Emperor Haile Selassie
and to formally proclaim the establishment of Ethiopia's new Communist
Party. Ethiopia's dictator, Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Miriam, delivered a
numbing seven-hour long speech --the usual "down with imperialism." But he
did not mention the famine which was endangering the lives of one-fifth of
the population.
Another nation gripped by famine is Chad. A civil war between two groups,
one supported by Libya and the other (the incumbant government) by France,
has greatly aggravated the situation. Here are excerpts from an article
appearing in the November
10
DAILY TELEGRAPH:
A fragile ferry link, capable of carrying only one lorry at a
time, is the only means of transporting food to five million
people in Chad, where the famine is potentially even more
catastrophic than in Ethiopia. "There are not so many people
affected as in Ethiopia, but the potential for catastrophe is
very much greater because of lo·
gistic and political problems,"
said Mr. James Henry, 32, head of international operations for
the British Red Cross.
Chad is landlocked, and for political reasons neighbouring
countries have closed their borders, allowing only one entry
through Cameroon. "The three-week journey by road is totally
dependent on a ferry-crossing over the Chari River, where the
only vessel takes one lorry at a time," said Mr. Henry, who
returned yesterday after a month in Chad and Ethiopia. A fall in
the level of the Chari River on the Chad-Cameroon border was
making it too shallow for the ferry to operate, but still deep
enough to be impassable to vehicles.
Relief agencies faced "a major logistic nightmare" in trying to
meet Chad's estimated food deficit of
125,000-150,000
tons.•.•
Mr. Henry said that an airlift would not be able to cope with the
volume of food required, and the next harvest was not expected
for many months. Moreover fighting between government troops and
Libyan-backed rebels had hindered planting.
Naked politics and shameful name-calling hamper whatever role the United
Nations could play in Africa's grim plight. This report appeared in the
November 12 issue of the DAILY TELEGRAPH, entitled "Communists Block U.N.
Moves to Aid Africa":
Russia and its East European allies are being blamed for the in
ability of the United Nations General Assembly to take effective
action to tackle the economic woes of Africa and more importantly
the drought in Ethiopia. According to diplomatic sources the
assembly has been unable to approve proper language for a draft
declaration or resolution because the Communists insist that any
document places the blame for the trouble on colon1al1sm.