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February 13, 2012

Home > 2000 > May (Web-only)Christianity Today, May (Web-only), 2000
International Community Has No Excuses in Ethiopia Says Aid Official
Starvation not widespread, but growing rapidly

More than 100 carefully-built rock cairns mark the new cemetery at the edge of this small, arid town in southern Ethiopia.The new cemetery, set apart from the graves of the residents of this desert community, is for the many people who have died in recent weeks after migrating here in search of food, fleeing the ravages of a drought that now threatens to devastate the Horn of Africa with a deadly famine. Sora Guyo is one of the new arrivals. The 45-year-old Oromo-speaking man is a pastoralist, an animal herder who roams through the arid landscape of southern Ethiopia's Great Rift Valley with his small herd of cattle and goats. He and his animals depend on seasonal rains, but for three years the rains haven't come. All 12 of Sora's cattle have died, and their carcasses litter the desert along with those of thousands of other animals.Sora sleeps in a temporary camp at the foot of a nearby mountain with his wife and three children. He walks to town every day to sell a little firewood. Like most of the pastoralists who have migrated here, Sora is emaciated. With little hope left, he leans wearily on his staff. Even if the rain returns soon, his animals are gone and would take years to replace."In the old days, we would have stolen some cattle from the Somalis," he told ENI. "Today we can't do that. I don't know what we're going to do."There is no widespread famine in Ethiopia, at least not yet. The images of starving children from the eastern Ethiopian town of Gode broadcast by CNN, the BBC and other media, are not representative of the whole country, according to relief workers. But millions of Ethiopians are on the edge of famine, and some communities are reduced to eating moss and leaves."If aid doesn't come in a timely manner, ...

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