The terrible situation in Ethiopia is being worsened by the actions of its government.

The extent of the famine is firstly being massively underestimated by the regime of Meles Zanawi, according to a report last month by Britain's Channel 4. Moreover, the Ethiopian army is also diverting food aid and pursuing a scorched earth policy in the Ogaden region.

The September 19 report by Jonathan Rugman accused the Ethiopian government of claiming then that only four million were in need of aid, when the United Nations estimate was around eight million. Sir John Holmes, the UN's emergency coordinator stated that "The figure has risen very substantially, maybe even doubled"-an estimate it appears has now been surpassed.

The Ogaden region jutting into Somalia is home to the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The army is accused of withholding food supplies as part of its campaign against the ONLF, to prevent the nomad tribes who inhabit the area from giving any succour to the rebels. Many resort to eating berries, bark or cactus to try to survive. On some occasions children have eaten poisonous berries and have died. The nomads' animals are also dying.

The Channel 4 news report showed one man visibly suffering from lack of food, witnessed by his rib cage showing under his skin. He explained, "I am ill and hungry... Because of the drought we have nothing to eat. The only people who receive food are the military forces."
The army is also accused of depriving people of access to water. Rugman spoke to one man who explained, "We walk for eight hours to collect water. Then the military take the water from us. They say the rebels pass through our villages and that we give them supplies. But what can we give? We are dying of hunger. We have nothing to give our own children."

Ogaden has not had any rainfall for three years. The Ethiopian government has been accused of human rights abuses, and a year ago the UN called on the government to hold an enquiry into the abuses. The enquiry has not taken place.

Channel 4 had seen a confidential report prepared by USAid, the American government aid body, which spoke of "hundreds of areas... have neither been assessed nor received any food assistance... populations we met [are] terrorised by the inability to access food."

"The US Government cannot in good conscience allow the food operation to continue in its current manifestation," the report concludes.
However, Washington regards Zenawi as an important ally in the Horn of Africa region and a key part of its "War on Terror". Ethiopia is currently conducting an increasingly brutal proxy war on behalf of the US within Somalia. For this reason the damning report on the behaviour of the Ethiopian government in Ogaden has never been published and the US government still refuses to make any criticism of the Zenawi regime.
edited by:-
World Socialist Web Site
http://www.wsws.org/

Reviewed by:-
Ogaden people solidarity Forum
http://ogadenforum.blogspost.com/