Ethiopia: More than 22 million people are suffering from hunger

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United Nations World Food Program (WFP) trucks en route to Tigray in June 2022

Photo: EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP

In the run-up to the visit of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) to Addis Ababa, Welthungerhilfe paints a bleak picture of the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia.

According to the German aid organization, around 22 million people in the second most populous country in Africa have too little to eat.

"The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia has never been so critical since Welthungerhilfe began its work in the Horn of Africa 50 years ago," Abaynah Demeke from Welthungerhilfe's country office in Ethiopia told the dpa news agency.

The current humanitarian crisis has several causes: natural disasters such as locust plagues, droughts and floods, but also health crises such as the corona pandemic and cholera outbreaks have weakened the entire country.

Then there are the ethnic conflicts, above all the recently ended civil war in the Tigray region.

In November, the central government signed a peace agreement with the Tigray rebels after two years of conflict.

»The climate crisis has become the new constant«

According to the United Nations in Germany, more than twelve million people in the north of the country are dependent on food aid despite the ceasefire.

"The economic outlook is bleak and the climate crisis has become a new constant," said the head of the UN World Food Program in Germany, Martin Frick, the editorial network Germany (RND).

It is hoped that Germany will continue its great commitment to the people in the region in 2023.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Baerbock will travel to Ethiopia with her French colleague Catherine Colonna to, among other things, get an idea of ​​the humanitarian situation in the country on the Horn of Africa with around 120 million inhabitants.

Ethiopia is the most populous country in Africa after Nigeria.

col/dpa