“Based on the information I received so far, people are not dying of hunger” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed regarding the severe drought occurred in Northern Ethiopia that described by many including Ethiopian and international organizations as “ravaging” causing human and animal death.
However Abiy, who responded to the queries of MPs on Tuesday, said that people are not dying of hunger caused by the drought in northern Ethiopia of Tigray and Amhara regions contrary to the Ethiopian Institution of the Ombudsman that published a report last week mentioning that 351 people and 298 livestock have died due to the drought.
“However based on the information I received so far, people are not dying of hunger,” Abiy said, mentioning that the existing problem is that “people are dying of diseases like malaria plus poor sanitation and nutrition.”
According to the prime minister, “the government cannot stand seeing the Tigray people dying of hunger while resources are available in other regions of the country.”
He stated that government has given required attention to the problem and it is providing support to the needy.
About 500,000 quintals of food aid has been dispatched to Tigray in the past four months primarily by the federal government and some partners, he remarked.
“This helps to prevent death caused by shortage of food at least in the next two or three months,” Abiy stressed.
So far, 15 billion Birr has been spent to provide humanitarian support to vulnerable communities in which the Federal Government has covered 11.4 billion, he expressed.
He also mentioned that his government is producing much agricultural products that the country has ever seen in its recent history indicating that 120 million quintals of wheat product will be harvested this summer season.
The government would support the people even by withdrawing development projects if the drought gets exacerbated, according to Abiy.
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