Ethiopia facing never-ending famine

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Oxfam, the international aid organization, says Ethiopia is facing what it calls a "toxic cocktail" of drought, high food prices, delivery problems and plagues.

Oxfam says Ethiopia, one of the world's hungriest nations, has seen a drought kill the entire spring crop in some areas and global inflation double the price of food, USA Today reported Monday.

In addition, armed rebellion in the Somali region has disrupted food delivery and assorted plagues from insects to hailstones have hit the country.

Since 1985, Ethiopia's population has doubled to almost 80 million while per-capital farm production has declined.

Peter Walker, a Tufts University famine specialist, terms Ethiopia's hunger "a ticking time bomb."

Today, a nation that has long seen itself as the most independent in Africa is facing ever-growing dependence on food aid from other countries, USA Today intoned. Famine detection, prevention and alleviation have become a major industry in Ethiopia, the U.S. newspaper.

The United States alone will give about $460 million this year, part of a $1 billion non-military foreign assistance package.