Sunday, July 31, 2011

East Africa faces famine, Eritrea suffers in silence

(July 30, 2011, MAI-AINI, Ethiopia (AP) - Alem Teke watched her crops in Eritrea shrivel and die from drought. She braved landmines and escaped being raped by soldiers to save her children from starvation by fleeing across the border to a refugee camp in neighboring Ethiopia.

Alem, a farmer's wife, made it to the Mai-Aini refugee camp in Ethiopia. She was more fortunate than some of her friends who were raped.

Like many people fleeing famine that has hit parts of the Horn of Africa, Alem has overcome the odds to escape hunger, but as the world focuses on famine in Somalia, Eritrea suffers in silence.

Eritrea, a nation of 5 million people that borders Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti, has also seen failed rains and widespread food shortages.

But its autocratic government, which faces international sanctions, refuses to acknowledge a drought has swept its territory. Satellite images show that the Red Sea nation has been hit by drought conditions similar to those in Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Nearly 1,000 Eritreans arrived at a refugee camp in northern Ethiopia in July alone, officials said. Read the full story at AP Association Press »

No comments:

Post a Comment