ETHIOPIA ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS FOOD SECURITY SITUATION

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 001498 STATE DEPARTMENT AF/E, AF/PDPA, OES, AND PRM/AFR USAID for AFR EGAST, CTHOMPSON DCHA/AA SCROMER DCHA/OFDA PMORRIS, KCHANNELL DCHA/FFP JDWORKEN, PMOHAN, PBERTOLIN LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER CJTF-HOA AND USCENTCOM FOR POLAD USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN, RTILSWORTH, AND LPANASUK NAIROBI FOR OFDA/ECARO JMYER, GPLATT, RFFPO NCOX, RFFPO RDRAPCHO USEU BRUSSELS USMISSION UN ROME FOR RNEWBERG NEW YORK FOR DMERCADO USEU FOR PBROWN GENEVA FOR NKYLOH, RMA NSC FOR CPRATT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PHUM SENV EAGR PGOV ET SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS FOOD SECURITY SITUATION REF: Addis Ababa 1113 Addis Ababa 1348 Addis Ababa 1373 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. On June 17, 2009 the U.S. Ambassador convened a meeting with key members of the humanitarian community to discuss an action plan to address the worrisome food security situation exacerbated by consecutive seasons of failed rains and an impending food relief pipeline break in mid - July. ¶2. The U.S. Ambassador proposed an agenda with four main points: (a) consensus on the actual food need; (b) consensus on the best approach to convince the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to increase response efforts to meet the actual food security situation; (c) discussion on what donors, United Nations (UN) agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can each contribute to the effort; (d) discussion of the most effective and timely means to deliver the assistance. ¶3. The agreed upon plan includes the following key actions: a) The U.S. Ambassador will use his weekly meetings with the Prime Minister (PM) to encourage acknowledgement of the actual extent of the food security situation and appeal for assistance to at least 6.6 million people in addition to those already participating in the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). The key message will be that good governance is exemplified by effective and timely delivery of services to the citizenry, and that there is no stigma in acknowledging the effects of a natural disaster such as drought. (b) The convened group will continue to meet regularly and will raise (at least weekly) issues on the humanitarian situation with the GoE to the level of the Minister of Agriculture and Deputy Prime Minister. The main issues to be addressed will be the prioritization and expedited entry of relief food assistance through the Port of Djibouti and ensuring a transparent process of allocation and distribution of food assistance. (c) All stakeholders should invest in long term economic development solutions comparable to the investment in humanitarian assistance. (d) The GoE and donors should use all effective means to deliver the assistance including UN agencies and NGOs collaborating with government agencies. End Summary -------------- Background -------------- ¶4. On June 17, 2009 the U.S. Ambassador convened a meeting to discuss an action plan to address the food security situation in Ethiopia. Participants included the Ambassador of Japan; USAID/Ethiopia and USAID/OFDA; the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID); the Embassy of the Netherlands; the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Country Directors from UNICEF, the UN Organization for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) and the UN World Food Program (WFP); Country Directors of international NGOs CARE, Catholic Relief Services (CRS),Save the Children (SC/US and SC/UK) and GOAL. ¶5. The U.S. Ambassador expressed grave concerns about the current food security situation caused by the cumulative effects of four very poor harvests including the most recent failure of the 2009 spring (belg) rains and its impact on crop production. He noted that although the PSNP since 2005 has addressed the chronic needs of more than seven million people, millions of people every year will continue to require assistance. The U.S. Ambassador expressed immediate concern over the shortage of food assistance in the country; the impending relief food pipeline break in mid - July; the GoE's reluctance to appeal for sufficient food and its failure to acknowledge that the problem is beyond the GoE's current assessment of 4.9 million people in need of assistance through June 2009. -- How Many People in Need? -- ¶6. The first agenda item was to agree on the actual number of people in need and the situation on relief food available for assistance. (Comment: Recent reports by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that the GoE is blocking food aid entry into Ethiopia from Djibouti Port and that more than nine million people are near starvation has heightened concern worldwide. End Comment). ¶7. WFP representatives noted the continuation of support for the 4.9 million people acknowledged by the GOE and an additional 'ad hoc' 300,000 people bringing the GoE acknowledged emergency number to 5.2 million through October 2009. USAID stated that available evidence points to a figure nearer seven million people in need. In addition, there are 2.4 million PSNP participants needing additional food or cash assistance to make it through to the green maize harvest in September. Several NGOs suggested the total could be even higher. As well, the deteriorating complex emergency in the Somali Region needs to be addressed urgently during the long dry season currently underway. All donors, UN agencies and NGOs expressed concern that the GoE does not intend to release new appeal numbers until August when the final results (and probable "massaging") of the belg season assessment are released. ¶8. A consensus was reached that current evidence indicates that a minimum of 6.6 million people are in need of assistance from July through October, above the PSNP recipients. While waiting for the belg season assessment results to be officially released in an appeal by the GOE, participants agreed to use this minimal figure as a basis for seeking resources from donor governments, UN and NGO headquarters. -- How to Convince the GoE? -- ¶9. The second agenda item was to agree how best to convince the GoE to acknowledge a greater number of people in need and to appeal for sufficient assistance to satisfy the projected larger requirements. The US Ambassador noted that Ethiopia is not the only country facing a food security crises and stressed the considerable competition for limited resources. The U.S. Ambassador intends to again encourage the GOE to request a sufficient amount of assistance for July to October and to request it as soon as possible otherwise it may be too late. ¶10. The UNICEF Representative made a statement that best summed up the feeling of all participants stating that responding to the needs of the people would reflect positively on the GoE and would be extolled in the press, thus enhancing Ethiopia's image worldwide as opposed to specters of suffering and death that would result if the GoE is too embarrassed to admit the true extent of a natural disaster. ¶11. A consensus was reached that the U.S. Ambassador will use his scheduled meeting to continue to encourage the Prime Minister (PM) to acknowledge the actual extent of the hunger and appeal for sufficient assistance immediately. -- What Can Stakeholders Contribute? -- ¶12. The third agenda item (what contributions various stakeholders could make) led to a debate on the GoE obstruction of assistance delivery through (i) prioritizing cement and fertilizer transport from Djibouti Port while transportation of relief food is delayed for months; (ii) refusing to increase the number the trucks allowed to even temporarily operate the Djibouti to Ethiopia route; (iii) delaying appeals and deliberately reducing assessment numbers to a more palatable number; (iv) blocking access of NGOs and UN agencies to people in need; and (v) lack of transparency in accounting for the delivery of humanitarian assistance, especially food aid. All agreed that the regular meetings on these matters should be raised to a higher level and that the U.S. Ambassador should continue to use his meeting with the PM to highlight the concerns of the humanitarian assistance community. All agreed that preliminary food aid appeals should be made to donor governments, UN and NGO headquarters but more evidence of the spirit of good governance for humanitarian response would be needed from the GoE before actual commitment of resources will be confirmed. ¶13. The Japanese Ambassador and several other representatives emphasized the imbalance between investments in humanitarian assistance and investments in development programs for agricultural and economic growth. The U.S. Ambassador assured the group that the USG intends to substantially increase its contributions to long term agricultural development, but cautioned that the USG cannot guarantee the same level of relief food assistance over the coming years. A consensus was reached that the donor community needs to respond to this crisis but at the same time resolve to invest sufficient resources to assist Ethiopia to address the root causes of poverty and food insecurity. -- Effective Delivery of Humanitarian Assistance -- ¶14. The fourth agenda item centered on effective delivery of humanitarian assistance. USAID/Ethiopia pointed out that relief food (USAID funded) for approximately 2.4 million people for two months would be arriving at the Port of Djibouti in late June or early July for distribution through NGO channels in coordination with the GoE and WFP. USAID/OFDA noted it provides substantial funds to therapeutic feeding programs for the treatment of severely malnourished children, but that without adequate food security at home these same children (and many more) will soon return to the feeding programs. -------------- Conclusion -------------- ¶15. Meeting participants agreed on a minimum number of 6.6 million people in need of food aid as opposed to the GoE's current figure of 4.9 million. -- Key actions to be taken include -- a) The U.S. Ambassador will use his scheduled meeting to encourage the PM to acknowledge the actual extent of the hunger and appeal for assistance for at least 6.6 million people in addition to those already participating in the PSNP. The most important message to be delivered is that good governance is exemplified by effective and timely delivery of services to the citizenry and that there is no stigma in acknowledging the effects of a natural disaster as drought. However, lack of response is indicative of a failed government. (b) The same group of donors, UN agencies and NGOs will continue to meet and will include GoE officials to the level of the Minister of Agriculture and Deputy Prime Minister. Main issues to be addressed are the prioritization and expedited entry of the food assistance through the Port of Djibouti and ensuring a transparent process of allocating assistance to the various regions and woredas. (c) All stakeholders should invest in long term economic development solutions to a comparable level as they invest in humanitarian assistance. (Comment: Chronic food shortages will be long term. The bottom line is not food aid, but agricultural development, land reform, distribution reform, expanded water resources, population control and job creation in manufacturing to help diversify the economy and resolution of conflict. The Nile River Basin agreement would help expand water resources, ease regional conflict, create jobs and expand economic development. End Comment). YAMAMOTO