UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 003407
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM, EAID, PGOV, ET
SUBJECT: ADMINISTRATOR FORE'S VISIT TO THE OGADEN: URGENT
NEED FOR MORE FOOD DISTRIBUTION POINTS AND MALNUTRITION
INCREASES
Summary
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1. USAID Administrator and Director of U.S. Foreign
Assistance Henrietta Fore and Assistant Administrator
Almquist visited Gode November 25, meeting with NGOs and
local Government officials. Local officials said that the
two major developments since the September 7 visit to Gode by
Assistant Secretary Frazer were the need for trucks and money
to pay for transportation of food to secondary distribution
sites, and the increase in malnutrition with the number of
children requiring therapeutic feeding at the Gode hospital
increasing from three children per week in September to ten
per week at present. World Food Program (WFP) staff report
that while 9,000 metric tons have been delivered to district
warehouses in the past few weeks, a positive response from
the Government, it is estimated that 52,000 metric tons is
needed to feed 800,000 people in the region of 4 million
people for the period October-December 2007. WFP anticipates
that emergency food assistance will be required beyond
December to May or June of next year. Local officials urge
the NGOs to continue their intervention by providing
emergency food deliveries indefinitely to prevent this
chronically food deficit region from falling back into severe
food shortage conditions. End Summary.
2. The Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and USAID
Administrator Henrietta Fore, accompanied by Assistant
Administrator Kate Almquist, Special Assistant Barbara
Feinstein, USAID Director Glenn Anders, Senator Feingold's
legislative assistant Sara Margon, and Ambassador (notetaker)
visited Gode in the Ogaden region on November 25, 2007. In a
meeting with local officials, the regional governor, Abdi
Farah, outlined two problems for the Administrator: 1) the
urgent need for more trucks and money for transporting food
throughout the Gode region, and 2) the rise in severe
malnutrition of children requiring therapeutic feeding. The
Governor explained that while food was reaching the &primary
distribution point8 of Gode town, more trucks and money to
pay for transportation were urgently required to deliver food
to &secondary distribution points8 and beyond. Governor
Abdi's advisor, Sheikh Omar, noted that the rural populace
did not have camels or animals to help transport food and it
was impossible for the rural populace to walk hundreds of
kilometers to pick up food at the &primary distribution
point8. The Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency
(DPPA) representative, Abdi Mahmoud, added that
transportation was insufficient and urged the U.S. delegation
to help secure more trucks and money to pay for
transportation.
3. The Governor's advisor noted that malnutrition rates have
increased sharply since September, when Assistant Secretary
Frazer visited Gode. The Advisor said that the number of
children requiring therapeutic feeding at Gode hospital as a
result of severe malnutrition increased from three children
per week to ten. Throughout the region, it is estimated that
there has been a tripling of severe malnutrition of children.
They were not able to provide any estimates on mortality
rates, though suspected that rates of death among children
have risen, but noted that causes range from malaria and
other diseases to malnutrition, all common causes for this
region. All of the officials agreed that food distribution
beyond Gode town was urgently required to meet the problem.
Governor Abdi told the U.S. delegation that the region is
chronically food insecure and that ongoing assistance is
needed even after the current emergency is brought under
control. He urged the Administrator to continue indefinitely
food intervention efforts by the humanitarian community as a
solution to prevent malnutrition. The Advisor, Sheikh Omar,
said the long-term answer was for the pastoralists to
transition to farming. This process has already begun, but
the advisor and governor said that farm tools, training, and
support are needed.
4. In a separate meeting with NGOs and UN agencies operating
in the area, all funded by USAID, the common plea was for
more food and more rapid distribution. World Food Program
Director Mohammed Diab said 9,000 metric tons were delivered
to district warehouses in the past week and thanked the
Embassy's efforts to work with the Federal Government to
speed up deliveries. But, Diab noted, 52,000 metric tons of
food were required to meet the needs of 600,000 in the
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"restricted" Ogaden region and another 200,000 in the
&unrestricted8 areas in the other parts of Ethiopia's
Somali region. The current intervention was expected to last
through December, but Diab said probably through May or June
is more realistic.
5. Diab said that the government has agreed to 174 food
distribution points in the restricted area. WFP believes
that no military escort is needed for 86 sites and is working
with the Federal Government for approval. Military escorts
will be necessary to deliver food to the 88 sites where
counter insurgency operations make it dangerous for
distribution to take place. WFP did admit that with the
start of military escorts, reports of &leakage8 or
disappearance of food has been eliminated. But the problem
is that food deliveries are much slower.
6. Other NGOs confirmed the critical need to get more food
into the region and confirmed the reports by local officials
on the need to distribute the food to secondary distribution
points and beyond. UNHCR reported that they have been asked
to leave the Ogaden region. Their local representative
reported that as many as 18,000 refugees from Somalia have
fled into the Ogaden to escape the fighting in Somalia. The
Kenyan border remains closed and so Somali refugees are
finding it difficult to get refuge. UNHCR said there were
internally displaced people, but had no statistics on
internal population movements. The local governor noted that
people from Fik had moved into Gode to escape the fighting.
The NGOs said that the livestock market has collapsed, with
an exchange of one sheep for one bag of rice three months ago
to three sheep now required to secure one bag of rice.
COMMENT
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7. The remarks from local officials were sharper and more
urgent since the visit in September of the Assistant
Secretary. The Embassy, in conjunction with USAID plans to
SIPDIS
continue working with GOE officials on problems in the
Ogaden. It was agreed in a meeting with the Prime Minister
that we would share information to ensure that accurate
information was being obtained on the Ogaden. The Ambassador
plans to host another regular meeting of the NGOs, UN
agencies and donor groups, and follow-up directly with the
Prime Minister on what needs to be done to alleviate issues
in the Ogaden. In response to her meeting with the Prime
Minister, Administrator Fore will make the following points
to the Prime Minister:
-- We still receive reports from the NGOs that Ethiopian
National Defense Force check points continues to cause delays
of food deliveries into the Somali region of Ethiopia.
-- The key to assisting the Somali region is encouraging
expanded commercial livestock and food trade.
-- The Ethiopian government agency in charge of food
distribution, DPPA, reports that more trucks and money to pay
for transportation of food is urgently needed for Ethiopia's
Somali region.
-- DPPA and local officials in Gode report that food
deliveries to the &primary8 distribution point of Gode town
-- and to the other district centers -- must be extended to
&secondary8 distribution points and other areas because
affected people do not have camels or animals to carry
distributed food and no way to walk the many kilometers to
reach district centers to get food.
-- We urge the Ethiopian Government to allow the World Food
Program to deliver food without military escort to the 86
distribution points in the security area which are not high
risk. We understand that this is being considered by the
Ethiopian Government. WFP requires military escort service
for the other points in the &restricted area8 due to
security concerns. We hope that more military escorts can be
arranged as some food aid has been in district centers for a
week awaiting military escort to distribution points.
-- From my visit to Gode, more food is required for the
primary distribution points. 9,000 metric tons have been
delivered recently and the WFP estimates that 52,000 metric
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tons will probably be needed for the 800,000 people at risk.
-- USAID and the Embassy look forward to working with the
Government of Ethiopia on a development plan for the Somali
region of Ethiopia.
YAMAMOTO