Only one long-term answer to new famine stalking Ethiopia

THE combination of severe drought and rising food prices that has left hundreds of thousands in Ethiopia threatened with starvation must provoke a real sense of déjà vu for people in the west.

The emergency is not on the same scale as the catastrophic famine of 1984 when around one million people died, yet it is causing the global relief agencies to mobilise in anticipation of a major humanitarian crisis.

Some suggest that up to five million people are affected, although the Ethiopian government maintains this figure is inflated.