Famine and folly haunt Ethiopia

there no end to the suffering that the people of Ethiopia must endure?

Last year, 20 years after the famine which killed one million people and inspired Bob Geldof to organise the Live Aid concerts, the World Food Programme declared 13 million Ethiopians to be in danger of starvation. This year, mainly because the rains have been a little kinder, the situation has improved, but still some seven million people are close to starvation.

For many years donors and aid organisations have helped sustain Ethiopians in times of drought and the Ethiopian government has come under pressure to devise a long-term solution to their dependence on international aid.