Now Ethiopia Says Thanks to U.S., Biggest Food Donor

The U.S. government, which provided 41% of the international food aid in Ethiopia’s last famine but was only belatedly recognized here for its gift, is also the largest contributor of relief assistance in the current drought. This time, however, it is getting public thanks from the Ethiopian government.

The U.S. government earlier pledged 115,000 tons of food, valued at about $40 million. On Thursday, the U.S. Agency for International Development pledged another 105,000 tons of food, news agencies reported from Washington. The AID also said the United States will provide 25 long-haul trucks to help transport the food.

By the end of 1988, the American contribution will probably amount to about a third of the more than 1 million tons the Ethiopian government says it needs, according to James Cheek, the U.S. charge d’affaires here.

In the last famine, the U.S. government was angered by the Ethiopian leaders’ long delay in publicly recognizing America’s large food contributions. This year, however, the first U.S. pledge was front-page news in the government newspaper.

“We got mass exposure this time,” Cheek said.

Another indication of Ethiopia’s changed attitude has been its commitment to the relief effort. The Ethiopian government purchased 100,000 tons of food from Canada on the open market and, rather than keep it for distribution among the army, as it did in the past, it gave the grain to the relief effort.

“Clearly the government has learned from the mistakes of 1984-85,” Cheek said. “Nobody can accuse them of ignoring the problem.”

The 115,000 tons pledged by the United States in September cost $25 million, half of which went for ocean transport costs. An additional $12 million was contributed for internal transportation charges, and program costs amount to about $3 million.

Most American food aid here is distributed through private relief organizations, such as Catholic Relief Services, or the U.N. World Food Program. Those agencies, in turn, work through the Ethiopian government’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, which coordinates the relief effort.

The United States was once Ethiopia’s principal benefactor, but the long economic and military relationship ended in 1977, three years after the Marxist revolution here, when Ethiopia turned to the Soviet Union for arms. Today Ethiopia receives about $500 million a year in Soviet military support. As elsewhere in the world, the Soviets provide little food or developmental aid here.

During the last famine, international donors contributed $2 billion in relief assistance to Ethiopia. The U.S. government provided 464,000 tons of food as well as other supplies with a total value of about $460 million.

The European Communities and its member states donated 318,000 tons. Warsaw Pact countries accounted for 1% of last year’s food aid, and the Soviet Union provided some trucks for transporting food.