Soviet Union, in a Switch, Pledges Massive Food Aid to Drought-Stricken Ethiopia

The Soviet Union has become the largest single donor to drought-stricken Ethiopia. Ironically, part of the 250,000 tons of grain it has pledged may be purchased in Europe by an American company.

Moscow came under harsh criticism in the West during the 1984-85 African famine for delivering little more than a token of humanitarian aid to Ethiopia, its closest ally in Africa.

But this time the Kremlin announced that it would give the government of Mengistu Haile Mariam a quarter of a million tons of grain--almost one-fifth of the total requirement for 1988.

That is 1,000 tons more than the American pledge.

The Soviet Union has invited the American multinational company Cargill to tender for the purchase in Europe of its first 50 tons.

With the pledges, relief officials say Ethiopia’s food needs are now almost entirely covered for this year.

But there is a snag.

The pledge does not cover internal transportation costs. And the Ethiopian authorities do not have the money to move so much food to areas where drought threatens mass starvation.

“To move this amount of food we would need a lot of money,” said Aregawi Hagos, director for Eritrea province of the official Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. “We don’t have enough trucks. We would have to hire some. And to hire trucks, you need money.”

There is little likelihood that Western donors will pay to transport the Soviet gift.

“If it came to the U.S. government to provide funding to transport the grain--packed in bags stamped with a hammer and sickle and inscribed ‘gift of the people of the Soviet Union’ --that simply would not be possible,” said Frederick Machmer, Ethiopia representative of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“They should provide funding for transport, like we do,” he said.

Another Western diplomat in Addis Ababa described the Soviet gift as “a big psychological win.”

“The Soviet Union saw the inroads the West made and decided to join the ballgame,” he said.

During the appalling 1984-85 famine, Ethiopia received about $1 billion worth of humanitarian aid, half from the United States and virtually none from the Soviet Union.

But relations between Addis Ababa and Washington remain uneasy.

U.S. officials regularly lash out at Mengistu’s government, which they accuse of repression and brutality. Washington is barred by law from giving long-term developmental aid to Ethiopia.

A high-ranking U.S. official, who asked not to be named, described Ethiopia as “a country which is a massive abuser of human rights. It is a country whose agricultural policies are formula for failure, which is even, I think, behind the Soviet Union in modifying its policies in some respects.”

On their side, Ethiopian authorities keep their distance from U.S. officials.

The Ethiopian authorities recently called off--at the last minute--a scheduled visit by Chester Crocker, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs. A few weeks later the Soviet Union announced its pledge of food.

Until 1974, Washington maintained close links with Ethiopia and kept the army well equipped. But after the ouster of Emperor Haile Selassie, the Soviet Union took over as friend and arms supplier.

Mengistu’s government, which is fighting two bitter civil wars in the north, now owes the Soviet Union an estimated $3 billion, mainly for military aid.

Yet the politics of hunger this time has made the Soviet Union a member of the international donor community. Besides the food grant, Moscow has sent three Antonov planes and five helicopters to assist in transportation.