U.N. Agency Asks for 700,000 Tons of Food to Avert Ethiopia Famine

A U.N. agency appealed Wednesday for 700,000 tons of food to avert widespread starvation in northern Ethiopia, where as many as 4 million people are threatened by famine.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said its estimate was based on a recent crop survey, which found that serious drought had cut harvests by nearly 80% in Eritrea province and 50% in Eritrea’s southern neighbor, Tigre.

Rebels in northern Ethiopia said Wednesday they have defeated a major offensive by government forces and captured the large town of Debre Tabor in Gonder province, 200 miles north-northwest of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

A spokesman for the Tigre People’s Liberation Front said that 3,200 government troops were killed or wounded in heavy fighting starting last week.

“It’s a very significant victory,” spokesman Tewolde Gabru said from London in a telephone interview. He did not detail rebel losses.

The FAO said there also would be food deficits in eastern Ethiopia and to a lesser extent in pockets of the southern and central regions.

An “international relief operation of major proportions” is needed to avert a repeat of the 1984-85 drought and famine when an estimated 1 million people died, said FAO Director General Edouard Saouma, in a statement issued in Nairobi.

Saouma also urged donors to provide logistic support to ensure the “timely delivery” of aid.

Fighting in Eritrea and Tigre between the government and insurgents has closed many roads, a situation that might require aircraft for relief deliveries.