April 16, 2004: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: US Embassy in Ethiopia: U.S. ambassador and RPCV Tony Hall visits Ethiopia

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Ethiopia: Peace Corps Ethiopia : The Peace Corps in Ethiopia: April 16, 2004: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: US Embassy in Ethiopia: U.S. ambassador and RPCV Tony Hall visits Ethiopia

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-239-147.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.239.147) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 6:06 pm: Edit Post

U.S. ambassador and RPCV Tony Hall visits Ethiopia

U.S. ambassador and RPCV Tony Hall visits Ethiopia

U.S. ambassador and RPCV Tony Hall visits Ethiopia

Ambassador Tony Hall Visits Ethiopia

Addis Ababa (U.S. Embassy) -- Ambassador Tony Hall, the United States Representative to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture based in Rome, Italy, has returned to Ethiopia to follow-up on his visit last year to drought emergency activities sponsored by the United States Government, World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization. He and a delegation of 16 people will stay in Ethiopia April 12 to 19, 2004. Included in the delegation are U.S. Under Secretary for Agriculture Eric Bost and President of WFP’s Executive Board Miguel Baretto of Peru.

Ambassador Hall and the delegation visited the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) to review drought-affected areas; meet with Ethiopians affected by the drought; and visit United States Government funded projects. This is Ambassador Tony Hall’s seventh visit to Ethiopia since his first visit in 1984. During his 24-year tenure as a Member of Congress, he founded the Congressional Hunger Center and was chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger. The U.S. Mission to the U.N. Agencies in Rome, which he heads, is dedicated to "putting into action America's commitment to alleviate hunger and build hope."

Ambassador Hall remarked, "I was the first Member of Congress to visit Ethiopia during their famine of 1984-85. I did not think that I would ever see a crisis that bad again. When I was there in February 2003, things were almost as bad and it has only gotten worse. So far, we have averted widespread famine, but there are pockets of extreme food insecurity, where people are dying in excess of emergency levels. Although we are facing a grave crisis, we are not yet witnessing widespread starvation on the scale that we saw during 1984-85. But I have to stress that unless we all do more immediately, we will have to say that the Horn of Africa is experiencing its first famine of the 21st Century."

Fortunately, the U.S. and other donors, working with the government and NGO’s, were able to prevent widespread famine last year. The United States provided 41 percent of Ethiopia's emergency food requirements for 2003 in humanitarian relief funds for emergency health and nutrition, water and sanitation and agricultural recovery activities. In fiscal year 2004, USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance committed more than $17.4 million to support humanitarian activities in Ethiopia. Funding priorities include health and nutrition, agriculture, water and sanitation, and local non-governmental organizations. Moreover, USAID's Office of Food for Peace (FFP) has pledged 275,160 MT of emergency food assistance valued at approximately $123 million through CRS, SCF/UK, and WFP. Since the emergency began in August 2002, USAID's response to Ethiopia has reached more than 1 million MT of emergency food assistance valued at more than $500 million. The commodities provided by USAID include a combination of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, and corn soya blend for therapeutic and supplementary feeding. USAID emergency food assistance is provided to vulnerable populations through direct distribution, food for work programs, emergency school feeding, maternal and child health programs, and therapeutic and supplementary feeding programs.





When this story was prepared, here was the front page of PCOL magazine:

This Month's Issue: August 2004 This Month's Issue: August 2004
Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and who can come up with the funniest caption for our Current Events Funny?

Exclusive: Director Vasquez speaks out in an op-ed published exclusively on the web by Peace Corps Online saying the Dayton Daily News' portrayal of Peace Corps "doesn't jibe with facts."

In other news, the NPCA makes the case for improving governance and explains the challenges facing the organization, RPCV Bob Shaconis says Peace Corps has been a "sacred cow", RPCV Shaun McNally picks up support for his Aug 10 primary and has a plan to win in Connecticut, and the movie "Open Water" based on the negligent deaths of two RPCVs in Australia opens August 6. Op-ed's by RPCVs: Cops of the World is not a good goal and Peace Corps must emphasize community development.


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Story Source: US Embassy in Ethiopia

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ethiopia; COS - Thailand; Diplomacy; Hunger

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