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An ICRC-chartered
Hercules C-130 landed this morning at Gode airport carrying
15metric tonnes of emergency food aid for the communities
most severely affected by drought and famine in Ethiopia's
Somali National Regional State.
The emergency
operation is scheduled to last at least until the end of June.
For the
first two months of the operation the ICRC has set aside a
total of 4,512 tonnes of aid, which will be airlifted every
day from Nairobi to Gode and then delivered by road to all
the villages in the districts of Imi, Gode, Denan and Adaadle.
The aid
consists of rations of oil and pre-cooked fortified food (maize,
soya, sugar), which is needed to supplement the wheat already
distributed by the Ethiopian Disaster Preparedness and Prevention
Commission.
These
rations will be distributed by village elders to the 188,000
drought and famine victims in the four affected districts,
where high malnutrition rates have been registered.
The distributions
will be monitored by ICRC relief teams in cooperation with
the Ethiopian Red Cross Society. If the "Gu" rains expected
this month fail to come, the operation will last until the
next harvest season in December. The ICRC has been working
in Ethiopia since 1977.
Its delegation
currently employs 40expatriates and around 150 local staff.
The head office is based in Addis Ababa and there are four
sub-offices in Makale, Gode, Jijiga and Harar.
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