O 260809Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5253
INFO AMEMBASSY ASMARA 
AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 
AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 
AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 
USMISSION GENEVA 
AMEMBASSY LONDON 
AMEMBASSY ROME 
AMEMBASSY PARIS 
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 
DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
DIA WASHDC
CJTF HOA
NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 001498 
 
 
STATE DEPARTMENT AF/E, AF/PDPA, OES, AND PRM/AFR 
USAID for AFR EGAST, CTHOMPSON 
DCHA/AA SCROMER 
DCHA/OFDA PMORRIS, KCHANNELL 
DCHA/FFP JDWORKEN, PMOHAN, PBERTOLIN 
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
CJTF-HOA AND USCENTCOM FOR POLAD 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN, RTILSWORTH, AND LPANASUK 
NAIROBI FOR OFDA/ECARO JMYER, GPLATT, RFFPO NCOX, RFFPO RDRAPCHO 
USEU BRUSSELS 
USMISSION UN ROME FOR RNEWBERG 
NEW YORK FOR DMERCADO 
USEU FOR PBROWN 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH, RMA 
NSC FOR CPRATT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PHUM SENV EAGR PGOV ET
SUBJECT:  ETHIOPIA ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS FOOD SECURITY SITUATION 
 
REF:  Addis Ababa 1113 
      Addis Ababa 1348 
      Addis Ababa 1373 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  On June 17, 2009 the U.S. Ambassador convened a meeting with key 
members of the humanitarian community to discuss an action plan to 
address the worrisome food security situation exacerbated by 
consecutive seasons of failed rains and an impending food relief 
pipeline break in mid - July. 
 
¶2.  The U.S. Ambassador proposed an agenda with four main points: 
(a) consensus on the actual food need; (b) consensus on the best 
approach to convince the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to increase 
response efforts to meet the actual food security situation; (c) 
discussion on what donors, United Nations (UN) agencies and 
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can each contribute to the 
effort; (d) discussion of the most effective and timely means to 
deliver the assistance. 
 
¶3.  The agreed upon plan includes the following key actions: 
 
a)  The U.S. Ambassador will use his weekly meetings with the Prime 
Minister (PM) to encourage acknowledgement of the actual extent of 
the food security situation and appeal for assistance to at least 
6.6 million people in addition to those already participating in the 
Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP).  The key message will be that 
good governance is exemplified by effective and timely delivery of 
services to the citizenry, and that there is no stigma in 
acknowledging the effects of a natural disaster such as drought. 
 
(b)  The convened group will continue to meet regularly and will 
raise (at least weekly) issues on the humanitarian situation with 
the GoE to the level of the Minister of Agriculture and Deputy Prime 
Minister.  The main issues to be addressed will be the 
prioritization and expedited entry of relief food assistance through 
the Port of Djibouti and ensuring a transparent process of 
allocation and distribution of food assistance. 
 
(c)  All stakeholders should invest in long term economic 
development solutions comparable to the investment in humanitarian 
assistance. 
 
(d)  The GoE and donors should use all effective means to deliver 
the assistance including UN agencies and NGOs collaborating with 
government agencies.  End Summary 
 
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Background 
---------- 
 
¶4. On June 17, 2009 the U.S. Ambassador convened a meeting to 
discuss an action plan to address the food security situation in 
Ethiopia.  Participants included the Ambassador of Japan; 
USAID/Ethiopia and USAID/OFDA; the United Kingdom's Department for 
International Development (DFID); the Embassy of the Netherlands; 
the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Country 
Directors from UNICEF, the UN Organization for Coordination of 
Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) and the UN World Food Program (WFP); 
Country Directors of international NGOs CARE, Catholic Relief 
Services (CRS), Save the Children (SC/US and SC/UK) and GOAL. 
 
¶5.  The U.S. Ambassador expressed grave concerns about the current 
 
food security situation caused by the cumulative effects of four 
very poor harvests including the most recent failure of the 2009 
spring (belg) rains and its impact on crop production.  He noted 
that although the PSNP since 2005 has addressed the chronic needs of 
more than seven million people, millions of people every year will 
continue to require assistance.  The U.S. Ambassador expressed 
immediate concern over the shortage of food assistance in the 
country; the impending relief food pipeline break in mid - July; the 
GoE's reluctance to appeal for sufficient food and its failure to 
acknowledge that the problem is beyond the GoE's current assessment 
of 4.9 million people in need of assistance through June 2009. 
 
-- How Many People in Need? -- 
 
¶6.  The first agenda item was to agree on the actual number of 
people in need and the situation on relief food available for 
assistance.  (Comment:  Recent reports by the British Broadcasting 
Corporation (BBC) that the GoE is blocking food aid entry into 
Ethiopia from Djibouti Port and that more than nine million people 
are near starvation has heightened concern worldwide.  End 
Comment). 
 
¶7.  WFP representatives noted the continuation of support for the 
4.9 million people acknowledged by the GOE and an additional 'ad 
hoc' 300,000 people bringing the GoE acknowledged emergency number 
to 5.2 million through October 2009.  USAID stated that available 
evidence points to a figure nearer seven million people in need.  In 
addition, there are 2.4 million PSNP participants needing additional 
food or cash assistance to make it through to the green maize 
harvest in September.  Several NGOs suggested the total could be 
even higher.  As well, the deteriorating complex emergency in the 
Somali Region needs to be addressed urgently during the long dry 
season currently underway.  All donors, UN agencies and NGOs 
expressed concern that the GoE does not intend to release new appeal 
numbers until August when the final results (and probable 
"massaging") of the belg season assessment are released. 
 
¶8.  A consensus was reached that current evidence indicates that a 
minimum of 6.6 million people are in need of assistance from July 
through October, above the PSNP recipients.  While waiting for the 
belg season assessment results to be officially released in an 
appeal by the GOE, participants agreed to use this minimal figure as 
a basis for seeking resources from donor governments, UN and NGO 
headquarters. 
 
-- How to Convince the GoE? -- 
 
¶9.  The second agenda item was to agree how best to convince the GoE 
to acknowledge a greater number of people in need and to appeal for 
sufficient assistance to satisfy the projected larger requirements. 
The US Ambassador noted that Ethiopia is not the only country facing 
a food security crises and stressed the considerable competition for 
limited resources.  The U.S. Ambassador intends to again encourage 
the GOE to request a sufficient amount of assistance for July to 
October and to request it as soon as possible otherwise it may be 
too late. 
 
¶10.  The UNICEF Representative made a statement that best summed up 
the feeling of all participants stating that responding to the needs 
of the people would reflect positively on the GoE and would be 
extolled in the press, thus enhancing Ethiopia's image worldwide as 
opposed to specters of suffering and death that would result if the 
GoE is too embarrassed to admit the true extent of a natural 
disaster. 
 
¶11.  A consensus was reached that the U.S. Ambassador will use his 
scheduled meeting to continue to encourage the Prime Minister (PM) 
to acknowledge the actual extent of the hunger and appeal for 
sufficient assistance immediately. 
 
-- What Can Stakeholders Contribute? -- 
 
¶12.  The third agenda item (what contributions various stakeholders 
could make) led to a debate on the GoE obstruction of assistance 
delivery through (i) prioritizing cement and fertilizer transport 
from Djibouti Port while transportation of relief food is delayed 
for months; (ii) refusing to increase the number the trucks allowed 
to even temporarily operate the Djibouti to Ethiopia route; (iii) 
delaying appeals and deliberately reducing assessment numbers to a 
more palatable number; (iv) blocking access of NGOs and UN agencies 
to people in need; and (v) lack of transparency in accounting for 
the delivery of humanitarian assistance, especially food aid.  All 
agreed that the regular meetings on these matters should be raised 
to a higher level and that the U.S. Ambassador should continue to 
use his meeting with the PM to highlight the concerns of the 
humanitarian assistance community.  All agreed that preliminary food 
aid appeals should be made to donor governments, UN and NGO 
headquarters but more evidence of the spirit of good governance for 
humanitarian response would be needed from the GoE before actual 
commitment of resources will be confirmed. 
 
¶13.  The Japanese Ambassador and several other representatives 
emphasized the imbalance between investments in humanitarian 
assistance and investments in development programs for agricultural 
and economic growth.  The U.S. Ambassador assured the group that the 
USG intends to substantially increase its contributions to long term 
agricultural development, but cautioned that the USG cannot 
guarantee the same level of relief food assistance over the coming 
years.  A consensus was reached that the donor community needs to 
respond to this crisis but at the same time resolve to invest 
sufficient resources to assist Ethiopia to address the root causes 
of poverty and food insecurity. 
 
-- Effective Delivery of Humanitarian Assistance -- 
 
¶14.  The fourth agenda item centered on effective delivery of 
humanitarian assistance.  USAID/Ethiopia pointed out that relief 
food (USAID funded) for approximately 2.4 million people for two 
months would be arriving at the Port of Djibouti in late June or 
early July for distribution through NGO channels in coordination 
with the GoE and WFP.  USAID/OFDA noted it provides substantial 
funds to therapeutic feeding programs for the treatment of severely 
malnourished children, but that without adequate food security at 
home these same children (and many more) will soon return to the 
feeding programs. 
 
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Conclusion 
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¶15.  Meeting participants agreed on a minimum number of 6.6 million 
people in need of food aid as opposed to the GoE's current figure of 
4.9 million. 
 
-- Key actions to be taken include -- 
 
a)  The U.S. Ambassador will use his scheduled meeting to encourage 
the PM to acknowledge the actual extent of the hunger and appeal for 
 
assistance for at least 6.6 million people in addition to those 
already participating in the PSNP.  The most important message to be 
delivered is that good governance is exemplified by effective and 
timely delivery of services to the citizenry and that there is no 
stigma in acknowledging the effects of a natural disaster as 
drought.  However, lack of response is indicative of a failed 
government. 
 
(b)  The same group of donors, UN agencies and NGOs will continue to 
meet and will include GoE officials to the level of the Minister of 
Agriculture and Deputy Prime Minister.  Main issues to be addressed 
are the prioritization and expedited entry of the food assistance 
through the Port of Djibouti and ensuring a transparent process of 
allocating assistance to the various regions and woredas. 
 
(c)  All stakeholders should invest in long term economic 
development solutions to a comparable level as they invest in 
humanitarian assistance. 
 
(Comment:  Chronic food shortages will be long term.  The bottom 
line is not food aid, but agricultural development, land reform, 
distribution reform, expanded water resources, population control 
and job creation in manufacturing to help diversify the economy and 
resolution of conflict.  The Nile River Basin agreement would help 
expand water resources, ease regional conflict, create jobs and 
expand economic development.  End Comment). 
 
YAMAMOTO