ADDIS ABABA: Over six million people in Ethiopia are back facing starvation after the summer rainy season warned of the looming food crisis, and eight international NGOs working in the country have already joined the government in calling for immediate food relief.

While the food crisis has been growing in urgency since a drought during the main rainy season — June to September — officials this week reported that the 2002 harvest has declined significantly compared with average production in the previous five years, leaving 6.3 million people on the brink of famine.

Ethiopia has appealed three times since July for international aid. The government estimates that it needs 103,000 metric tons of food and $12 million in medicine and veterinary drugs to meet the needs of the affected people and their livestock until the end of the year.

In its latest appeal in early September, the government relief agency, the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission, said it had enough relief food to last just one month and urged donor countries to make good on earlier promises of food aid.

The latest monthly “famine early warning systems network” report from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) says that even under a “best case scenario” — an 8 per cent decline in the current harvest — about 10.2 million people will need food assistance between March and June next year.

In the “worst case scenario” of 15 per cent decline, the number of people needing food relief could rise to 14.3 million.

In light of this dire warning senior officials from the United Nations and the European Union are coming to Ethiopia for an on-the- spot assessment of the crisis.

United Nations Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator of the UN Kenzo Oshima, is due to arrive in Addis Ababa Saturday on a four-day working visit.

Kenzo comes to Addis Ababa following a similar two-day visit to Eritrea, which has also been suffering debilitating drought for over 18 months.

One-third of Eritrea’s population of over 3 million is said to be currently in need of food relief and the figure could climb to 1.5 million by the year’s end, according to UN information.—dpa