EU gives €6 mln in aid to Eritrea, €3 mln to Ethiopia

Aug 4, 2006 (BRUSSELS) — The European Union said Friday it was giving A6 million (US$7.7 million) in humanitarian aid to Eritrea and A3 million (US$3.8 million) in aid to Ethiopia to help those affected by drought and conflict.

The money, which will be given to U.N. agencies, will help cover costs to provide urgent food and water supplies to people in Eritrea.

"The immediate challenge is to improve the health and nutritional status of those most at risk," said EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel in a statement. Michel urged Eritrean authorities however, not to hinder the work of aid agencies, "to facilitate the work ... as much as possible, for the sake of the country’s most vulnerable."

The European Commission said Eritrea was not able to cover its annual food consumption needs.

The aid for Ethiopia is to benefit 300,000 people, the Commission said, and will be used to pay for programs to fight malnutrition and disease and to provide medicine, safe drinking water and sanitation.

The Commission has given A14 million (US$17.9 million) in emergency aid to Ethiopia and A11.6 million (US$14.8 million) in similar aid to Eritrea since 2004.

Efforts to deal with droughts and disease have been complicated by tensions between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea following a failure to demarcate their border.

Eritrea fought a 30-year war for independence from Ethiopia that was followed by the 1998-2000 border war five years after separation. The border war claimed tens of thousands of lives and cost both impoverished countries an estimated US$1 million a day.

(AP/ST)