The Government of China on Saturday announced a 9,000 metric tons of wheat and rice in humanitarian aid to Ethiopia.
The emergency food aid would be used to respond to people affected by El Nino-induced drought and displacement mainly in eastern part of the country.
During the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in April this year, China announced a 100 million yuan’s worth of emergency food aid to Ethiopia for the year 2019.
State Minister of Finance, Admasu Nebebe, Commissioner of the National Disaster Risk Management Commission Mitiku Kassa, and Ambassador of China to Ethiopia Tan Jian attended the handover ceremony the 50 million yuan’s worth of emergency food aid.
Tan Jian, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, said during the donation ceremony in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa that the Chinese government’s emergency food assistance is part of broader humanitarian support being provided to Ethiopia.
“The Chinese government has previously provided around $60 million U.S. dollars’ worth of food assistance, both bilaterally and via the UN World Food Program,” Tan said, adding that China has also
contributed 8 million U.S. dollars to UNICEF for the provision of nutrition food for women and children in Ethiopia.
In March 2019, The Ethiopian government and its humanitarian partners had appealed for $.3 billion U.S. dollars to address food and non-food emergency needs of 8.3 million people.
Ethiopia was spared significant climate-related calamities last year, but spikes in conflict-induced displacements, which led to a near doubling of internally displaced population, contributed to high
humanitarian response needs in 2019.
Mitiku Kassa, Commissioner at Ethiopia National Disaster Risk Management Commission, said the Chinese emergency food donation is a timely intervention that will meet the needs of thousands of
Ethiopians.
MG/abj/APA