Addis Ababa, 28 April, 2024 / 10:56 pm (ACI Africa).
The people of God in the Horn of Africa nation of Ethiopia are facing multiple crises with far-reaching impacts, Berhaneyesus Demerew Cardinal Souraphiel of the Catholic Archdiocese of Addis Ababa Archdiocese has said.
In a statement ACI Africa obtained on April 24, Cardinal Souraphiel warns, “The time is now! We should not wait until the context worsens before sounding an alarm that we are on the verge of something potentially disastrous, as we may only be one or two failed rains away from a truly dire situation”.
“We call on all parties to recommit now, redouble our efforts and commit ourselves to fully funding Ethiopia's Humanitarian Response Plan before things get worse, potentially much worse,” the Ethiopian Cardinal says in his statement dated April 9.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “At least 21 million Ethiopians shoulder the weight of multi-faceted, often overlapping, humanitarian situations driven by man-made and natural hazards, including conflict, climatic shocks (drought and floods), and disease outbreaks.”
The Horn of Africa nation has “been affected by recurring droughts, increasing in both duration and frequency. Caused by five consecutive failed rainy seasons, the prolonged (late-2020-2023) drought in the eastern and southern parts of the country was considered the most severe the country has seen in 40 years,” according to OCHA.
