ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


WorldView

Famine Threat in Ethiopia Worsening

Aired April 14, 2000 - 6:09 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: The head of the United Nations' World Food Program said Friday that a rapid international response to the famine threat in Ethiopia could save millions from starvation.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Ethiopia on and reports on conditions there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dahid Ibrahimi (ph) holds his last surviving child, two-year-old Agdi (ph). His four other children have died of hunger and exhaustion. Dahid fears the same state awaits Agdi. They and hundreds of other nomads are camped outside Dinan (ph) in eastern Ethiopia, waiting for help, but so far, nothing has arrived.

The only people who have come this far are journalists.

This is a harsh land in the best of times. And after three years of drought, the best of times are a distant memory. Mariama Muso (ph) walked for four days to get here. Her husband says she has tuberculosis. Two of children died on the way to Dinan.

"We asked the government for help, and they told us go ask the international relief agencies," he says, "agencies that have yet to reach Dinan."

Like so many people camped out here, their herd of cattle, the wealth of these nomads, have all died. The countryside around Dinan is littered with the carcasses of livestock, dead from lack of water. There is barely enough water for humans. The government-supplied water tank has run dry.

The watchman for the water has no water to watch, so he passes the time in prayer. Cloudy water can be bought from the private wells for 20 cents a gallon, a small fortune for those who have lost everything.

"Before the children drank the milk of cows," says Saynaba Abdi (ph). Today, we don't even have water to drink. For a lucky few, some food is left, but it is quickly running out. Sickness is spreading among these people, already weekend by hunger and thirst.

(on camera): There is no relief effort here, very little food, very little water, no doctors. If relief does come, for far too many here, it will have come too late.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Dinan, in eastern Ethiopia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.