Food aid withheld ahead of Ethiopia election say aid agencies

Aid workers in Ethiopia are looking into how international aid is delivered after claims by opposition political parties that their members were being denied food before the elections in May.A group of eight opposition parties called the Forum, has said that some officials are only letting members of the ruling political party get help through a food-for-work programme that helps more than seven million Ethiopians survive. The World Bank is the main funder of the food-for-work scheme followed by Britain and the United States.The authorities have denied the allegations, which commentators predict could put the 20-year-old government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at risk."Foreign aid organisations are going to examine the system here together," a senior aid worker told Reuters news service.

About 6.2 million extra Ethiopians will need emergency food this year, according to government estimates, and this is on top of the more than seven million on the food-for-work scheme.The aid departments of some Western donor governments would take part in the investigation and aid workers believe the problems were at a regional level, with local officials settling scores. "But, at the moment, we don't believe it's sanctioned at the highest levels of government," the senior official said.Prime Minister Meles has dismissed the claims, but said that he could not vouch for every person in the distribution system. "So all I can ask is give me the proof and the person will be kicked out," he told a news conference earlier this month.

A company run by the ruling party also owns three of the biggest trucking firms carrying food aid. A senior United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) official said Ethiopia was one of few countries where the government had almost total control over the distribution of relief food. "But that's not necessarily a negative point," Lynne Miller, WFP's deputy director in Ethiopia said. "We try to improve the ability of countries to respond to their own emergencies and Ethiopia is now very capable." She said that the WFP was on the whole satisfied with the distribution system and that it would investigate any specific complaint.

Ethiopia is one of Africa's poorest states. Many Ethiopians depend on food aid from abroad. In 2004 the government began a drive to move more than two million people away from the arid highlands of the east in an attempt to provide a lasting solution to food shortages. Ethiopia's last elections ended violently in 2005 when security forces killed about 200 protesters after the opposition accused the government of rigging its victory.