Tanzania calls for aid as food reserves dip
taken from online news source - IOL Africa - February 14 2006 at 01:12AM
(http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1139863322147B235&set_id=

Dodoma - Tanzania on Monday appealed for 100 000 tons of relief food to help nearly four million people threatened by famine in the wake of a scorching drought that is ravaging several East African nations."The food shortage is acute and widespread. May I on behalf of the government of Tanzania officially request you to consider the situation and assist?" Prime Minister Edward Lowassa asked a meeting of donors in the administrative capital Dodoma.Lowassa said an assessment done by the National Food Security Information Team (FSIT) showed that 3,7-million people were at risk of famine and needed 99 676 tons of relief food between February and April.

"This is alarming and needs immediate attention," said Lowassa, explaining that there were only 57 620 tons of food in the government's Strategic Grain Reserves.Tanzania, a nation of about 35-million people, is one of four East African countries worst-hit by the by the drought which has seen the failure of rains in some places for five years and put some eight million people at risk of starvation across the region.In addition to Tanzania, the United Nations estimates that eight million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are on the brink of starvation due to the drought. - Sapa-AFP