Ethiopia-drought Famine averted in Ethiopia: UN envoy GODE, Ethiopia, Sept 21 (AFP) - UN special envoy Catherine Bertini said Thursday that the risk of famine had been averted in drought-hit southeast Ethiopia, thanks to a good response by the international community. Bertini, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on the Drought in the Greater Horn of Africa, said that the United Nations had averted a crisis here by swiftly getting food aid to the region. "Now we can see a very different situation," said Bertini, who is executive director of the World Food Programme. "Famine has been averted in this region." "Still of course there are people who are in the therapeutic feeding centers but far fewer. "Still children in the hospital but far fewer," she told the press during a visit to a non-governmental nutrition centre in Gode, southeastern Ethiopia. During a trip here in April, Bertini came across many cases of malnutrition, in some cases fatal. This time she praised the "positive improvments" while saying more still needed to be done. Ethiopia has been promised some 945,000 tonnes of cereal this year. However more assistance is required on water supply, livestock and seeds, health and education and "also with some additional food," Bertini warned. This region of Ethiopia suffers from a chronic malnutrition problem exacerbated by the cumulative effects of three and a half years of drought. Persistent drought threatens 14 million people in the Horn of Africa and some two million in the Great Lakes region. gue/pvh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------