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Baltimore, July 22, 2003 — A little-noticed food crisis that severely threatens 12.5 million people in Ethiopia is the subject of a new web video and appeal for help on Lutheran World Relief's website [visit www.lwr.org].
Recent footage from a local partner organization and the Ethiopian government shows what LWR and other aid agencies at work there have been saying all year: Emergency food aid must be sustained while the current crisis lasts and long-term aid must be increased now to break the next cycle of famine.
The footage has been made available in recent weeks to major U.S. television networks. Last weekend Catholic Relief Services purchased advertisements during the Sunday morning news programs in the Washington, D.C. area in order to publicize the crisis.
More than 12 million people in Ethiopia, more than those threatened by the massive famine of 1984-85, are relying for food on a fragile aid pipeline supported by governments and aid agencies. The U.S. government has taken a leading role in providing food aid. Rains, much-needed to relieve the crisis, have been sporadic to date.