Global Policy Forum

By Charlotte Denny

Ethiopia's prime minister called on the west yesterday to reform damaging trade policies and increase development aid to help his country break its 20-year-long cycle of poverty and famine. Warning that millions of Ethiopians still face the threat of starvation because of the slow response to the current famine, Meles Zenawi said his country could run out of food by June.

"The pledges haven't been as much as we had hoped for and there has been a slackening in the pace of delivery," the prime minister said in an interview with the Guardian. "We are running out of reserves."

Aid donors have pledged about half the 1.4m tonnes of food the UN says Ethiopia needs to feed its people this year. With the rainy season approaching and long lags in the food pipeline, aid agencies say the next few months will be critical.

"The message for donors is that they need to get the bulk of the food in by June because once the rains start it will be much more difficult to get it to the most vulnerable people," said Jamie Balfour-Paul, an Africa policy adviser at Oxfam.

Mr Zenawi expressed concern that the crisis in Iraq is diverting the world's attention from the unfolding tragedy in sub-Saharan Africa. At a meeting today in Downing Street, he will urge Tony Blair to keep Africa near the top of the agenda when leaders of the eight most powerful economies meet in June.

"I hope that Mr Blair will lead the charge to mobilise support among developed countries," he said. "There is a risk that the attention of decision-makers could be diverted away from the human tragedy in Africa."

Mr Zenawi expressed disappointment that the west was backtracking on its promise to reform world trade rules in the interests of developing countries. Most European countries are insisting that developing countries dismantle trade barriers while resisting calls for reforms of their own highly protected farming, he said.

"There is a quite a bit of hypocrisy by the west," he said. "Obviously agricultural subsidies need to be dealt with because they hurt our farm exports."

Mr Zenawi welcomed Gordon Brown's call for western countries to double the amount they spend on aid to help poor countries reach the internationally agreed goal of halving global poverty by 2015.

"It will take political will from the west, which appears to exist in the UK, but I'm not sure it exists everywhere," he said.

Mr Zenawi also expressed concern that the IMF and World Bank's flagship programme for relieving the debts of the world's poorest countries has failed to reduce Ethiopia's loans burden to a manageable level. Plunging coffee prices and the rise in the euro have increased the burden of servicing his country's debts in the two years since the Bank and the Fund assessed Ethiopia's financial position.

"Within in a matter of months those calculations were out of date. Our debts are now unsustainable," he said. "We hope at the very least that we can get a top-up but we would like to see significant changes to the debt relief programme."

Mr Zenawi raised his concerns yesterday with the British development secretary, Clare Short, who will back Ethiopia's case for an extra $400m in debt relief at the April's meeting of the Bank and Fund. Ms Short signed a new long-term aid deal with Ethiopia on a visit to Addis Ababa last month. Department for International Development officials believe the country's new government's commitment to pro-poor policies could help reverse decades of decline.

On top of the £15m it has contributed to famine relief, Britain will give £10m directly to Ethiopia's government to help it tackle poverty. One of the main focuses of the programme is the long-term problem of food insecurity.

Ethiopia has been hit by droughts three years in a row and has one of Africa's most advanced systems of detecting looming food shortages.

Mr Zenawi said that attracting more foreign investment was critical for economic success, but the most important factor was good policies.

"Effective pro-development government is priority number one, two and three," he said. "Then comes a supportive external environment which means fairer world trade arrangements."

African governments are pinning their hopes on commitments G8 leaders made last year when they promised increased aid and investment for countries committed to tackling corruption, encouraging foreign investment and spending the money on health and education.

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